What is a valid starname format?

A Starname needs to match the following format:

• left*right, matching the regex ^[-.a-z0-9]{0,63}*[-a-z0-9]{1,32}$ . Please note the left part can be an empty string so benjamin*cosmostation and *cosmostation are two valid starnames which can be resolved.

If you look for a Starname which has an invalid format, you will fail to resolve. You can check before resolving that the format is matching the regex.

I know someone's starname, how do I know the associated info?

With a web browser, Starname explorer Big Dipper

You can easily check a starname with a web browser using the url: https://big-dipper.iov-mainnet-2.iov.one/starname/<your_starname>

For exemple, you can check https://big-dipper.iov-mainnet-2.iov.one/starname/*benjamin​

On a web browser, you can see the friendly UI version of the starname at https://starname.me/<your_starname>, for exemple: https://starname.me/*benjamin​

With the REST API

You can query the crypto-addresses associated with a starname ( fondation-aphp*iov as example) by running the command :

curl -X POST "https://iovnscli-rest-api.iov-mainnet-2.iov.one/starname/query/resolve" \
-H "accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"starname":"fondation-aphp*iov"}'

If the starname looks like *mybusiness for example, you will run the same command :

curl -X POST "https://iovnscli-rest-api.iov-mainnet-2.iov.one/starname/query/resolve" \
-H "accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"starname":"*benjamin"}'

The result of this POST is a JSON with the Starname data.

With the IOVNS CLI

You can query the crypto-addresses associated with a starname ( fondation-aphp*iov as example) by running the command :

iovnscli query starname resolve --starname fondation-aphp*iov

If the starname looks like *mybusiness for example, you will run the same command :

iovnscli query starname resolve --starname *benjamin

The result of this POST is a JSON with the Starname data.

The Starname data

These commands will return the information attached to the starname in a JSON format. To get the specific data you are looking for, you can simply parse the JSON data. It will look like this

{
    "account":{
        "domain":"iov",
        "name":"fondation-aphp",
        "owner":"star12uv6k3c650kvm2wpa38wwlq8azayq6tlh75d3y",
        "valid_until":1633046400,
        "resources":[
            {
                "uri":"asset:eth",
                "resource":"0x795997519227f64879977d1a53625707f29b25b2"
            },
            {"
                uri":"asset:btc",
                "resource":"14AcAvkYz9eUP226NpGvTf62uP4Du2NnZJ"
            },
            {
                "uri":"asset:bch",
                "resource":"bitcoincash:qzmddu0vq53dkeej9nwt6jm8nyzlfxgn2vnh46k77u"
            },
            {
                "uri":"asset:ltc",
                "resource":"M8N2BjsijFyQTYVAq7WXZGmC5dmLUbBefb"
            },
            {
                "uri":"asset:xtz",
                "resource":"tz1XAMyU4VtmMyber79FF56RESdrAcuN886z"
            },
            {
                "uri":"asset:atom",
                "resource":"cosmos18qvxu5t9h29pwhf6jtf0a2lpwt4y026e09tln9"
            }
        ],
        "certificates":null,
        "broker":"",
        "metadata_uri":""
    }
}

Typically, you will be using the Resolver to look for the specific address of the recipient for the asset you want to send.

For exemple, you want to send BTC to *benjamin. You are therefore looking for the BTC address associated with the Starname *benjamin.

• You send the request to resolve starname *benjamin (via REST or CLI), and you receive the Starname JSON data.

• Because you are sending BTC, you are looking for the data associated with the uri: asset:btc. For all common coins, the uri is asset:xxx where xxx is the ticker of the coin. You can see here all the Asset Tickers.

• At this point, get the value of the field resources. It is an array of pair uri, resource. Search for the pair where the uri is matching asset:btc and return the value of the field resource. If you don't find any matching uri, then it means that there is no BTC address associated with this Starname yet.