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Running Custos

Custos is the server side: the PDS that hosts identities and the operator console that manages it. This surface reports the literal truth of what the machine is doing — it does not hide the machinery.

If you are using an identity rather than running a server, you want Using Obsign instead.

  • Running a relay — stand up the PDS, its health, and what you are (and aren’t) responsible for.
  • Configuration — the config and environment surface that tunes a deployment.
  • Moderation — takedown, restore, credential revocation, and account repair from the operator console.

The one thing to internalize before running Custos: you hold the second rotation key, not the first.

rotationKeys[0] → the user's device key (higher precedence)
rotationKeys[1] → the server's key (yours, lower precedence)

The user can always override you. That is by design: it is what lets a user leave your server without your permission, and it is the property that makes hosting trustworthy rather than custodial.