Code signing policy
A Windows installer is the one part of Mindwtr you have to run before you can inspect it. Here’s where the builds come from, who signs them, and what a signature does and doesn’t prove.
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.
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 pending. 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.