Sphinx (v1)
SPHINX:v2 introduces a unified Verification datablock but its implementation is not yet finalized. Use SPHINX:v1 for all production flows.
Agent-assisted or automated document-based identity verification via IDnow's Sphinx service
Verifies the end user's identity by routing the session to IDnow's Sphinx service, which performs document analysis through either a live video session with an agent (VideoIdent) or a fully automated process (AutoIdent). Results are returned as a DocumentVerification datablock.
Configuration
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
config.live.shortname | string | Yes | Sphinx shortname for the live environment. Provided by IDnow during onboarding. |
config.staging.shortname | string | Yes | Sphinx shortname for the staging environment. Provided by IDnow during onboarding. |
inputSources.basicIdentity | string | No | ID of an upstream step whose BasicIdentity output should be forwarded to Sphinx for identity data cross-checking. |
inputSources.extendedIdentity | string | No | ID of an upstream step whose ExtendedIdentity output should be forwarded to Sphinx for identity data cross-checking. |
Input datablocks
| Data block | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
BasicIdentity | No | Identity data forwarded to Sphinx when inputSources.basicIdentity is configured. Used for cross-checking against document data. |
ExtendedIdentity | No | Extended identity data forwarded to Sphinx when inputSources.extendedIdentity is configured. Used for cross-checking against document data. |
Verdicts
| Verdict | Description |
|---|---|
verified | The document was successfully processed and identity data was extracted. The Sphinx service accepted the result — either the automated or agent-assisted analysis passed. |
fraud_detected | The document was identified as fraudulent. Identity data may have been extracted and is available for manual review. |
Output datablocks
| Verdict | Data blocks produced |
|---|---|
verified | BasicIdentity, ExtendedIdentity, DocumentData, DocumentImages, DocumentVerification |
fraud_detected | BasicIdentity, ExtendedIdentity, DocumentData, DocumentImages, DocumentVerification |
Testing
Before going live, it is important to verify that your integration handles the full range of identification outcomes correctly — from successful verifications to fraud detections, aborts, and review delays.
IDnow provides a Test-Robot service on the TEST environment that simulates the agent side of an identification automatically. This lets you trigger and observe different end-to-end scenarios — such as a happy path, a fraud case, or a canceled ident — and confirm that your application correctly receives and processes the results (e.g. via webhook or API response). Test-Robot is not a replacement for QA engineers, but a tool to validate your integration during development.
Two identification types are supported:
- AutoIdent (AI) — Fully automated, app-based identification. See the AutoIdent Test-Robot documentation.
- VideoIdent (VI) — Agent-assisted video identification. See the VideoIdent Test-Robot documentation.