No, Keybase uses these social network proofs to verify the ownership of the public key so you can encrypt messages to it, like what a "web of trust" would do in traditional public key directories.
Since they need public proofs, email will not be supported, for example. Also, they're very slow[1] in adding more providers, or perhaps they don't want more providers.
But yes, I think the database Keybase is building can be used for a login system somehow.
[1]: https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/518
In Show HN: NullAuth – A proposal for password-less authenticationkeybase
keybase-issues
Web Development2014–2026
keybase / keybase-issues
keybase-issues
A single repo for managing publicly recognized issues with the keybase client, installer, and website.
35Distinct people
38Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
899GitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
A single repo for managing publicly recognized issues with the keybase client, installer, and website.
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- keybase/client · linked in 3 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 6:01:08 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year38 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2014-03-19 16:39:02 UTC to 2026-03-11 21:37:01 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
Client-side (app) bugs:
If you've installed Keybase on your desktop, run:
keybase log send
and follow the instructions. If you're on a mobile device, please just post to client issue tracker.
Serious security bugs
We have a bug bounty program on HackerOne, please report there.
Everything else, including website bugs, ideas and suggestions
There's an issues tab on this page.
If you'd like to review our code
We'd like that too.
https://github.com/keybase/client - the client for all platforms
Hall-of-fame Bugfinders
Michael Henriksen
S. Venkatesh
Leigh
Thanks!
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
7 sourcesWhat bugs me about the direction Keybase is going is that they still have not implemented a way of disabling the ability for users to send me encrypted messages.
I do not want Keybase to hoard encrypted messages I will never be able to read because I do not want to install their application on my computer. My Github issue for this has gone largely ignored:
https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/2808
I am thinking I am long overdue to placeholder my account until this is solved. I already have 10 encrypted messages I will never be able to read. I joined Keybase as a public key repository with external verification support, not for them to store private conversations -- encrypted or not.
In Introducing the Keybase filesystemTake a look at https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/518
In Keybase is out for iPhone, AndroidDoes keybase still upload the private PGP key to the keybase server by default? https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/160
In An off-grid social networkDunno! Would encourage SSB users to post the request to https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/518.
In An off-grid social networkThis really does look great.
Edit: since I haven't been running Keybase for the past 2 weeks, I missed the fact that they disabled continuous background proof verification due to my concerns: https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/2782#issuec...
Good on them! The rest of this comment is not actually applicable anymore and you should give Keybase Chat a try :)
Original comment:
-----------------
My biggest concern with it, however, is that the Keybase client is now frequently verifying all my contacts' proofs. Many of these verifications are for personal websites and are done over port 80 or involve DNS lookups that my contacts control.
This leaks a great deal of metadata over the network about who my contacts are, and makes it easy for a hostile network to determine who I am if I'm running the Keybase app.
I reported this on Gi
Read the rest
tHub when I noticed it and have unfortunately not been regularly running the Keybase app since: https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/2782
I hope they decide on some sort of fix for this. They could at least not do verifications over insecure connections and arbitrary 3rd party DNS lookups without my explicit approval.
I don't really have a good answer for you. Invite-based services are a good way to scale out without getting a huge spike all at once (even Gmail was introduced using invites), but I don't know how long Keybase intends to stick with the invite model or when they'll expand it.
As for services, each service that's supported presumably needs custom code, and also needs to have a publicly-auditable way to post a proof that cannot be done by anyone other than the owner of the account (e.g. for Twitter you need to actually tweet something, for GitHub you need to post a gist, etc). I don't have a LinkedIn account or use GitLab so I don't know if those services have an effective way to handle such a proof.
For reference, here's a ticket asking for LinkedIn support - https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/1115. Here's one for GitLab - ht
Read the rest
tps://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/1242 - which documents some barriers there (such as no API to get GitLab snippets).