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Protocol Intro

Welcome to the Official PIC Protocol Website!

PIC (Provenance Identity Continuity) is a new authorization model for distributed systems and AI agents.

The Problem​

Today's systems verify possession: "Do you have a valid token? Come in."

But possession can be stolen. And trust doesn't survive multiple hops.

AI agents calling services calling APIs — the chain breaks. Origin lost.

Traditional systems rely on ambient authority: services execute using their own credentials. A service can "help" a user do something they are not allowed to do.

This is the Confused Deputy problem — unsolved for 40 years.

The Solution​

PIC flips the question.

Old: "Do you have a valid token?"

New: "Can you prove you can continue this chain?"

With PIC:

  • Authority is bound to the origin
  • No service can use its own elevated permissions on behalf of a user
  • If it's not in the user's authority, it doesn't exist in that transaction

Core Principles​

  • Provenance — The causal chain is always traceable and auditable. From origin to end, unbroken. If it breaks, it stops.

  • Identity — The origin identity is immutable. It generates authority. It cannot change throughout the chain.

  • Continuity — Continuity is proven at every step. Proof of Continuity replaces Proof of Possession. Authority never expands.

Why It Matters for AI​

AI agents are just executors in a PIC transaction.

If an API call is safe under PIC, an AI agent calling that API is equally safe.

  • AI agents never gain independent authority
  • Tools execute only within the user's original bounds
  • Confused deputy attacks are structurally impossible
  • Fifty hops, one hundred services — doesn't matter. Origin preserved.

Governance and Auditing​

PIC implements the Authority Continuity principle.

Governance and Auditing integrate at each step of the execution flow as a PIC extension on top of Continuity enforcement.

Get Started​

Not "what do you have?" — but "can you prove you can continue?"

That's PIC.