Key Terms

These terms appear throughout the Automata documentation.

• Trusted Execution Environment (TEE): An isolated memory zone within hardware that ensures the integrity of computation and protects data privacy. System administrators or operating hosts cannot tamper with or inspect data processed inside the enclave. Intel SGX and Intel TDX are the TEE technologies most used across Automata's stack.
• Remote attestation: The process by which a TEE proves to an external party what hardware it runs on and what code it is executing. Verifying attestations is the foundation of every Automata product.
• Quote: The signed attestation evidence produced by an Intel SGX or TDX platform. Automata DCAP Attestation verifies quotes onchain.
• DCAP (Data Center Attestation Primitives): Intel's attestation model in which quotes are verified against published collateral (certificates, TCB info, identity data) rather than by contacting Intel per verification.
• Collateral: The certificate chains, TCB info, and enclave identity data required to verify a quote. Automata's Onchain PCCS stores collateral onchain; the DCAP dashboard keeps it up to date.
• TCB (Trusted Computing Base): The set of hardware and firmware components whose security status determines whether a platform's attestation is considered up to date.
• FMSPC: An identifier for a family of Intel platforms, used to look up the correct TCB info when verifying a quote.
• Hardware root-of-trust: Trust anchored in keys fused into the hardware by its manufacturer. Verification walks a hierarchical certificate chain back to this root (for DCAP, Intel's root CA).
• Reproducible build: A build process that anyone can replicate to produce a bit-identical binary, proving the released software matches the audited source code. This is what TEE Compile attests.
• Coprocessor: A system that extends a blockchain's smart contract environment by performing specialized compute offchain — in Automata's case, inside TEEs with onchain-verifiable attestations.
• Private RPC relay: A secure enclave acting as an RPC proxy between clients and RPC providers, guaranteeing that no request metadata is stored by the relay or leaked to providers. This is the model behind 1RPC.