wtf( )unctionsystem design, drawn
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A certificate that expires in ten minutes

Artefacts are signed without anyone holding a long-lived key. A short-lived certificate is issued against the workflow's identity, used once, and thrown away — nothing to store, nothing to rotate, nothing to steal.

Which raises a problem: by the time anyone verifies the signature, the certificate expired long ago. As drawn, verification always fails.

Add what lets a verifier know the certificate was valid when it signed.
Components — tap one, then tap a slot on the diagram
?Without this, short-lived certificates make signatures unverifiable rather than secure.

Outside every boundary: Verifier (checks it days later), Signed artefact, Certificate authority (issues for 10 minutes), Build (proves its identity), an empty slot for the records when signing happened Connections: Build calls Certificate authority — identity (step 1) Certificate authority calls records when signing happened — cert + signature (step 2) Signed artefact calls Verifier (step 3) records when signing happened controls Verifier — valid at signing time (step 4)

Verifierchecks it days later
Signed artefact
Certificate authorityissues for 10 minutes
Buildproves its identity