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This comprehensive explanation has been generated from 32 GitHub source documents. All source documents are searchable here.
Last updated: October 7, 2025
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CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update, Delete and represents the traditional operational model for data management in centralized client-server architectures. In CRUD systems, a centralized server maintains authoritative control over data lifecycle operations, creating records on behalf of clients, allowing read access, enabling updates to existing records, and permanently deleting data when requested.
KERI explicitly rejects the CRUD model in favor of RUN (Read, Update, Nullify) to support its decentralized, end-verifiable architecture. This paradigm shift is fundamental to KERI's security model and represents a core philosophical difference from traditional identity systems.
The CRUD model creates several problems for decentralized identity systems:
Centralized Authority: CRUD assumes a server has authority to create and delete records, which contradicts KERI's principle that controllers are the sole source of authority over their AIDs
Deletion Breaks Verifiability: The Delete operation removes data from history, making it impossible to maintain the complete append-only event logs (KELs) that KERI requires for duplicity detection
Server-Side Creation: The Create operation implies servers generate data, whereas KERI requires that all data originates from who cryptographically sign their own events
When building KERI-based systems, developers must fundamentally rethink data management:
Transitioning from CRUD to RUN requires:
KERI's RUN model addresses these issues:
In OOBI (Out-Of-Band Introduction) contexts, KERI systems are described as "running off the CRUD" because:
The shift from CRUD to RUN enables KERI's critical security properties: