title: What is the Signing Credential in IdentityServer4?
body: <p>We are in the process of implementing Identity Server 4 with our .NET Core web app.</p>
  
  <p>I went trough the Identity Server documentation. When configuring the Identity server (using DI) there is the line:</p>
  
  <pre><code>.AddTemporarySigningCredential
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm trying to understand what this Signing credential is but couldn't figure out. Therefore I don't know if it's ok to use the built in temporary, or if I should provide a different one. </p>
  
  <p>My question is, what is a signing credential and how should I use it?</p>
  
  <p>In the Identity server documentation this is the definition:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Adds a signing key service that provides the specified key material to
    the various token creation/validation services. You can pass in either
    an X509Certificate2, a SigningCredential or a reference to a
    certificate from the certificate store.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>So it seems important :)</p>