diff --git a/.changeset/public-verification-method-init.md b/.changeset/public-verification-method-init.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28bd12f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/public-verification-method-init.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@germ-network/atprototypes": patch
+---
+
+`Atproto.DIDDocument.VerificationMethod`'s memberwise initializer is now public, matching its `Service` sibling. Only code inside this package could construct one, so a resolver adapter in another package that is handed a signing key directly rather than a DID document — Slingshot's `resolveMiniDoc`, which returns `signing_key` on the wire — had no way to publish it and shipped `verificationMethod: []`. `AtprotoTypesVerify`'s `RepoSigningKey` then refuses every document that resolver produces, and since `optimizedResolve` races it against plc.directory, whether a repo proof verifies depends on which resolver wins.
diff --git a/Sources/AtprotoTypes/Atproto/DIDDocument.swift b/Sources/AtprotoTypes/Atproto/DIDDocument.swift
index 318e87c..28c7760 100644
--- a/Sources/AtprotoTypes/Atproto/DIDDocument.swift
+++ b/Sources/AtprotoTypes/Atproto/DIDDocument.swift
@@ -178,7 +178,13 @@ extension Atproto.DIDDocument {
 		/// though this type does not model that field, since nothing here reads it.
 		public let publicKeyMultibase: String?
 
-		package init(
+		/// Public, matching ``Service``'s initializer, because a resolver
+		/// adapter in another package may be handed the signing key directly
+		/// rather than a full DID document — Slingshot's `resolveMiniDoc`
+		/// returns it on the wire. While this was package-scoped, such an
+		/// adapter could only publish an empty `verificationMethod`, and any
+		/// repo proof checked against its documents failed for want of a key.
+		public init(
 			id: String,
 			type: String,
 			controller: String,
diff --git a/Tests/AtprotoTypesVerifyTests/RepoProofVerifierTests.swift b/Tests/AtprotoTypesVerifyTests/RepoProofVerifierTests.swift
index 3255cc5..dcdf740 100644
--- a/Tests/AtprotoTypesVerifyTests/RepoProofVerifierTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/AtprotoTypesVerifyTests/RepoProofVerifierTests.swift
@@ -380,9 +380,10 @@ struct RepoProofVerifierTests {
 		}
 	}
 
-	///The gap this closes on the shipped fetch path: today's `resolveMiniDoc`
-	///adapter builds a document with `verificationMethod: []`, so every proof
-	///would stop here until that key is carried through.
+	///The gap this closes on the shipped fetch path: Slingshot's
+	///`resolveMiniDoc` adapter used to build a document with
+	///`verificationMethod: []`, so every proof stopped here until that key
+	///was carried through.
 	@Test("a document with only a non-atproto method is refused")
 	func refusesWrongFragment() throws {
 		let scenario = Scenario()