Signing and signature records#
A signature request sends a finalised document version to named signers — in parallel, or in a sequential chain where each signer's turn opens only when the previous one signs. No accounts are created: external signers act through personal signed links; members of your workspace sign in-app.
What the signer sees#
The document rendered in full, its title, version, and SHA-256 shown plainly, who is asking, the other parties and their status, and the signing action: an explicit intent statement (configurable per template, defaulting to "I agree to be bound by this document"), their full name typed as confirmation, and a signature mark — drawn, or their typed name rendered. A request can additionally require the signer to confirm a short code sent to their email before signing: an email-possession check, recorded as a fact with the signature.
Every step is an event#
signature.requested when a signer's turn opens, signature.viewed on
first sight — carrying the SHA-256 of the exact version the signer saw —
signature.signed with the signer's identity, typed name, the stated
intent, the document's SHA-256, and the hash of their signature mark,
plus signature.declined, signature.reminder_sent,
signature.request_completed, and signature.request_voided. The
viewed and signed events reference the same hash, and the standalone
verifier checks exactly that, offline, in any evidence bundle covering
the events.
After completion#
- A Certificate of Signature renders once the events have sealed:
the document by hash, each signer with their signing time and the hash
of the version they viewed and signed, the intent statements, the order
as it occurred, the email-confirmation facts, and the containing sealed
checkpoints — with the standard "what this proves and what it does not"
block. It is itself hashed and ledgered as
certificate.issued. - On Business, a countersigned copy — the completed document with an appended signature page carrying the parties, marks, times, and verification instructions — is published as a new finalised version of the same document, so "the signed version" is a first-class, hashable, exportable object beside the unsigned original in the same chain.
The boundary, verbatim#
Sigilbase provides a simple electronic signature with an unusually strong, independently verifiable evidentiary record. Under English law simple electronic signatures are valid for most ordinary contracts, and the record of who signed which exact version, when, having viewed it, with what stated intent, optionally confirmed by inbox possession, is stronger evidence of the act than most tools produce. Sigilbase does not provide advanced or qualified electronic signatures under eIDAS, does not verify signer identity to any assurance level, and makes no claim about enforceability or validity in any particular case or jurisdiction. Documents with statutory execution requirements — deeds, wills, guarantees, certain property and regulated instruments — are out of scope and need appropriate legal execution outside this tool.