Public Profile Proof Guide

Verify control of any public page by adding your AnchorID to your bio.

Works with any public page — not just social media. Includes GitHub repos, project docs, forums, and more.

What is this? Public profile proof lets you verify control of ANY publicly accessible page by adding your AnchorID resolver URL. Works with social media profiles, forum accounts, GitHub repositories, project documentation, personal sites, and any public page with editable content.

Important: This is an edit-access proof. It demonstrates you can edit a specific public page at a moment in time, not legal identity.

About the name: Despite being called "social proof," this method works with any public HTTPS page — not just social media. It applies to GitHub repositories, project documentation, forums, community sites, personal websites, or any public page where you can add text. The name is historical; think of it as "public page verification."

Supported Platforms

This works with ANY publicly accessible HTTPS page, not just social media.

Examples include:

Security: AnchorID blocks access to:

This prevents SSRF (Server-Side Request Forgery) attacks.

Repository Attribution

Unlike the GitHub profile proof (which verifies your GitHub identity), public profile proof can verify you have edit access to ANY public repository.

This is useful for:

Just add your AnchorID to any public README, docs file, or CONTRIBUTORS.md

Example URLs:

https://github.com/username/projectname
https://github.com/org/repo/blob/main/README.md
https://github.com/org/repo/blob/main/docs/contributors.md
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/user/repo/main/README.md

AnchorID will fetch the public page and verify your resolver URL appears in the content.

Setup Instructions

1. Add AnchorID to any public page

Edit any public page you have access to and add your resolver URL anywhere in the content:

https://anchorid.net/resolve/<your-uuid>

Example for profile bio:

Software developer interested in open source.
Canonical identity: https://anchorid.net/resolve/4ff7ed97-b78f-4ae6-9011-5af714ee241c

Example for repository README:

# My Project

This project is maintained by [Your Name].

Canonical identity: https://anchorid.net/resolve/4ff7ed97-b78f-4ae6-9011-5af714ee241c

The URL just needs to appear somewhere in the page content. AnchorID will search the entire page for it.

2. Create the claim in AnchorID

Go to /login and authenticate, then:

  1. Scroll to "Identity Claims" section
  2. Click "Add New Claim"
  3. Choose Public Profile proof type
  4. Enter the page URL (profile URL, repo URL, Fediverse handle, etc.)
  5. Click "Add Claim"

3. Verify the claim

After adding your AnchorID to the public page, click the "Verify" button next to your claim.

AnchorID will:

  1. Fetch the public page
  2. Search for your resolver URL OR just your UUID
  3. Mark the claim as verified if found ✅

Space-Constrained Environments

For platforms with strict character limits (like social media bios or short profile fields), you can use just the UUID instead of the full resolver URL:

Full URL (recommended):

https://anchorid.net/resolve/4ff7ed97-b78f-4ae6-9011-5af714ee241c

UUID only (space-constrained):

4ff7ed97-b78f-4ae6-9011-5af714ee241c

Examples:

Twitter bio (limited space):

Software developer | Open source contributor
Identity: 4ff7ed97-b78f-4ae6-9011-5af714ee241c

Forum signature (limited space):

AnchorID: 4ff7ed97-b78f-4ae6-9011-5af714ee241c

GitHub bio (160 chars):

Developer working on distributed systems. 4ff7ed97-b78f-4ae6-9011-5af714ee241c

AnchorID verification will find either the full resolver URL or just the UUID. The UUID must match the exact format (8-4-4-4-12 hex digits).

Note: While the UUID-only format saves space, the full URL is more human-readable and immediately identifies the verification service. Use UUID-only only when character limits require it.

Input Formats

Mastodon / Fediverse Handles

You can use WebFinger-style handles or full URLs:

@mycal@noauthority.social          → https://noauthority.social/@mycal
mycal@noauthority.social           → https://noauthority.social/@mycal
https://noauthority.social/@mycal  → (used as-is)

AnchorID automatically converts handles to profile URLs.

Full URLs

For other platforms, use the full profile URL:

https://forum.example.com/users/username
https://reddit.com/u/username
https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=username

Requirements:

Troubleshooting

"Failed to fetch profile page"

"Profile fetched but resolver URL not found"

"URL blocked for security reasons"

This means the URL points to:

AnchorID only allows public HTTPS URLs for security.

Fediverse handle not recognized

Make sure the handle format is correct:

Can I use just the UUID instead of the full URL?

Yes! For space-constrained environments (Twitter bios, forum signatures, etc.), you can use just your UUID:

4ff7ed97-b78f-4ae6-9011-5af714ee241c

AnchorID verification will find either the full resolver URL or just the UUID in your profile content.

Note: The full URL (https://anchorid.net/resolve/your-uuid) is recommended when space permits, as it's more human-readable and immediately identifies the verification service. Use UUID-only only when character limits require it.

What public profile proof is good for

Use this proof type to verify control of:

Proof strength: Public profile proof is a moderate signal. It proves you control an account but not domain ownership.

For stronger signals, combine with:

Privacy Considerations

What AnchorID sees:

What AnchorID does NOT see:

AnchorID only fetches the public profile page to verify your resolver URL appears in the bio. No authentication is used.

Examples

Example 1: Mastodon Setup

  1. Log in to your Mastodon instance
  2. Go to Preferences → Profile → Bio
  3. Add: https://anchorid.net/resolve/<your-uuid>
  4. Save changes
  5. In AnchorID, add claim with: @username@instance.social
  6. Click "Verify"

Your Mastodon profile is now linked to your AnchorID! ✅

Example 2: GitHub Repository

  1. Open a public repository you have write access to
  2. Edit the README.md (or create CONTRIBUTORS.md, docs/about.md, etc.)
  3. Add anywhere in the file:
    Canonical identity: https://anchorid.net/resolve/<your-uuid>
  4. Commit and push changes
  5. In AnchorID, add claim with the repo URL:
    https://github.com/username/projectname
    or direct file URL:
    https://github.com/org/repo/blob/main/README.md
  6. Click "Verify"

Your contribution to this repository is now verifiable via your AnchorID! ✅

Tip: You can verify multiple repositories by adding separate claims for each one. This is useful for proving you contribute to multiple open source projects or maintaining attribution across different codebases.