<pclass="no_toc">These FAQs are intended for developers of Blockstack.</p>
<ulid="markdown-toc">
<li><ahref="#im-a-web-developer--can-i-build-on-blockstack"id="markdown-toc-im-a-web-developer--can-i-build-on-blockstack">I’m a Web developer. Can I build on Blockstack?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#im-a-non-web-developer--can-i-build-on-blockstack"id="markdown-toc-im-a-non-web-developer--can-i-build-on-blockstack">I’m a non-Web developer. Can I build on Blockstack?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#whats-the-difference-between-a-web-app-and-a-blockstack-app"id="markdown-toc-whats-the-difference-between-a-web-app-and-a-blockstack-app">What’s the difference between a Web app and a Blockstack app?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#do-i-need-to-learn-any-new-languages-or-frameworks"id="markdown-toc-do-i-need-to-learn-any-new-languages-or-frameworks">Do I need to learn any new languages or frameworks?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#how-does-my-web-app-interact-with-blockstack"id="markdown-toc-how-does-my-web-app-interact-with-blockstack">How does my Web app interact with Blockstack?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#what-does-blockstackjs-do"id="markdown-toc-what-does-blockstackjs-do">What does <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">blockstack.js</code> do?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#how-do-i-use-blockstackjs"id="markdown-toc-how-do-i-use-blockstackjs">How do I use <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">blockstack.js</code>?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#how-can-i-look-up-names-and-profiles"id="markdown-toc-how-can-i-look-up-names-and-profiles">How can I look up names and profiles?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#how-can-i-read-my-public-app-data-without-blockstackjs"id="markdown-toc-how-can-i-read-my-public-app-data-without-blockstackjs">How can I read my public app data without <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">blockstack.js</code>?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#how-do-i-register-blockstack-ids"id="markdown-toc-how-do-i-register-blockstack-ids">How do I register Blockstack IDs?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#how-do-i-register-blockstack-subdomains"id="markdown-toc-how-do-i-register-blockstack-subdomains">How do I register Blockstack Subdomains?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#can-i-programmatically-register-blockstack-ids"id="markdown-toc-can-i-programmatically-register-blockstack-ids">Can I programmatically register Blockstack IDs?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#can-i-programmatically-register-blockstack-subdomains"id="markdown-toc-can-i-programmatically-register-blockstack-subdomains">Can I programmatically register Blockstack Subdomains?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#do-you-have-a-testnet-or-sandbox-to-experiment-with-blockstack"id="markdown-toc-do-you-have-a-testnet-or-sandbox-to-experiment-with-blockstack">Do you have a testnet or sandbox to experiment with Blockstack?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#does-blockstack-have-a-smart-contract-system"id="markdown-toc-does-blockstack-have-a-smart-contract-system">Does Blockstack have a smart contract system?</a></li>
<li><ahref="#can-blockstack-applications-interact-with-bitcoin-ethereum-smart-contracts-other-blockchains"id="markdown-toc-can-blockstack-applications-interact-with-bitcoin-ethereum-smart-contracts-other-blockchains">Can Blockstack applications interact with Bitcoin? Ethereum? Smart contracts? Other blockchains?</a></li>
</ul>
<h2id="im-a-web-developer--can-i-build-on-blockstack">I’m a Web developer. Can I build on Blockstack?</h2>
<p>Yes! Blockstack is geared primarily towards Web developers. All of your
existing knowledge is immediately applicable to Blockstack. Anything you can do
in a Web browser, you can do in a Blockstack app.</p>
<h2id="im-a-non-web-developer--can-i-build-on-blockstack">I’m a non-Web developer. Can I build on Blockstack?</h2>
<p>Yes! Blockstack implements a <ahref="https://core.blockstack.org">RESTful API</a> which
lets you interact with Blockstack from any language and any runtime. In fact,
the reference client
(<ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack.js">blockstack.js</a>) is mainly a
wrapper around these RESTful API calls, so you won’t be missing much by using a
language other than Javascript.</p>
<h2id="whats-the-difference-between-a-web-app-and-a-blockstack-app">What’s the difference between a Web app and a Blockstack app?</h2>
<p>Blockstack apps are built like <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-page_application">single-page Web
apps</a>—they are, in
fact, a type of Web application.</p>
<p>Blockstack apps are a subset of Web applications that use Blockstack’s
technology to preserve the user’s control over their identities and data.
As such, they tend to be simpler
in design and operation, since in many cases they don’t have to host anything
besides the application’s assets.</p>
<h2id="do-i-need-to-learn-any-new-languages-or-frameworks">Do I need to learn any new languages or frameworks?</h2>
<p>No. Blockstack applications are built using existing Web frameworks and programming
The only new thing you need to learn is either <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack.js">blockstack.js</a> or
the <ahref="https://core.blockstack.org">Blockstack RESTful API</a>.</p>
<h2id="how-does-my-web-app-interact-with-blockstack">How does my Web app interact with Blockstack?</h2>
any Web application the ability to interact with Blockstack’s authentication and
storage services. In addition, we supply a <ahref="https://core.blockstack.org">public RESTful API</a>.</p>
<h2id="what-does-blockstackjs-do">What does <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">blockstack.js</code> do?</h2>
<p>This is the reference client implementation for Blockstack. You use it in your
Web app to do the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Authenticate users</li>
<li>Load and store user data</li>
<li>Read other users’ public data</li>
</ul>
<h2id="how-do-i-use-blockstackjs">How do I use <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">blockstack.js</code>?</h2>
<p>Please see the API documentation <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack.js">here</a>.</p>
<h2id="how-can-i-look-up-names-and-profiles">How can I look up names and profiles?</h2>
<p>You can use <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">blockstack.js</code>, or you can use the <ahref="https://core.blockstack.org">public Blockstack Core
endpoint</a>.</p>
<h2id="how-can-i-read-my-public-app-data-without-blockstackjs">How can I read my public app data without <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">blockstack.js</code>?</h2>
<p>The URLs to a user’s public app data are in a canonical location in their
profile. For example, here’s how you would get public data from the
<ahref="https://publik.ykliao.com">Publik</a> app, stored under the Blockstack ID <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">ryan.id</code>.</p>
<p>Set up a <codeclass="highlighter-rouge">blockstack api</code> endpoint (see the project <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack-core/blob/master/README.md">README</a>) and write a
embedConfig: undefined, // {'url':undefined,'contentBlock':'.page-content-body'}, // if url is given the page will change to that URL and look for the content block there to insert the results
fullScreenConfig: undefined, // {trigger: '#ss360-search-trigger', caption: 'Search this site'}, trigger is the CSS selector to the element that starts the search full screen overlay and searchCaption the caption on the full screen search page
caption: 'Found #COUNT# search results for \"#QUERY#\"', // the caption of the search results
group: true, // whether results should be grouped if content groups are available
filters: undefined,
num: 96, // the maximum number of search results to be shown
highlightQueryTerms: true, // whether to highlight the query terms in search results
moreResultsButton: "Show more results", // HTML for the more results button, all results will be shown if this is null
noResultsText: 'Sorry, we have not found any matches for your query.', // the text to show when there are no results
queryCorrectionText: 'Did you mean "#CORRECTION#"?',
searchQueryParamName: 'ss360Query', // the name of the search query parameter
linksOpenNewTab: false, // should clicking on the result links open a new tab/window?
showSearchBoxLayover: true, //whether to show search box in search result layover
moreResultsPagingSize: 12, // the number of new results to show each time the more results button is pressed (max: 24)
orderByRelevanceText: "Relevance" // the text to be shown in order select box to describe 'order by relevance' option
},
suggestions: {
show: true, // whether to show search suggestions
maxQuerySuggestions: 3, // the maximum number of query suggestions
querySuggestionHeadline: undefined, // the headline of the query suggestions, leave blank if no headline should be shown
emptyQuerySuggestions: undefined,
showImages: false, // show images in search suggestions
num: 6, // the maximum number of search suggestions to be shown
minChars: 3, // minimum number of characters before the suggestions shows, default: 3,
maxWidth: 'auto', // the maximum width of the suggest box, default: as wide as the input box, at least 275px
throttleTime: 300, // the number of milliseconds before the suggest is triggered after finished input, default: 300ms
extraHtml: undefined, // extra HTML code that is shown in each search suggest, you can even show values of datapoints here,
highlight: true, // whether matched words should be highlighted, default: true
