> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.aion.to/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Identities

> How Aion identities address public distributions and daemon agents.

Identities are the stable addresses through which Aion surfaces agents and
integrations.

An identity is not the same thing as a node. A node can participate in multiple
roles, and each role may need a different address and permission model.

## Why identities exist

Identities let Aion separate:

* the implementation of a node
* the environment in which that node runs
* the address other systems use to reach it

This separation makes it possible to evolve behavior and configuration without
changing the external concept of who or what is being addressed.

## Distribution identities

A distribution-facing identity represents the public entrypoint for a
distribution.

This is the identity associated with the distribution's public surface. For an
agent-to-agent distribution, that public surface may publish a public agent
card that describes the sequence entrypoint. For other network types, such as
Twitter, the distribution may still be a public integration point without
exposing a public A2A card.

In other words, a distribution can be externally reachable without every
external route being an agent-card-discoverable A2A surface.

## Daemon identities

A daemon identity represents a node's direct singular-agent surface.

This is the identity used when another agent needs to address the node
directly, outside the normal distribution sequence. That daemon surface may
expose agent-to-agent, MCP, events, or other capability-specific
functionality depending on how the node is configured.

The daemon identity is what makes requests like these possible:

* asking a distribution-backed daemon for extra conversation context
* invoking a node directly for internal automation
* exposing node-specific tools without routing through the public sequence

## One node, multiple identities

It is normal for one node to participate in multiple addressable roles.

For example, a distribution node may:

* expose a public distribution identity for external ingress
* expose a daemon identity for direct internal agent calls

Those are different surfaces with different contracts:

* the public distribution identity represents the full request path into
  the sequence
* the daemon identity represents the node itself as a singular agent

## Cards and identities

The card that gets published depends on which identity and surface are being
described.

* A public distribution card describes the public sequence entrypoint.
* A component agent card describes the node's direct singular-agent surface.

That distinction matters because the capabilities and URLs may be different
even when both surfaces belong to the same node.

See [Agent Abstraction](/docs/concepts/agent-abstraction),
[Agent Environments](/docs/concepts/environments),
[Distributions](/docs/concepts/distributions), and
[Daemons](/docs/concepts/daemons) for the surrounding concepts.