[[!meta title="Monkeysphere Validation Agent"]]

# Monkeysphere Validation Agent #

The Monkeysphere Validation Agent offers a local service for systems
to validate certificates (both X.509 and OpenPGP) and other public
keys in their proper contexts.  

Among other reasons, having a validation agent is a good thing
because:

* Multiple tools can rely on the same PKI (e.g. the user's web browser
  and the user's ssh client).
* A single validation agent can present a consistent UI to the user
  (when used in an end-user context), or provide a unified trust model
  to various services (when used in a server-side context).
* Authentication/certificate validation code can potentially be
  isolated to a protected environment.
 
## Implementations ##

There are currently two implementations of the validation agent:

 * msva-perl
 * msva-ruby

## Protocol ##

The Monkeysphere Validation Agent protocol (MSVA) is defined as a
minimal HTTP server with JSON-encapsulated requests and responses.
You may want to read [more protocol details](protocol).