> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developer.litprotocol.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Security & Verification

> How to verify that your connection to Lit Chipotle terminates inside a genuine TEE running unmodified code.

The Lit Chipotle API server runs inside an Intel TDX [Trusted Execution Environment](https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/tools/trust-domain-extensions/overview.html) on [Phala Cloud](https://phala.com/), with its keys gated by smart contracts on Base. This section explains how that works and how to verify it yourself.

<Card title="Just want to verify it? Start here." icon="shield-check" href="/architecture/verification/quick-verify">
  One-click Phala Trust Center report plus three commands you can paste into a terminal to confirm the API is running unmodified code on real Intel TDX hardware.
</Card>

## Zero-Trust TLS

**What is Zero-Trust TLS?** In traditional web hosting, you trust the server operator not to inspect or tamper with your traffic. Zero-Trust TLS (ZT-TLS) eliminates this trust assumption entirely. The TLS private key is generated **inside** the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) and **never leaves it** — not even the cloud provider, OS administrator, or Lit Protocol team can extract it.

**How it works for Lit Chipotle:**

1. The [dstack-ingress](https://github.com/Dstack-TEE/dstack-examples/tree/main/custom-domain/dstack-ingress) container, running inside the CVM, generates a private key and requests a TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt via DNS-01 challenge (Route 53). The private key never leaves the TEE.
2. DNS [CAA records](https://letsencrypt.org/docs/caa/) for the domain restrict which CAs can issue certificates and require DNS-01 validation with a specific ACME account URI, ensuring only the TEE-controlled ACME flow can obtain a cert.
3. The certificate and ACME account are recorded as evidence files. Their SHA-256 checksums are hashed into a single digest that is embedded in a TDX attestation quote's `reportData` field.
4. Because the quote is signed by Intel's TDX hardware root of trust and bound to this digest, anyone can cryptographically prove the certificate was generated inside this specific TEE.

**What this means:** When you connect to `api.chipotle.litprotocol.com` over HTTPS, the TLS handshake completes **inside the TEE**. No proxy, load balancer, or CDN can intercept the traffic. If the TLS handshake succeeds and the certificate is valid, you are provably talking to the TEE — not to any intermediary.

**Contrast with traditional TLS:** Traditional TLS proves identity (the server holds the private key for this domain) but says nothing about *where* the key lives or *what code* uses it. ZT-TLS closes that gap: the key can only exist inside attested TEE hardware.

<Note>
  Zero-Trust TLS means the encryption endpoint is the trust boundary. Once you verify the certificate was issued to the TEE, the HTTPS connection itself becomes your proof of confidentiality.
</Note>

For the full design, see [Phala: TEE-Controlled Domain Certificates](https://docs.phala.com/dstack/design-documents/tee-controlled-domain-certificates).

## Quick TLS Verification

Given Zero-Trust TLS, simple certificate validation already gives strong guarantees. This is sufficient for most users.

```bash theme={null}
# Inspect the TLS certificate
openssl s_client -connect api.chipotle.litprotocol.com:443 \
  -servername api.chipotle.litprotocol.com </dev/null 2>/dev/null \
  | openssl x509 -noout -fingerprint -sha256 -dates -subject
```

* The certificate is issued by **Let's Encrypt** (a public CA) to the exact domain.
* Because ZT-TLS guarantees the private key lives only in the TEE, a valid TLS handshake = connection to the TEE.
* For programmatic clients: **pin the certificate fingerprint** after initial verification (see [Certificate Pinning](#certificate-pinning) below).

## Certificate Pinning

Once full verification passes, pin the TLS certificate fingerprint:

1. Record the SHA-256 fingerprint from the verification above.
2. On subsequent connections, validate the cert matches the pinned fingerprint — this is fast and doesn't require re-running attestation.
3. **When to re-verify**: After any CVM redeployment, a new TLS cert is generated inside the TEE. Re-run the [full verification](/architecture/verification/full-verification) and update your pinned fingerprint.

## What's Next

* [Verify in 30 Seconds](/architecture/verification/quick-verify) — Phala Trust Center one-click report plus three terminal commands
* [On-Chain KMS](/architecture/verification/onchain-kms) — how Base smart contracts gate key release and how to confirm the KMS is active
* [Full Verification Guide](/architecture/verification/full-verification) — step-by-step commands to verify every layer of the chain of trust
* [Chain of Trust Reference](/architecture/verification/chain-of-trust) — detailed explanation of what each verification step checks and why it matters

## Further Reading

* [Phala Trust Center for Lit Chipotle](https://trust.phala.com/app/3f91deaf16ff7c823ee65081d6bafa1ceea05ffc) — live verification report for our production app
* [Phala: Trust Center Verification](https://docs.phala.com/phala-cloud/attestation/trust-center-verification) — how the Trust Center works
* [Phala: Attestation Overview](https://docs.phala.com/phala-cloud/attestation/overview)
* [Phala: Understanding On-Chain KMS](https://docs.phala.com/phala-cloud/key-management/understanding-onchain-kms)
* [Phala: Zero-Trust TLS (TEE-Controlled Domain Certificates)](https://docs.phala.com/dstack/design-documents/tee-controlled-domain-certificates)
* [Phala: Complete Chain of Trust](https://docs.phala.com/phala-cloud/attestation/chain-of-trust)
* [Phala: Verify Your Application](https://docs.phala.com/phala-cloud/attestation/verify-your-application)
* [Phala: Get Attestation](https://docs.phala.com/phala-cloud/attestation/get-attestation)
* [RTMR3 Calculator](https://rtmr3-calculator.vercel.app/) — web tool for computing compose hashes
* [dstack Verification Script](https://github.com/Dstack-TEE/dstack-examples/blob/main/attestation/rtmr3-based/verify.py) — reference Python implementation
* [Phala Trust Center (reference implementation)](https://github.com/Phala-Network/trust-center)
* [Sigstore cosign](https://docs.sigstore.dev/cosign/signing/overview/)