What CAIRL isCopy Anchor Link

CAIRL is people-centered digital identity infrastructure. It keeps people in control of their digital identity and provides trustworthy proof for authorized interactions. This page explains the name, the five Domains that organize everything CAIRL does, and where to read about each capability.

The nameCopy Anchor Link

CAIRL is the name of the platform. It's pronounced Carol.

CAIRL is a proper name, written in capitals. It is not an abbreviation, and the letters are not a code to decode. If you are asked what the name is short for, the answer is that it is not short for anything: it is the platform's name.

The five DomainsCopy Anchor Link

CAIRL organizes its platform into five Domains. A Domain is a durable area of responsibility. Every capability CAIRL offers has exactly one home Domain, and the Domain's definition bounds what that capability may do.

• Custody safeguards identity assets in CAIRL and controls access to them.
• Assurance evaluates evidence in CAIRL and states what it supports, and what it does not.
• Identity establishes who or what is represented in CAIRL and manages that identity over time.
• Relationship governs the ways represented parties communicate, coordinate, and exchange value under explicit participation, disclosure, and transaction boundaries.
• Layer governs the conditions under which CAIRL users interact.

Custody, Assurance, Identity, Relationship, and Layer are these five Domains. Each name carries the definition above and owns specific capabilities; they describe how the platform is organized, not what the word CAIRL is made of.

What the Domains mean for youCopy Anchor Link

• Custody is where your documents and other identity assets are kept and where access to them is controlled. Vault belongs here.
• Assurance is where evidence is evaluated and a result is stated with its limits. Identity Verification belongs here.
• Identity is where who you are in CAIRL is established and maintained over time, including signing in to other sites with CAIRL.
• Relationship is where you communicate and transact with others under explicit boundaries. Mail, which includes MailGap, belongs here, as do GateWay and CAIRL Phone.
• Layer is where the conditions of an interaction are set, such as what evidence an interaction requires and what may be disclosed.

A Domain placement says where a capability lives and what bounds it. It does not by itself say that the capability is available to you, what it costs, or what you are entitled to; each capability's own page states that.

AvailabilityCopy Anchor Link

This page states no availability of its own. CAIRL is the platform, and the Domains describe how it is organized; whether a given capability is available to you today, and on what terms, is stated in that capability's own page, each of which carries a current availability section. Where a capability is not yet available, its page says so and sets no date.

Related resourcesCopy Anchor Link

• Vault: your documents in CAIRL, and the media and saved-login surfaces that are not yet available.
• Identity Verification: the evidence flow and what a result can support.
• Mail, MailGap, and public aliases: how the Mail capability is organized and what MailGap is.
• How MailGap keeps inboxes separate: the MailGap guide.
• How GateWay routes participating platforms: the GateWay guide.
• CAIRL Phone: what CAIRL Phone is and its current availability.
• CAIRL Images: matched photos and their current availability.
• Identity Point: the identity foundation a person can establish and maintain without charge.
• Sign in with CAIRL for your site: the integration guide.