# Terminology and Concepts

Before interacting with the Verifier, understanding the fundamental terms and concepts is essential:

* **Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)**:\
  A user-centric approach to digital identity, allowing individuals and organizations to control their identifiers and credentials without centralized authorities.
* **Decentralized Identifier (DID)**:\
  A unique, blockchain-resolvable identifier. DID Documents contain public keys and endpoints for trust verification.
* **Verifiable Credential (VC)**:\
  A cryptographically signed credential that attests to certain attributes of an entity. VCs follow W3C standards, ensuring integrity and authenticity.
* **Verifiable Presentation (VP)**:\
  A presentation of one or more VCs by a holder to a verifier. The VP proves possession and authenticity of the credentials without revealing unnecessary information.
* **OIDC4VP (OpenID Connect for Verifiable Presentations)**:\
  A profile that integrates OIDC flows with VCs and VPs, enabling verifiers to request, receive, and validate credentials in a standardized manner.
* **Verification Queries**:\
  Structured JSON-based filters specifying what data the Verifier must find and validate within a given presentation, ensuring that only credentials meeting defined criteria are accepted.
* **EMPE Blockchain**:\
  The underlying ledger where DIDs are anchored. Provides trust anchors that verifiers can rely on when resolving DID Documents.

These concepts form the foundation for understanding the Verifier’s capabilities, flows, and integration points.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.empe.io/develop/verifier/terminology-and-concepts.md?ask=<question>
```

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The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.