{"description":"Creating a Namespace","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Blockstack"},"@type":"BlogPosting","url":"https://docs.blockstack.org/core/naming/creationhowto.html","headline":"Creating a Namespace","dateModified":"2018-09-14T16:11:42-07:00","datePublished":"2018-09-14T16:11:42-07:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://docs.blockstack.org/core/naming/creationhowto.html"},"@context":"http://schema.org"}</script>
<p>There are four steps to creating a namespace:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Send a <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_PREORDER</code> transaction</strong> (<ahref="https://www.blocktrail.com/BTC/tx/5f00b8e609821edd6f3369ee4ee86e03ea34b890e242236cdb66ef6c9c6a1b28">live example</a>).
This is the first step. This registers the <em>salted hash</em> of the namespace with BNS nodes, and burns the
requisite amount of cryptocurrency. In addition, it proves to the
BNS nodes that user has honored the BNS consensus rules by including
a recent <em>consensus hash</em> in the transaction
(see the section on <ahref="#bns-forks">BNS forks</a> for details).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Send a <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_REVEAL</code> transaction</strong> (<ahref="https://www.blocktrail.com/BTC/tx/ab54b1c1dd5332dc86b24ca2f88b8ca0068485edf0c322416d104c5b84133a32">live example</a>).
This is the second step. This reveals the salt and the namespace ID (pairing it with its
<codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_PREORDER</code>), it reveals how long names last in this namespace before
they expire or must be renewed, and it sets a <em>price function</em> for the namespace
that determines how cheap or expensive names its will be. The price function takes
a name in this namespace as input, and outputs the amount of cryptocurrency the
name will cost (i.e. by examining how long the name is, and whether or not it
has any vowels or non-alphabet characters). The namespace creator
has the option to collect name registration fees for the first year of the
namespace’s existence by setting a <em>namespace creator address</em>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Seed the namespace with <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAME_IMPORT</code> transactions</strong> (<ahref="https://www.blocktrail.com/BTC/tx/c698ac4b4a61c90b2c93dababde867dea359f971e2efcf415c37c9a4d9c4f312">live example</a>).
Once the namespace has been revealed, the user has the option to populate it with a set of
names. Each imported name is given both an owner and some off-chain state.
This step is optional—namespace creators are not required to import names.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Send a <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_READY</code> transaction</strong> (<ahref="https://www.blocktrail.com/BTC/tx/2bf9a97e3081886f96c4def36d99a677059fafdbd6bdb6d626c0608a1e286032">live example</a>).
This is the final step of the process. It <em>launches</em> the namespace, which makes it available to the
public. Once a namespace is ready, anyone can register a name in it if they
pay the appropriate amount of cryptocurrency (according to the price funtion
revealed in step 2).</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>The reason for the <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_PREORDER/NAMESPACE_REVEAL</code> pairing is to prevent
frontrunning. The BNS consensus rules require a <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_REVEAL</code> to be
paired with a previous <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_PREORDER</code> sent within the past 24 hours.
If it did not do this, then a malicious actor could watch the blockchain network
and race a victim to claim a namespace.</p>
<p>Namespaces are created on a first-come first-serve basis. If two people try to
create the same namespace, the one that successfully confirms both the
<codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_PREORDER</code> and <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_REVEAL</code> wins. The fee burned in the
<codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_PREORDER</code> is spent either way.</p>
<p>Once the user issues the <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_PREORDER</code> and <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_REVEAL</code>, they have
1 year before they must send the <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">NAMESPACE_READY</code> transaction. If they do not
do this, then the namespace they created disappears (along with all the names
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