Signers & security keys
A Vela wallet is a Safe, and a Safe has owners. Yours can have up to seven,
with a threshold of one: any single signer can authorize a transaction on
its own. That is written 1-of-n.
What can be a signer
Three kinds, and you can mix them freely:
| Method | What it is | Typical example |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | The authenticator built into the device you are using | Face ID / Touch ID on this phone or laptop, synced by iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager |
| Nearby device | Another device you reach by scanning a code | Your phone signing for your desktop, over the WebAuthn hybrid transport |
| Security key | A removable authenticator on USB or NFC | YubiKey and other FIDO2 keys |
All three are WebAuthn credentials on the P-256 curve. To the Safe they are indistinguishable: each is an owner whose signature Safe’s passkey module checks on-chain the same way. (The first key is verified by Safe’s shared signer; each additional key by its own small signer contract, created by Safe’s factory the first time the wallet is deployed on a chain.)
Which kinds each app can use:
| App | This device | Nearby phone (QR) | Security key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web wallet, browser extension | Yes | Yes | USB or NFC, through the browser |
| Desktop (macOS, Windows, Linux) | macOS and Windows | Yes | USB |
| Android | Yes (with Google Play services) | Yes | USB |
| iOS | Yes | Yes | USB-C or Lightning YubiKey, firmware 5.8 or later |
The desktop app’s “this device” option (Touch ID, Windows Hello) and its Windows support in general are recent and less tested than the other routes; a phone or a security key is the dependable choice there today.
A security key can be your first signer, not only a backup. If you would rather your wallet never depended on an Apple or Google account at all, create it with two security keys and keep one somewhere safe. (A wallet whose only key isn’t synced anywhere can’t be created: the app asks for a second key, because losing that one device would lose the wallet.)
Why they are chosen at creation
This is the part that surprises people, so here is the mechanism rather than an apology.
Your wallet address is derived from its owner set. Vela computes it with CREATE2 from the Safe setup data — which includes every signer’s public key —
before anything is deployed on-chain. That is what lets you receive funds at an
address that does not exist yet.
For the address, the consequence is arithmetic: a different set of keys is a different address. Adding another signer later would not extend your wallet; it would compute a new wallet, at a new address, with none of your money in it.
So the question “can I add a key later?” has two honest answers:
- Before you fund it: yes — the address has not been committed to anything, so create the wallet again with the keys you want.
- After you fund it: the address is where your money is. Safe itself can change owners on a chain where your wallet is already deployed — but on every chain where it isn’t deployed yet, the same address still stands for the original keys, so the owner sets would drift apart from chain to chain. Keeping them in step across chains is possible — some smart wallets do it — but Vela hasn’t built it, so it doesn’t offer owner changes. Plan the key set at creation.
What this actually protects you from
Losing a device. With more than one signer, a lost phone is an inconvenience: another key signs. With exactly one signer and OS sync switched off, a lost phone is a lost wallet — which is why “your passkey syncs automatically” is a description of a setting you control, not a guarantee we can make on your behalf.
A platform account you no longer trust. If your passkey lives in iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager, whoever controls that account can potentially use it. A security key is held by you and syncs nowhere.
And what it does not protect you from, because 1-of-n cuts both ways:
adding a second key adds a second way in, not a second lock. Anyone who
obtains any one of your signers can sign alone. More keys means more resilience
against loss and more surface against theft; that is the trade, and it is yours
to make.
If a key may be compromised
A key can’t be removed. If one of your keys may be in someone else’s hands — an unlocked phone that went missing, a passcode someone saw, an Apple or Google account you no longer control — move everything to a new wallet created with keys you trust. The old address stays spendable by that key on every network, including funds anyone sends to it later.
Recovering, versus adding
These are different things and the docs keep them apart:
- Recovery & sign-in — getting back to an existing wallet on a new device with a key you already have.
- This page — deciding, up front, which keys exist at all.