Lit Protocol Launches Chipotle: Programmable Key Management and Verifiable Compute in a Single API Call

March 31, 2026 — San Francisco, CA Lit Protocol today announced the general availability of Lit Chipotle, a REST API and developer platform for confidential compute and programmable key management. Chipotle enables developers to run JavaScript inside Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), sign transactions with network-managed wallets, and return cryptographically verifiable results — all without managing private keys or running infrastructure.

The Problem

Developers building applications that require cryptographic signing, secret management, or verifiable compute face a painful trade-off: either run complex key management infrastructure themselves, or trust a centralized custodian with their private keys. Both options introduce operational burden, security risk, or vendor lock-in.

The Solution

Chipotle eliminates this trade-off with three composable layers:

TEE Enclave — A hardware-isolated execution environment that holds root key material and derives signing keys on demand. Key material never leaves the enclave, and every execution is sandboxed. Developers can verify the full chain of trust cryptographically.
On-Chain Permissions (Base) — All authorization state — accounts, API key scopes, wallet registrations, and permission groups — lives on-chain in smart contracts. Developers can manage permissions through the API or submit transactions directly from an EOA or multisig for full self-sovereign control.
Lit Actions — Immutable JavaScript programs identified by their IPFS content ID (CID). Developers submit code directly, and the system computes the CID to verify integrity — no IPFS storage is required. For additional transparency, developers can optionally publish their code to IPFS so anyone can independently verify it matches the CID. The TEE executes actions at runtime with access to derived key material. See the full Lit Actions overview.

What Developers Can Build

Chipotle is designed to serve both Web3 and traditional developers:

Verifiable price feeds — Fetch live market data, sign it with a network-managed wallet, and let smart contracts verify the signature on-chain. No off-chain trust required.
On-chain access gating — Only sign or decrypt when a user holds a specific NFT, token balance, or meets any on-chain condition.
Programmable wallets — Create and manage elliptic-curve key pairs (PKPs) that sign transactions without ever exposing private keys.
Secret encryption and decryption — Secure sensitive data with PKP-derived keys and store ciphertexts anywhere.
Serverless backend functions — Run JavaScript that can hold keys, call external APIs, read smart contracts, and return signed results — with no servers to manage.

For common patterns and copy-paste code, see the Examples guide and Design Patterns.

Getting Started

The fastest way to get started is through the Dashboard — a full web interface for account management, wallet creation, and action execution. Create an account, generate an API key, set up a wallet, and run your first Lit Action — no terminal needed. For developers who prefer the command line, every dashboard operation is also available via curl:

# Create an account
curl -s -X POST https://api.chipotle.litprotocol.com/core/v1/new_account \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"account_name": "my-app", "account_description": "Getting started"}'

# Create a wallet
curl -s https://api.chipotle.litprotocol.com/core/v1/create_wallet \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $API_KEY"

# Run a Lit Action
curl -s -X POST https://api.chipotle.litprotocol.com/core/v1/lit_action \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"code": "async function main() { return { hello: \"world\" }; }"}'

Pricing

Chipotle uses a simple credit-based billing model with no subscriptions or per-seat fees. All read-only operations are free. Write operations and Lit Action execution cost **

0.01 per second**, with each Lit Action billed at a **minimum of 1 second**. Common operations like ECDSA signing complete in under a second. Credit packages start at

5.00 with no expiry.

Open and Self-Sovereign

Chipotle is not a walled garden. The platform supports both a managed SaaS experience and a fully self-sovereign deployment posture. Developers can deploy on any dstack-compatible platform, manage their account contract through a multisig, and scope API keys to enforce least-privilege access. See the Architecture overview for details.

Resources

Documentation: developer.litprotocol.com
Dashboard: dashboard.chipotle.litprotocol.com
API Reference (Swagger): api.chipotle.litprotocol.com/core/v1/swagger-ui
Architecture: Architecture overview
Lit Actions: Overview · Examples · Patterns
Pricing: Credit-based pricing

About Lit Protocol

Lit Protocol is a decentralized key management and compute network. Lit gives developers programmable signing, encryption, and compute — powered by a distributed network of TEE nodes. Learn more at litprotocol.com.

Media Contact: press@litprotocol.com

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Lit Actions

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2026 03 30

Lit Protocol Launches Chipotle: Programmable Key Management and Verifiable Compute in a Single API Call

The Problem

The Solution

What Developers Can Build

Getting Started

Pricing

Open and Self-Sovereign

Resources

About Lit Protocol

​Lit Protocol Launches Chipotle: Programmable Key Management and Verifiable Compute in a Single API Call

​The Problem

​The Solution

​What Developers Can Build

​Getting Started

​Pricing

​Open and Self-Sovereign

​Resources

​About Lit Protocol

Lit Protocol Launches Chipotle: Programmable Key Management and Verifiable Compute in a Single API Call

The Problem

The Solution

What Developers Can Build

Getting Started

Pricing

Open and Self-Sovereign

Resources

About Lit Protocol