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

# Use Cases

> How organisations use ROOTKey to enforce data integrity, meet regulatory obligations, and build trust into critical systems - with implementation guidance for each scenario.

ROOTKey provides a single, composable primitive - **cryptographic proof that data existed in a specific state at a specific time** - that applies across a wide range of industries and integration patterns.

This section maps that primitive to concrete use cases: what problem is being solved, how ROOTKey fits into the architecture, which protocol and deployment model to use, and where to go in the documentation to implement it.

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<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Tamper-Evident Document Management" icon="file-shield" href="/use-cases/document-integrity">
    Anchor documents at creation or approval - contracts, filings, certificates - and prove their integrity to any third party without relying on a trusted intermediary.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Regulatory Compliance & Audit Trails" icon="scale-balanced" href="/use-cases/regulatory-audit-trails">
    Build immutable, independently verifiable audit trails for NIS2, DORA, ISO 27001, and financial regulatory frameworks. Evidence that holds up under adversarial scrutiny.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Supply Chain Traceability" icon="route" href="/use-cases/supply-chain">
    Anchor custody events and provenance data across multi-party supply chains. Any participant - including regulators - can verify product authenticity independently.
  </Card>

  <Card title="IoT & Industrial Data Integrity" icon="microchip" href="/use-cases/iot-industrial">
    Protect sensor data, SCADA events, and OT telemetry at source. High-frequency integrity anchoring over MQTT without disrupting existing OT network architecture.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Software & Artifact Integrity" icon="code-branch" href="/use-cases/software-integrity">
    Anchor build artifacts, container images, and release artefacts in CI/CD pipelines. Detect tampering between build and deployment with cryptographic evidence.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Healthcare & Life Sciences" icon="heart-pulse" href="/use-cases/healthcare">
    Integrity-protect clinical data, trial records, and patient information at scale - with GDPR erasure compatibility and auditability for regulatory submissions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI System Integrity & Auditability" icon="brain" href="/use-cases/ai-integrity">
    Anchor model versions, training data provenance, decision logs, and conformity assessment records - the tamper-evident audit trail that high-risk AI systems require under the EU AI Act.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

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## How to Use This Section

Each use case page follows the same structure:

1. **The problem** - what breaks without cryptographic integrity
2. **How ROOTKey solves it** - the architectural role ROOTKey plays
3. **Implementation** - step-by-step, with links to the relevant API endpoints
4. **Recommended configuration** - which [protocol](/pages/protocols/overview) and [deployment model](/pages/deployment/overview) to use
5. **Compliance alignment** - which regulatory frameworks this use case addresses
6. **CTA** - where to go next

***

## Not sure which use case fits your architecture?

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Talk to our engineering team" icon="calendar" href="https://rootkey.ai/contact?utm_source=api_docs&utm_medium=use_cases_overview&utm_content=demo_cta">
    We'll map your specific data integrity requirements to a concrete ROOTKey architecture and walk you through a working implementation.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Start with the Quickstart" icon="play" href="/pages/overview">
    Create your first vault and anchor a record in under 5 minutes - no commitment required.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>