TIP Protocol

TIP Protocol is the WordPress plugin for content provenance, AI disclosure, and verified publisher identity. Sign every post with a cryptographic publisher key, label whether each piece was written by a human or with AI assistance, and let readers verify it all from any browser without installing an extension.

The plugin gives news outlets, blogs, marketing teams, academic publishers, and individual creators a practical way to answer the two questions readers and search engines increasingly demand: who actually published this, and how was it made? Every signed article carries a verifiable origin label (Original Human, AI-Assisted, AI-Generated, or Mixed), a post-quantum cryptographic signature, and a permanent record on the open TIP network.

If you have looked at Content Credentials, C2PA, or browser-based provenance extensions and wished there was a self-contained workflow inside WordPress, TIP Protocol is that workflow.

Why publishers and creators use TIP Protocol

• Verifiable AI content labels. Tag every post as Original Human (OH), AI-Assisted (AA), AI-Generated (AG), or Mixed (MX). The label is cryptographically signed, so it is not a self-claim that anyone can copy. Readers, search engines, and automated verifiers can all confirm it.
• Cryptographic publisher identity. A site-level TIP-ID and optional per-author TIP-IDs sign your content with post-quantum ML-DSA-65 signatures (FIPS 204). Readers see a verified trust badge; verifiers see a tamper-proof signature trail back to your domain.
• No browser extension required. Reader-facing verification works in any modern browser through HTTP response headers, HTML meta tags, JSON-LD provenance, and an accessible bundled <tip-badge> web component. Your audience does not need to install anything.
• Plays nicely with your SEO stack. When Yoast SEO or Rank Math is active, TIP Protocol merges provenance into the existing JSON-LD graph instead of competing with it. No duplicate schema, no conflicting article markup.
• Versioned and correction-aware. Each registration is versioned. An article that gets corrected, updated, or expanded later still resolves to a clean provenance trail with a clear change history.
• Encrypted-at-rest identities. Private signing keys never leave WordPress. They are AES-256-GCM encrypted with PBKDF2-derived keys using WordPress salts as input, and the admin UI never echoes them back to the browser.
• Open, free, and global. The TIP Protocol specification is open. The plugin is GPL-2.0-or-later. The workflow is the same whether you publish from Tokyo, Berlin, Sao Paulo, Lagos, Mumbai, or New York.

Who is this for

• News publishers and editorial teams that need verifiable authorship and AI-disclosure signals on every article.
• Independent bloggers and content creators who want to prove their work is genuine and protect against impersonation.
• Marketing, brand, and communications teams that have integrated AI into their content workflow and want to be transparent about how each piece was produced.
• Academic publishers, research organizations, and institutional websites that need an auditable provenance trail per article.
• Government, nonprofit, and public-interest websites where verified authorship and tamper evidence matter.
• Multi-author publications that need per-byline TIP-IDs alongside a single verified publisher identity.
• Publishers preparing for AI transparency expectations from regulators, search platforms, and discerning readers.

Key capabilities

• Register posts, pages, news items, events, products, and other public editor-supported content types on the TIP network with one click.
• Emit TIP verification response headers and provenance meta tags from WordPress on every public page.
• Enrich article JSON-LD schema with provenance fields, with smart handoff to Yoast SEO and Rank Math when they already manage the site schema graph.
• Render accessible verification badges with a bundled local web component so no third-party CDN is required by default.
• Manage publisher and creator TIP identities with encrypted private keys stored inside WordPress.
• Import reviewed publisher TIP-IDs from The AI Lab, or per-author creator TIP-IDs exported from vp.theailab.org, through the built-in .tip.json connection flow with optional DOB-based key unlock.
• Domain binding via .well-known/tip-protocol.json or DNS TXT records so the network can confirm a publisher legitimately claims a domain.
• Multi-author byline rosters with per-author roles (reporter, editor, photographer, columnist, guest, contributor) and optional per-author co-signatures.
• Audit log of registrations with CTID, change type, version history, signing officer roster, and registration status visible inside the admin.
• GDPR-friendly. Integrates with WordPress personal data export and erasure tooling.
• Optional WebAuthn biometric step-up for personal-mode signing. Opt-in per writer, never a barrier.

How TIP Protocol differs from other provenance systems

TIP Protocol is built for the publishing surface that already exists in WordPress, not for the camera-to-cloud capture flow that systems like C2PA Content Credentials were designed around. Where C2PA focuses on signing images and videos at the moment of capture, TIP Protocol focuses on signing the final published article (text, media manifest, author roster, origin label) at the moment a publisher hits Publish in WordPress. Both approaches can coexist; TIP Protocol fills the editorial gap.

About the AI Trust Council

The AI Trust Council is the governance body that maintains the Trust Identity Protocol specification, sets the criteria for the Global Seal of Trust certification, and curates the AI Trust Registry of verified publishers. Operated under The AI Lab Intelligence Unobscured, the AI Trust Council keeps AI disclosure standards, content provenance methods, and reader-facing trust signals open, auditable, and aligned with how content actually moves across the modern internet. Specification updates, scoring rule changes, and Global Seal of Trust certification announcements are coordinated through the AI Trust Council and published on theailab.org.

About The AI Lab

The AI Lab Intelligence Unobscured is the research and standards organization behind Trust Identity Protocol, the AI Trust Council, the AI Trust Registry, and the Global Seal of Trust certification program. Founded by Dinesh Mendhe, The AI Lab builds open infrastructure for the AI-native internet: cryptographic content provenance, verified human identity, AI disclosure labeling, and the verification systems that make those signals trustworthy to readers, search engines, and platforms worldwide. The #HumanOrAI public campaign extends the same goal into everyday discourse: every published piece should answer “human or AI?” with a verifiable signal, not a self-claim. Learn more at theailab.org.

Integrations and compatibility

• Yoast SEO and Rank Math: TIP Protocol detects either plugin and merges provenance into its existing JSON-LD schema graph instead of emitting a competing article schema block. No duplicate markup, no schema conflict.
• WooCommerce: works with WooCommerce product pages and any other public editor-supported custom post type. Sign product descriptions, sponsored articles, and editorial product reviews with the same workflow as regular posts.
• Page builders: Elementor, Beaver Builder, Bricks, Divi, and similar tools render TIP-signed content correctly because the badge web component and provenance meta tags emit at the WordPress template layer, beneath the page builder’s rendering pipeline.
• Multisite: tested with both subdomain and subdirectory multisite installations. Each subsite manages its own publisher TIP-ID and contributor registry independently.
• Caching plugins: WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, LiteSpeed Cache, WP Super Cache, and similar work without configuration. The bundled trust badge is a small web component that caches cleanly along with the rest of the page.
• Block editor and classic editor: both editors are fully supported with sidebar and metabox controls for AI origin labels and multi-author bylines.
• WebAuthn-capable browsers: optional biometric step-up for personal Author TIP-IDs (Touch ID, Face ID, Windows Hello, hardware security keys). Opt-in per writer, never required.

TIP Protocol glossary

• TIP-ID: a unique cryptographic identifier for a verified publisher, platform, or individual author. Format: tip://id/REGION-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Used as the signing identity for every piece of registered content.
• CTID (Content TIP-ID): the per-piece-of-content identifier produced when a publisher registers a post on the TIP network. Persistent across content updates so a corrected article still resolves to its original provenance trail.
• CNA-2.2: the current canonical normalization algorithm that defines exactly which bytes get signed. Cross-implementation compatibility hinges on every signer (WordPress plugin, browser extension, mobile clients) producing the same canonical bytes from the same inputs.
• ML-DSA-65: the post-quantum digital signature algorithm (FIPS 204, formerly known as CRYSTALS-Dilithium) that TIP Protocol uses for content signatures. Resistant to attacks from both classical and quantum computers.
• SHAKE-256: the extendable-output hash function (FIPS 202) used to derive the canonical hash that ML-DSA-65 signs.
• Origin code / AI disclosure label: one of four labels publishers attach to every signed piece of content. Original Human (OH), AI-Assisted (AA), AI-Generated (AG), Mixed (MX). The label is part of the signed payload, so it cannot be modified after publication without invalidating the signature.
• Trust badge: the reader-facing verification element rendered as the bundled tip-badge web component. Shows the verified publisher, origin label, trust score, and verification state.
• AI Trust Registry: the public registry of verified publishers and platforms maintained by the AI Trust Council. Used by reader-side verifiers to confirm a TIP-ID maps to a known organization.
• Global Seal of Trust: the certification program publishers earn by adopting the AI Trust Council’s open verification criteria.
• Publisher Mode and Personal Mode: the two attribution patterns the plugin supports. Publisher Mode signs with an organization TIP-ID and credits an authors roster. Personal Mode signs with an individual creator’s TIP-ID under attribution self.
• Domain binding: the proof a publisher controls the domain on which signed content appears. Done via either a .well-known/tip-protocol.json endpoint or a DNS TXT record at _tip-protocol.your-domain.com.

Resources

• WordPress.org plugin page: https://wordpress.org/plugins/tip-protocol/
• The AI Lab homepage: https://theailab.org
• Personal Author TIP-IDs: https://vp.theailab.org
• TIP Protocol source code and issue tracker: https://github.com/theailaborg/tip-protocol-wp-plugin

Legal

This plugin is distributed under GPL-2.0-or-later.

Bundled legal and notice files: * LICENSE.txt for the GPL software license notice * NOTICE.txt for the bundle notice summary shown in the admin UI * PATENTS.txt for informational patent disclosure * TRADEMARKS.txt for informational trademark notice

Plugin attribution is optional and can be enabled in settings.

Accessibility

TIP Protocol includes keyboard-accessible verification badges, focus-visible controls, descriptive editor help text, semantic public trust UI, and screen-reader-friendly verification details. The public badge details panel supports keyboard open/close behavior and Escape to dismiss.

External services

This plugin connects to external TIP services to deliver its core provenance features.

TIP node API

The plugin sends registration, verification, and trust-score requests to the configured TIP node endpoint.

Data sent: * publisher or creator TIP-ID * content registration payloads * canonical, exact, and perceptual hashes * content signatures * verification lookups for trust scores

Service provider: The AI Lab Intelligence Unobscured, Inc. Service URLs: https://node.theailab.org by default, or your configured TIP node URL Service purpose: content registration, provenance verification, trust score retrieval

Optional badge CDN

If you switch the badge delivery mode from Bundled local copy to CDN, reader browsers will load the public badge script from the TIP badge CDN.

Data sent: * standard browser request metadata needed to fetch the script

Service provider: The AI Lab Intelligence Unobscured, Inc. Service URL: https://badge.theailab.org Service purpose: optional remote delivery of the TIP badge web component

Privacy

TIP Protocol adds suggested privacy-policy text in WordPress and integrates with WordPress personal data export and erasure tools for stored user TIP identity data.