  A distributed graph algorithm is basically an algorithm where every node of a
graph can look at its neighborhood at some distance in the graph and chose its
output. As distributed environment are subject to faults, an important issue is
to be able to check that the output is correct, or in general that the network
is in proper configuration with respect to some predicate. One would like this
checking to be very local, to avoid using too much resources. Unfortunately
most predicates cannot be checked this way, and that is where certification
comes into play. Local certification (also known as proof-labeling schemes,
locally checkable proofs or distributed verification) consists in assigning
labels to the nodes, that certify that the configuration is correct. There are
several point of view on this topic: it can be seen as a part of
self-stabilizing algorithms, as labeling problem, or as a non-deterministic
distributed decision.
  This paper is an introduction to the domain of local certification, giving an
overview of the history, the techniques and the current research directions.
