Mindwtr

Code signing policy

Check where Mindwtr installers come from, how releases are signed, and what to do if Windows shows a warning.

Last updated 29 July 2026

1. Where the builds come from

Every official Mindwtr release is built by the release workflow in the public Mindwtr repository, from the source code in that repository. Only official release tags are eligible for signing — pull requests, forks, branch builds, and development builds are not.

2. Signing

Free code signing provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation. The private key stays in SignPath’s hardware security module — the project never holds it — and every signing request is approved by hand.

Because the foundation holds the certificate, Windows shows “SignPath Foundation” as the verified publisher on signed builds, not “Mindwtr”. That is the trade for free HSM-backed signing that open-source projects never have to fund personally; the signature still means the installer was built from this repository and has not been altered since.

3. Project roles

  • Committer and reviewer: Dongda Li
  • Signing approver: Dongda Li

Contributions from other authors are reviewed before they are merged into an official release.

4. Privacy

Mindwtr is local-first. It does not transfer information about you or your data to networked systems unless you turn on a networked feature yourself. The privacy policy covers each of those features in detail.

5. Current status

The SignPath Foundation application is approved and signing is wired into the release workflow; the release certificate is still being issued. Until a release is named here as signed, don’t assume a Windows download carries a SignPath signature. Every release does publish SHA-256 checksums on its GitHub release page, and in-app desktop updates are verified against the project’s own updater key — neither of those changes.

6. What a signature is for

A signature tells you an installer came from this project and hasn’t been altered since it was signed. It is not a switch that turns off Windows SmartScreen or antivirus prompts. Microsoft builds publisher reputation over time, so warnings can still appear on a freshly signed release; signing every release consistently is what lets that reputation accumulate instead of starting from zero each time.

7. Questions

Email [email protected] or open an issue on GitHub.