Quickstart

Updated: April 4, 2026 1 min read

Timestamp your first document in under 60 seconds using openssl and curl.

Prerequisites

  • openssl — version 1.1.1 or higher (3.x recommended)
  • curl — any recent version

Step 1 — Download CA certificates

Do this once. These certificates are needed to verify timestamps offline.

bash
curl -s https://open-tsa.eu/certs/ca.crt -o open-tsa-ca.crt curl -s https://open-tsa.eu/certs/fullchain.pem -o open-tsa-chain.pem

Step 2 — Timestamp a document

bash
# Create a timestamp request (TSQ) openssl ts -query -data your-document.pdf -cert -sha256 -no_nonce -out request.tsq # Send to Open TSA and receive timestamp response (TSR) curl -s -S -H “Content-Type: application/timestamp-query” –data-binary @request.tsq https://tsr.open-tsa.eu -o response.tsr

Step 3 — Verify

bash
openssl ts -verify -in response.tsr -queryfile request.tsq -CAfile open-tsa-ca.crt -untrusted open-tsa-chain.pem Verification: OK

View timestamp details

bash
openssl ts -reply -in response.tsr -text # Output: # Status info: # Status: Granted. # TST info: # Version: 1 # Policy OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.59085.1.1 # Hash Algorithm: sha256 # Message data: # … # Serial number: 0x… # Time stamp: Apr 4 13:14:58 2026 GMT # Accuracy: 1 seconds # Ordering: yes # TSA: CN=open-tsa.eu TSA Signing Certificate, …
Tip: Store both request.tsq and response.tsr alongside your document. You will need both for verification.