---
title: "Auth Service Signer"
description: "This example creates or reuses a signer backed by an auth service instead of generating a purely local signer."
source: "Integrity Python SDK"
---
This example creates or reuses a signer backed by an auth service instead of generating a purely local signer.

Source: `examples/auth-service-signer.py`

```python
from pathlib import Path

from eqty_sdk import Dataset, Signer, init, set_active_signer

cfg = init()

signer = Signer.auth_service(
    "http://localhost:3050",
    name="gov-studio-signer",
    _load_if_exists=True,
)
set_active_signer(signer)

payload = Dataset.from_object(
    {"message": "Signed with an auth-service signer"},
    name="Remote Signed Payload",
)

print(payload.cid)
cfg.get_default_context().export(Path("./manifests/auth-service-signer.json"))
```

Notes:

- `EQTY_API_KEY` must be set before calling `Signer.auth_service(...)`.
- `_load_if_exists=True` is useful for repeated runs because it reuses the persisted signer configuration instead of creating a new one every time.