About CH-J Keys

keys.ch-j.de is CH-J's public OpenPGP keyserver, powered by Hagrid. It distributes public V4 and V6 certificates, their public subkeys, and valid revocations over HTTPS using IPv4 or IPv6.

This is an independent Hagrid instance. Uploading here does not automatically publish a key on other keyservers.

Start here

• Usage guide: export a public key, upload it, confirm an email address, download keys and manage published addresses.
• API reference: VKS requests and responses, HKP compatibility, size limits and errors.
• Search, Upload or Manage directly in your browser.

What is published

A public certificate can be retrieved by its full fingerprint or long key ID without publishing an email identity. Email-based discovery is opt-in: each address must be confirmed through a message sent to that mailbox. Unverified identities are omitted from public downloads.

The server processes the public certificate you submit, including its identity information. It is not a private-key vault. Never upload private keys, private-key passphrases, passwords or recovery secrets.

Email verification is enabled

Verification and management messages are sent from keys@ch-j.de. Open the HTTPS link in the message and submit the confirmation form. Uploading alone does not verify an address.

Mailbox confirmation shows access to that address at the time of verification. It is not independent proof of a person's legal identity, a Web of Trust certification, a certificate authority, or a trusted timestamp.

Updating, revoking and unpublishing

Upload the updated public certificate to distribute new subkeys, expiration changes or cryptographic revocations. A valid revocation cannot be undone by uploading an older certificate.

Manage sends a private management link to a published address. Removing an address there stops its email-based discovery; it does not revoke the key or erase the non-identity certificate and revocation information. Copies already downloaded elsewhere are outside this service's control.

Service scope

CH-J Keys does not generate or store private keys, and does not distribute SSH keys, issue SSH CA/KRL data or provide TSA timestamps. Key generation, secret storage and signing remain in your client.

Development builds of CH-J Server Manager can optionally publish, check and revoke public OpenPGP certificates through Keychain. Their current keyserver integration uses IPv6; automatic email-verification requests are not part of that desktop workflow. Use the web upload to confirm addresses for a public certificate.

Software and source

The running Hagrid distribution includes CH-J changes for public V4/V6 certificates. Its corresponding source archive is available under AGPL-3.0-or-later. It contains Hagrid source, not private server configuration or the CH-J Server Manager application's source code.