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:

Namespace	About	Namespace operation
.sats	Names on Bitcoin. First is first.	https://www.ord.io/15529498
.ord	Built on Bitcoin with ordinals	https://www.ord.io/15529517
.gm	Good morning Bitcoiners	https://www.ord.io/15529507

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",
}

Key	Required?	Description
p	Yes	Helps indexers identify the SNS protocol
op	Yes	New namespace operation
ns	Yes	Defines the namespace, for example sats defines the .sats namespace. Do not include the period .
about	No	A short description. Aim for under 50 characters.
avatar	No	A logo or image symbolizing the namespace. Use Inscription ID.

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.