Open-Source Identity Platform for AI Agents

As autonomous agents and multi-agent systems become more prevalent, a critical infrastructure gap has emerged: how to manage identity and authorization in complex, automated workflows. ZeroID is an open-source identity platform built specifically to fill this void, providing a verifiable identity and credentialing layer for AI agents. Its development addresses a fundamental challenge in the agentic era, ensuring these powerful systems remain accountable and secure.

The platform tackles the attribution problem head-on. In a typical workflow, an orchestrator agent might spawn multiple sub-agents to complete a task, with each sub-agent potentially calling APIs or executing commands. Traditional methods like shared service accounts or standard OAuth 2.0 flows lack the granular traceability needed for these asynchronous, hierarchical operations that often cross organizational boundaries without constant human oversight. ZeroID’s architecture solves this by implementing RFC 8693 token exchange to create clear, verifiable delegation chains. When delegation occurs, the resulting token carries the identities of the sub-agent, the orchestrator, and the original authorizing principal. Crucially, permissions are automatically attenuated at each step, meaning a sub-agent can never receive more access than its parent orchestrator possesses.

Sharath Rajasekar, CEO of Highflame, emphasized the importance of this foundational work. “The identity layer for the agentic era is being written right now. If we don’t get this right, we’re going to end up with systems that are powerful but fundamentally unaccountable. Identity infrastructure needs to be transparent and verifiable,” he stated.

Beyond attribution, ZeroID provides robust mechanisms for real-time access evaluation and revocation. It integrates the OpenID Shared Signals Framework (SSF) and the Continuous Access Evaluation Profile (CAEP). This allows for the immediate invalidation of a token anywhere in a delegation chain, which automatically revokes all downstream tokens derived from it. For performance-sensitive services where a network call per request is impractical, ZeroID’s SDKs support local JWT verification using a cached JWKS endpoint. This path offers lower latency but does not check real-time revocation status, allowing developers to make the appropriate trade-off between speed and security enforcement for their specific use case.

Deployment is designed for flexibility. The core ZeroID service is containerized and uses PostgreSQL, with a provided Docker Compose setup for local development. For teams seeking a managed solution, Highflame operates a hosted version. Software Development Kits (SDKs) are currently available for Python, TypeScript, and Rust to facilitate integration.

The platform already features integrations with popular agent frameworks like LangGraph, CrewAI, and Strands. The roadmap includes a CLI tool, Client-Initiated Backchannel Authentication (CIBA) for agents requiring out-of-band user authorization, a human-in-the-loop approvals API, and a validator for GitHub Actions OIDC tokens. As an open-source project, ZeroID’s codebase is publicly accessible on GitHub, inviting community scrutiny and contribution to help build the accountable identity foundation that the future of AI automation requires.