holds key

• CURIE: gmeow:holdsKey
• IRI: https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/holdsKey
• Category: property
• Defined by: gmeow:slices/trust
• Box roles: RBox role (What is this?)

Relates an agent to a cryptographic key it holds. The period over which the agent held the key may be carried with gmeow:validFrom/validUntil on this statement.

Structure

Property shape: object property; gmeow:Agent -> gmeow:CryptographicKey

Practical Pattern

Use gmeow:holdsKey from gmeow:Agent to gmeow:CryptographicKey when the relationship itself belongs in the native GMEOW graph.

Example Snippets

These snippets are generated from canonical slice examples and trimmed to the Turtle blocks where this term appears.

Web Of Trust

• Source: slices/core/trust/examples/web-of-trust.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-core-trust-examples-web-of-trust

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Blackcat Informatics® Inc. <paudley@blackcatinformatics.ca>
# SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0
#
# Worked example: the PGP web of trust. Trust is decentralized and
# relational: agents gmeow:holdsKey cryptographic keys; one agent's
# gmeow:Certification signs another's key (a key-signing, binding key↔identity);
# and a gmeow:TrustAssertion records how much a trustor trusts a trustee AS AN
# INTRODUCER (gmeow:trustLevel + gmeow:introducerDepth — how far transitive trust
# may flow). gmeow:endorses is the lightweight, keyless vouch. No central
# authority: trust is asserted pairwise and composed.
@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/trust/> .

ex:alice a gmeow:Person ;
    gmeow:name     "Alice"@en ;
    gmeow:holdsKey ex:aliceKey ;
    gmeow:endorses ex:bob .

Common Companion Terms

gmeow:Agent, gmeow:CryptographicKey

External Equivalences

Equivalent or closely aligned targets: wot

Linkages

Generated from the canonical mapping DSL. SSSOM files are the generated public interchange form for term equivalences.

Term Equivalences

Usage Advice

Use when

• Use to record that an agent holds a cryptographic key — the holder-to-key edge that a signature's gmeow:signingKey and a certification's gmeow:certifiedKey both reference.

Avoid when

• Avoid for the attested binding of a key to an identity (that is gmeow:Certification, which is perspectival and dated) and for an account's key (use gmeow:accountKey); holding is possession, not third-party vouching.

How to use

• Assert gmeow:holdsKey from the agent to the key, and carry the holding period with gmeow:validFrom / gmeow:validUntil on the statement when a key is rotated or retired.

Examples

• ex:lillith gmeow:holdsKey ex:lillithKey.