feat: restructured layout, added encryption-at-rest detail

fix: lint

fix: frontmatter sidebar

Author: xrissoula

docs/README.md

@@ -3,120 +3,110 @@ slug: /
 displayed_sidebar: docs
 ---
 
-# Polykey Documentation
+# **Welcome to the Polykey documentation**
 
-Welcome to the Polykey documentation.
+- [Tutorials:](https://polykey.com/docs/tutorials) Step-by-step guides that
+  introduce Polykey through practical outcomes.
 
-- [Tutorials](./tutorials) - these are a series of steps to introduce Polykey to
-  new beginners to achieve a practical outcome
-- [How-To Guides](/docs/how-to-guides) - these are short guides on how to
-  achieve a specific use-case which makes assumptions on the reader
-- [Theory](./theory/) - these are important for understanding the "why" of
-  Polykey
-- [Reference](./reference/) - these are useful when you need remember how to use
-  a particular command or function
+- [How-To Guides:](https://polykey.com/docs/how-to-guides) Short, targeted
+  instructions for achieving specific use-cases, assuming prior familiarity.
+
+- [Theory:](https://polykey.com/docs/theory/) Conceptual foundations explaining
+  the rationale behind Polykey.
+
+- [Reference:](https://polykey.com/docs/reference/) Lookup documentation for
+  commands, functions, and technical specifications.
 
 ## Introduction
 
-Polykey helps yourself, teams and software agents to manage and share secrets in
-a secure and easy-to-use manner.
-
-- Usable for the average person, you don't need to be a cryptography or
-  cybersecurity expert to securely manage and share secrets.
-- Can be integrated into software for automation of secret workflows.
-- Unifies the workflow between interactive password management and
-  infrastructure key management.
-- Decentralized and local-first software that does not hand over your secrets to
-  the cloud. You maintain sovereignty over your secrets on your devices.
-- Easily backup and synchronise your secrets across all your devices: desktop,
-  mobile or server.
-- End to end encryption for all network communication.
-- All data is encrypted at rest, thus preventing compromise even if devices are
-  lost or stolen.
-
-PolyKey is an open-source decentralised peer to peer secrets management system.
-It provides a software agent that runs on your device locally. Each agent
-process is a node in the Polykey peer to peer network. This agent manages your
-secret data and is capable of sharing secrets with other trusted Polykey agents.
-The secret data can be placed inside any directory on your computer including on
-USB storage.
+Polykey helps individuals, teams, and software agents manage and share secrets
+securely and intuitively.
 
-## Features
+- **User-Friendly:** Designed for everyday users, with no need to be a
+  cryptography or cybersecurity expert.
 
-## Features
+- **Automation-Ready:** Integrates into software workflows for automated secret
+  handling.
+
+- **Unified Secrets Management:** Bridges the gap between personal password
+  management and infrastructure-level key handling.
 
-Polykey is designed to offer a robust, decentralized secrets management experience. Key features include:
+- **Decentralized and Local-First:** Your secrets never leave your device unless
+  you choose to share them.
 
-- **Decentralized & Local-First:**  
-  Polykey operates locally on your device in a peer-to-peer network, ensuring your secrets remain under your control without reliance on centralized cloud services.
+- **Seamless Synchronization:** Backup and sync secrets across desktops, mobile
+  devices, and servers.
 
-- **State-of-the-Art Cryptography:**  
-  Utilizes modern encryption protocols such as XChaCha20-Poly1305 for secure symmetric encryption, complemented by secure key exchange (X25519) and digital signatures (Ed25519), providing both confidentiality and data integrity.
+- **Comprehensive Encryption:** All data is end-to-end encrypted in transit and
+  encrypted at rest.
 
-- **Secure Vault Architecture:**  
-  Secrets are organized into fully encrypted, version-controlled vaults that function like a secure, virtual filesystem - enabling safe storage, backup, and sharing with trusted peers.
+Polykey is an open-source, peer-to-peer secrets management system. Each Polykey
+agent runs locally as a node in the network, managing secrets and enabling
+sharing with trusted peers. Secrets are stored within encrypted vaults and can
+be placed anywhere on your system, including external storage like USB drives.
 
-- **Gestalt Identity Model:**  
-  Employs a unique decentralized identity system where multiple digital identities combine to form a Gestalt Identity, ensuring secure and trusted secret sharing across the network.
+## Features
 
-- **Seamless Integration & Automation:**  
-  Designed for both interactive use and automated workflows, Polykey easily integrates into existing systems for streamlined secret management and operational efficiency.
+Polykey delivers robust, decentralized secrets management through the following
+capabilities:
 
-- **Cross-Platform & Open-Source:**  
-  As an open-source solution, Polykey is available on multiple platforms and benefits from community contributions, ensuring transparency and continuous improvement.
+- **Decentralized & Local-First:** Operates entirely on your device in a
+  peer-to-peer network, giving you full control over your secrets.
 
-- **Future-Proof Security:**  
-  With ongoing developments, Polykey is actively exploring post-quantum cryptography and other advanced security measures to keep pace with emerging threats.
+- **State-of-the-Art Cryptography:** Employs XChaCha20-Poly1305 for encryption,
+  X25519 for key exchange, and Ed25519 for signatures, ensuring confidentiality
+  and integrity.
 
-## Principles
+- **Secure Vault Architecture:** Secrets are organized into fully encrypted,
+  version-controlled vaults that function like a secure, virtual filesystem,
+  enabling safe storage, backup, and sharing with trusted peers. Data remains
+  encrypted at rest, even when the Polykey agent is not running. It is only
+  decrypted when the agent is launched and the user authenticates.
 
-There are 2 main concepts to understand in Polykey:
+- **Gestalt Identity Model:** Aggregates multiple digital identities into a
+  unified, trusted representation to facilitate secure sharing.
 
-- Secrets Management
-- Decentralized Trust
+- **Integration & Automation:** Works interactively or via CLI integration for
+  seamless inclusion in CI/CD pipelines and system workflows.
 
-### Secrets Management
+- **Cross-Platform & Open Source:** Actively maintained, open-source, and
+  operable across multiple environments.
+
+- **Forward-Looking Security:** Investigating post-quantum cryptography and
+  advanced protective mechanisms to stay ahead of evolving threats.
 
-Polykey was built from the ground up to focus on secrets management.
+## Core Concepts
+
+### Secrets Management
 
-Secrets can be any kind of data that enables some sort of capability in the
-physical or virtual world.
+Polykey was purpose-built for secrets management: any data that enables
+capability.
 
-The world is full of secrets. For example, a password is a secret that enables
-you to login to a website. A private key is a secret that enables you to sign
-and verify some data. A symmetric key is a secret that enables you to encrypt
-and decrypt some data. A token is a secret that enables software agents and
-machines to authenticate to remote services. A credit card is a secret that
-enables payments.
+- **Passwords** for authentication
 
-Polykey is designed to manage all kinds of secrets. It is not limited to
-passwords or keys.
+- **Private Keys** for signing or decryption
 
-For this reason, we think of secrets as "capabilities".
+- **Tokens** for machine-to-service authentication
 
-All secrets are put into vaults. Each vault is a persistent, fully encrypted
-virtual filesystem with automatic version history. Vaults can be shared with
-other Polykey agents.
+- **Credit Card Info** for payments
 
-Polykey's secrets management system provides users with secure communication and
-secure computation.
+All secrets are stored in encrypted vaults with automatic versioning. Vaults can
+be shared securely with other Polykey agents. Secrets are treated as
+capabilities, or elements that grant power in both digital and physical systems.
 
 ### Decentralized Trust
 
-Sharing secrets depends on secure communications. Secure communications depends
-on trusted identities.
+Secret sharing relies on secure communications, which require trusted
+identities. Polykey introduces this via the concept of a Gestalt.
 
-Polykey introduces a concept called "Gestalt Identity".
+A **Gestalt Identity** is a collection of digital identities (e.g. social
+profiles or Polykey nodes) representing the same person or agent.
 
-A Gestalt Identity is a collection of digital identities (i.e. social media
-profiles and Polykey nodes) that all represent the same entity.
+- When a Polykey agent starts, it begins with a single-node gestalt.
 
-When you start a Polykey agent, it immediately forms its own gestalt with the
-Polykey node as its only identity. Link up your digital identities to the node
-in order to expand your gestalt.
+- Users can link other identities to expand trust.
 
-As you deploy more Polykey agents, you can join existing gestalts.
+- Gestalts allow others to verify and trust your identity when sharing secrets.
 
-Your gestalt is how other users are able to share secrets with a trusted
-identity. Your identity is the sum of the reputation of all your digital
-identities that are part of the gestalt.
+Trust in Polykey is compositional, built from the integrity of all linked
+identities in your gestalt.

docs/reference/architecture/encryption-algorithms.md

@@ -16,14 +16,19 @@ cryptographic algorithms for optimal security and performance.
 
 -### Symmetric Encryption
 
-- **XChaCha20-Poly1305 (IETF)**  
-  - **Key Size:** 256 bits  
-  - **Nonce Size:** 192 bits  
-  - **MAC Size:** 128 bits  
-  - This extended 192-bit nonce allows random nonces to be safely used, reducing the risk of nonce reuse and making the encryption scheme misuse-resistant.  
-  - A stream cipher approach is employed, encrypting data per block with a fresh, random nonce each time.
-  - Polykey stores its persistent state in an encrypted database, protected by a “Data Encryption Key” (DEK). This DEK is not derived from the root key, so rotating the root key does not require re-encrypting the entire database.
-  - By combining encryption and authentication, XChaCha20-Poly1305 ensures both confidentiality and integrity of the stored data.
+- **XChaCha20-Poly1305 (IETF)**
+  - **Key Size:** 256 bits
+  - **Nonce Size:** 192 bits
+  - **MAC Size:** 128 bits
+  - This extended 192-bit nonce allows random nonces to be safely used, reducing
+    the risk of nonce reuse and making the encryption scheme misuse-resistant.
+  - A stream cipher approach is employed, encrypting data per block with a
+    fresh, random nonce each time.
+  - Polykey stores its persistent state in an encrypted database, protected by a
+    “Data Encryption Key” (DEK). This DEK is not derived from the root key, so
+    rotating the root key does not require re-encrypting the entire database.
+  - By combining encryption and authentication, XChaCha20-Poly1305 ensures both
+    confidentiality and integrity of the stored data.
 
 ### Asymmetric Encryption