When Registry Stack fits
Use Registry Stack when an institution already manages authoritative data and needs a controlled way for another system to read selected records or receive a bounded answer. Registry Stack adds an access layer. It does not replace the system that owns the data.
Registry Stack is a good fit when
Section titled “Registry Stack is a good fit when”- The source must remain authoritative and under the institution’s control.
- Callers need a reviewed interface instead of direct database or file access.
- Each caller must have an explicit purpose, permission, and limited result.
- The institution needs to test source behavior with synthetic fixtures before connecting a runtime environment.
- Operators need separate control over endpoints, credentials, token issuers, and deployment.
Choose the result you need
Section titled “Choose the result you need”| Caller needs | Use | Result |
|---|---|---|
| To read specific data | Registry Relay | A protected, read-only API response |
| To learn only a fact | Evidence Gateway | A signed assertion carrying the answer, not the source record |
Registry Relay and Evidence Gateway are separate product choices. They can be operated by the same institution, but each has its own source, authorization, configuration, and audit boundary. Evidence Gateway does not use Relay as its source path. Registry Mint can issue short-lived access tokens to either service when a deployment has no identity provider; see the Registry Mint reference.
What each door needs from the source
Section titled “What each door needs from the source”Registry Relay reads reviewed read-only SQLite views. The institution decides in SQL what leaves the system of record, and Relay binds only views: a raw table is never a source. It reads nothing else, so a workbook, a live third-party API, or another database engine has to be reduced to a reviewed view first, by a process the institution owns and Relay does not see.
Evidence Gateway calls its own fixed, reviewed sources and evaluates one bounded question against them. It never reaches a Relay deployment to do so.
Who does what
Section titled “Who does what”- The assertion provider is an institution that answers requests with signed facts through Evidence Gateway.
- The data publisher is an institution that exposes records through Registry Relay.
- The consumer or verifier is a relying service that calls either door and verifies the answers it receives.
- The operator is whoever runs the deployment.
Registry Stack is not the right tool when
Section titled “Registry Stack is not the right tool when”- You need a new system of record.
- A caller must create, update, or delete source records.
- You need a workflow, eligibility, ranking, or case-management engine.
- You need Registry Stack to decide legal authority, data ownership, or institutional approval.
- You want to publish unrestricted open data.
- The records you want to publish through Relay cannot be exposed as a reviewed read-only SQLite view.
Registry Stack makes these boundaries visible, but the responsible institutions still make and approve the underlying decisions.
What you need to adopt it
Section titled “What you need to adopt it”Before moving beyond a local sample, identify:
- The source owner and update process.
- The fields and operations the integration is allowed to use.
- The callers, purposes, and fields each service may disclose.
- The operator responsible for endpoints, credentials, token issuers, deployment, monitoring, recovery, and audit retention.
Start with non-personal data. A successful local tutorial is not production approval.