Namespaces

Namespaces

Namespace operations define a namespace, for example, .sats is a namespace.

As of this writing over 100 different communities have started namespaces simply by inscribing names. This has created a bit of a mess—namespace operations help builders, marketplaces, and indexers, track all names, across all namespaces, with a standard syntax. Just like BRC20 has a syntax for fetching all tokens, SNS has a standard for fetching all names.

Here are few noteworthy examples and their namespace inscription:

There are many more. You can find them all by searching for the ns operation.

Create a namespace

Here are few reasons to inscribe a namespace operation for your community:

  • Help indexers and marketplaces "find" your namespace.

  • Include a description so inscribers know the purpose of the namespace.

  • Include a nice avatar or logo for marketplaces.

A few other important details about namespaces:

  • Like names, namespaces (specifically the ns value) are globally unique, and the first inscription of any namespace is the only valid instance. First is first.

  • The namespace inscription does not add, or remove, or limit anything related to how others inscribe names.

  • You can inscribe any SNS name, on any namespace, before the namespace inscription has been created.

  • No special permissions are given to the namespace inscription holder.

  • Namespace inscriptions have no speculative or secondary market value.

Namespace operation

{
    "p": "sns",
    "op": "ns",
    "ns": "sats",
    "about": "Names on Bitcoin. First is first.",
    "avatar": "6373fce7c218e344d78e6c1802651ee1557eb6ebd2292b2ba24d449792227869i0",
}

Do not include the period, or dot, in the operation.

You're welcome to put any UTF-8 character in your namespace but we recommend keeping things simple. Emoji, rare unicode characters, etc. are probably a bad idea and may have poor support by indexers or marketplaces.

⚠️ Registration limitations

These rules apply to all namespaces and names:

  • Only the first instance of each name/namespace is valid.

  • Only one name operation per ordinal inscription.

  • Any UTF-8 character is valid.

  • Capitalization does not matter. All names/namespaces will be indexed as lowercase.

  • No spaces are permitted within a name.

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