Questions about Point-to-Point Messaging JSON payloads

[seanpwhitehurst]

Hey there,

Thanks for making all of this public! I have a few questions pertaining to Page 8 under the section heading "Point-to-Point Messaging Scheme" .

The messages exchanged between wallet owners and PFIs that are passed between the Identity Hubs of the participants contain semantically defined objects adherent to standard schemas.

• Will these "standard schemas" be hosted publicly?
• Are clients responsible for keeping up to date with these schemas as they are updated / changed over time?
• Could some module in an Identity Hub listen for particular shema changes to ensure compatibility?
• Do the JSON payloads for the messages themselves contain a metadata property describing the shape of the object(s) in the message?

On Page 10 of the paper there is a fantastic diagram outlining a sample messaging / protocol flow.

• Are sample JSON payloads corresponding to the messaging occurring in this flow available anywhere?
• Are there additional JSON artifacts describing who owns something sitting in an Identity Hub, who has been granted access to it, and what level of access is granted (perhaps CRUD level actions)? Are these stored in the same hub?

Sorry for all of the rambly questions, this has paper piqued my interest in DeID backed messaging experiences. Thanks again for making all of this publicly available.

Cheers,
Sean

[csuwildcat]

Thank you for reading the paper and providing your feedback. Some of these items are good candidates for Discussion threads, which you can start here: #2. Here are some answers/comments on the points you were asking about:

Will these "standard schemas" be hosted publicly?

Yes, definitely, likely either here in these repos or some standards organization.

Are clients responsible for keeping up to date with these schemas as they are updated / changed over time?

Yes, clients would need to track schemas (we hope they don't change too often), as they basically form the basis of the API contract for the protocol. We hope to provide tools to make this easier for implementers.

Could some module in an Identity Hub listen for particular schema changes to ensure compatibility?

Can you provide some additional detail about what exactly you mean by a module listening for schema changes?

Do the JSON payloads for the messages themselves contain a metadata property describing the shape of the object(s) in the message?

Yes, there will be descriptor metadata included.

Are sample JSON payloads corresponding to the messaging occurring in this flow available anywhere?

We don't have these done yet, but are actively working on them and hope to publish a draft of the schema objects soon.

Are there additional JSON artifacts describing who owns something sitting in an Identity Hub, who has been granted access to it, and what level of access is granted (perhaps CRUD level actions)? Are these stored in the same hub?

Yes, the Identity Hub spec/implementation will include these features/details, which you can explore and help define by participating in the DIF Identity Hub project: https://identity.foundation/identity-hub/spec/.