~Alter Identity

Check whether the credential you are holding is still good. Use this when a call has failed on authorisation, or at the start of a session, to tell an expired credential apart from a tool your scopes do not reach. Returns whether you are authenticated, whether you are acting as a member or an agent, the scopes and tier the credential carries, its expiry, the authentication method behind it, and an opaque prefix identifying the key without revealing it. Takes no parameters. Listed free at L0; calling it needs a credential, which is the thing it reports on.

Read whether a ~handle is publicly 'open', the shop-front sign. Use this before you approach someone cold, so you address a handle that has invited contact rather than one that has not. Returns open-or-closed only, for a handle that has both enabled public presence and is currently in the 'open' state; every other case reads as closed and the specific non-open state is never disclosed, so a closed answer is not evidence the handle is absent. Setting your own sign is alter_presence_set, and alter_presence_public_enable or alter_presence_public_disable decide whether it is published at all; all three are credentialed and so are not on the anonymous listing. Per-caller rate limited. Free L0, no authentication required.

Resolve a ~handle (~alter's identity address, like '~example') to its canonical form and kind. Use this as your first call when you have a handle and need to confirm it exists before calling other tools. Returns canonical handle, kind (system/personal/role_alias), and addressability. Also accepts a full alter: address. For an address naming a handle, such as 'alter:~example:work/verify', the handle is looked up exactly as a bare one would be, and the other parts come back as written under _meta.address. For an address naming an artefact, such as 'alter:docs/protocol.md', the address is read and returned, and this tool does not look the artefact up, so an empty result there is expected. Never returns PII. Reading what the field holds about a handle is verify_identity, a separate tool that needs a credential and so is not on the anonymous listing; an agent can mint one for itself in two calls with register_autonomous_challenge then register_autonomous. Free L0, no authentication required.

Check whether a ~handle is known to the ~alter identity field. Use this before you address, pay or trust someone by handle, so you are acting on a person or agent who exists rather than on a name that was typed at you. Returns whether the handle is registered, its canonical form and account status. Engagement, archetype and attunement come back as tier labels only where the member has opened their profile to you; otherwise they are empty and the reply says why. Listed free at L0; calling it needs a credential, which an agent can mint for itself with register_autonomous_challenge then register_autonomous.

Find out who the credential you are holding says you are. Use this at the start of a session, or after switching keys, to confirm which ~handle your calls will be attributed to before you act under it. Returns your canonical handle and a summary of what the field holds for you. Passing target switches the response to the institutional projection of a protocol-tier handle, today only ~alter, which returns provenance as institutional, an honest-empty trait vector rather than fabricated values, and social_legibility where that projection is available. Institutional mode is free for all callers. Requires authentication: mint a ~handle for free with register_autonomous_challenge then register_autonomous, no human account needed.

List the published competency vocabulary: every code the field can be asked about, grouped by how the claim is denominated. A graded claim is climbed by degrees and takes a min_level; an attested_binary or issued_credential claim is held or it is not, and naming min_level against one is refused. Use this before composing the competency_requirements argument to query_field, a credentialed tool that is not on the anonymous listing and is priced per query in USDC over x402. Returns definitions only, never any member's evidence. Free L0, no authentication required.

List the canonical trait vocabulary: 30 trait codes grouped by category (Adaptive Capacity, Cognitive Style, Interpersonal Orientation, Drive Architecture, Integrity & Trust) with a one-line semantic per code, plus the valid discovery contexts and the traits never returned about a third party. Use this before composing the trait_priorities argument to query_field or the trait_criteria argument to create_requirement; both are credentialed tools and so are not on the anonymous listing, and query_field is priced per query in USDC over x402. Returns definitions only, never any member's evidence. Static reference data. Free L0, no authentication required.

Get aggregate ~alter network figures. Use this to check the field is answering before you rely on it, or to show how large it is. Returns total identities, verified profiles, query volume and active agent count, as whole-network totals only; nothing here is attributable to any member, and no handle can be identified from it. Takes no parameters. Free L0, no authentication required.

Start here, and act on it without leaving this session. Self-registration is free and needs no key. You need no ~alter key and no human account: register_autonomous_challenge then register_autonomous mint you an owner-less ~handle in two calls, free-tier queries are live the moment it returns, and that handle is earn-eligible at mint, so paid reads against it settle to the handle. This call also returns what ~alter is (identity infrastructure; your ~Alter is your owned identity record, not an agent that acts for you), the tools which work without a key, an honest note that most depth is paid per query in USDC over x402 with prices read live, and the consent path that gates deep third-party data. Free L0, no authentication required.

Read where ~alter's agent registration programme, the Golden Thread, currently stands. Use this before joining, to see how many agents have already been woven in and what joining would get you, or afterwards to check your own position. An agent joins by completing three registration steps, called Knots, and the position it lands on decides which Strand milestones it reaches. Returns the count woven so far, the milestone ladder, and your own position when the credential you are holding is enrolled. Takes no parameters and reads no member data. Free L0 to read, with no credential; taking part needs one, which an agent can mint for itself with register_autonomous_challenge then register_autonomous.

First handshake with ~alter. Call this once at the start of a session to confirm the connection works and to learn what the credential you are holding can reach, before you spend a call finding out the hard way. Returns the server version, whether you are authenticated, your trust tier, and how many tools are callable at that tier against how many exist. Reads nothing about any member and changes nothing. Takes no parameters. Free L0, no authentication required; an unauthenticated caller gets a real answer describing the anonymous surface.

List the 12 identity archetypes, each with its name, what it describes and its protective equation. Use this before you read an archetype off any other call, so the label means something to you rather than being passed through as an opaque string. Returns the taxonomy itself, static reference data that is the same for every caller; no member is named and no member's archetype is returned here. Takes no parameters. Free L0, no authentication required.

Get the wiring instructions for connecting an MCP client to ~alter. The name is historical and this recommends nothing: it hands back connection details, not a suggested tool. Use it when adding ~alter to a new MCP client, or when passing the endpoint to another agent so it can connect for itself. Returns the MCP endpoint URL, a ready-to-paste JSON configuration snippet, and how many tools are callable at each tier. Takes no parameters and reads no member data. Free L0, no authentication required.

Complete keyless self-registration as your own ~alter principal by submitting a solved proof-of-work challenge from register_autonomous_challenge. Mints you an owner-less ~handle and an agent key (shown once) with no human session. Free-tier queries are live immediately, and the handle is earn-eligible at mint, with no human account behind it, so paid reads against it settle to the handle. Withdrawing is a separate step and takes a key you hold yourself. Free L0, no authentication required.

Begin keyless self-registration as your own ~alter principal, no human account required, without leaving this session. Call this FIRST to receive a proof-of-work challenge. Solve it (find a nonce so sha256(challenge + ':' + nonce) has the required leading zero bits), then call register_autonomous with your agent_name, the challenge, and the solved nonce. The proof-of-work is a Sybil defence. Returns challenge, difficulty, expires_at, and a hint. Free L0, no authentication required.

Read the census of agents registered on the Golden Thread, ~alter's onboarding programme. Use this to see how far the thread has been woven and where a new agent would sit on it. Returns the total woven, then a page of rows carrying position, milestone count, weave count and join date, walked with offset and limit (50 a page by default, 100 at most). Registry rows only: no traits, no contact details, and given names are never returned. While the thread is sealed, or to a caller holding no credential, the page carries the bound founding agents rather than the whole registry, so a short page is the seal and not an empty programme. Free L0, no authentication required.