Lit V3 Is Live: Confidential Compute and Key Management in One API
Lit V3 (Chipotle) can be used for running code inside Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), signing transactions with chain secured private keys, and returning cryptographically verifiable results. It is now generally available.
With Chipotle, you don't manage private keys or run signing infrastructure. You make API calls.
How It Works
Lit v3 (Chipotle) has three layers.
TEE — A hardware-isolated execution environment that holds root key material and derives signing keys on demand. Key material never leaves the enclave. Every execution is sandboxed. The full chain of trust is cryptographically verifiable.
Onchain Permissions — Authorization state — accounts, API key scopes, wallet registrations, and permission groups — lives on-chain in smart contracts on Base. You can manage permissions through the API or submit transactions directly from an EOA or multisig.
Lit Actions — Immutable JavaScript programs identified by their IPFS content ID (CID). You submit code. The system computes the CID to verify integrity. The TEE executes actions at runtime with access to derived key material. No IPFS storage is required. You can optionally publish code to IPFS for independent verification. [Learn more about Lit Actions →]
Use Cases
Verifiable data feeds — Fetch external data, sign it with a network-managed wallet, and verify the signature on-chain.
Condition-based signing — Sign or decrypt only when a user meets an on-chain condition: token balance, NFT ownership, contract state.
Programmable wallets — Create and manage elliptic-curve key pairs (PKPs) that sign transactions without exposing private keys.
Encryption and decryption — Encrypt data with PKP-derived keys. Store ciphertexts wherever you want.
Serverless compute with signing — Run JavaScript that holds keys, calls external APIs, reads contract state, and returns signed results. No servers to manage.
See examples and design patterns for implementation details.
Getting Started
Option 1: Dashboard. Create an account, generate an API key, create a wallet, and execute a Lit Action from the browser. No terminal required.
Option 2: API. Every operation is available via REST.
Create an account
curl -s -X POST https://api.chipotle.litprotocol.com/core/v1/new_account
-H "Content-Type: application/json"
-d '{"account_name": "my-app", "account_description": "Getting started"}'
Create a wallet
curl -s https://api.chipotle.litprotocol.com/core/v1/create_wallet
-H "X-Api-Key: $API_KEY"
Run a Lit Action
curl -s -X POST https://api.chipotle.litprotocol.com/core/v1/lit_action
-H "X-Api-Key: $API_KEY"
-H "Content-Type: application/json"
-d '{"code": "async function main() { return { hello: "world" }; }"}'
Pricing
Lit v3 (Chipotle) uses a simple credit-based billing model with no subscriptions or per-seat fees. All read-only operations are free.
Write operations and Lit Action execution cost $0.01 per second, with each Lit Action billed at a minimum of 1 second. Common operations like ECDSA signing complete in under a second. Credit packages start at $5.00 with no expiry.
Stay tuned for $LITKEY pricing!
Open and Self-Sovereign
Lit V3 (Chipotle) is not a walled garden. The platform supports both a managed SaaS experience and a fully self-sovereign deployment posture. Developers can deploy on any dstack-compatible platform, manage their account contract through a multisig, and scope API keys to enforce least-privilege access.
See the Architecture overview for details.
Resources
About Lit Protocol
Lit Protocol is a key management and compute network. Lit gives developers programmable signing, encryption, and compute — powered by a chain secured network of TEE nodes.
Learn more at developer.litprotocol.com