What is Aries?

Hyperledger Aries provides a shared, reusable, interoperable tool kit designed for initiatives and solutions focused on creating, transmitting and storing verifiable digital credentials. It is infrastructure for blockchain-rooted, peer-to-peer interactions. It includes a shared cryptographic wallet for blockchain clients as well as a communications protocol for allowing off-ledger interaction between those clients.

A Hyperledger Aries agent (such as the one in this repository):

• enables establishing connections with other DIDComm-based agents (using DIDComm encryption envelopes),
• exchanges messages between connected agents to execute message protocols (using DIDComm protocols)
• sends notifications about protocol events to a controller, and
• exposes an API for responses from the controller with direction in handling protocol events.

The concepts and features that make up the Aries project are documented in the aries-rfcs - but don't dive in there yet! We'll get to the features and concepts to be found there with a guided tour of the key RFCs. The Aries Working Group meets weekly to expand the design and components of Aries.

The Aries Cloud Agent Python currently only supports Hyperledger Indy-based verifiable credentials and public ledger. Longer term (as we'll see later in this guide) protocols will be extended or added to support other verifiable credential implementations and public ledgers.

Back to the Aries Developer - Getting Started Guide.