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Username & proof of personhood

A username is a short, readable name that stands in for your account's long address, so it is easier to share and to recognise. Claiming one also gives your account proof of personhood. Some features need that, such as reserving certain .dot domains or using apps that allow only one action per person.

What personhood means

Personhood tells apps that an account belongs to a distinct human, without saying who that human is. There are two tiers:

  • Lite: you get it by registering an attested username. Most users have this tier.
  • Full: you get it by redeeming an invitation. It gives a stronger guarantee of one account per human.

Apps and smart contracts can read your tier on-chain and change what they offer based on it. An app only needs to know whether you have no personhood, Lite personhood or Full personhood.

When an app checks your personhood, it does not learn your identity. It gets an alias: a pseudonym unique to that one app. So the same person cannot be tracked or linked across different apps.

Before you start

You need an account with a small amount of devnet funds. If you don't have one yet, follow Create an account & get funds first.

Download links for the app are in Get the app.

Claim a username

  1. Open the app, go to the profile or identity section, and choose to claim a username.
  2. Enter a base name. Base names need at least six lowercase letters. The app checks the name and tells you if it is unavailable or does not meet the network's formatting rules.
  3. The app adds a two-digit suffix to your base name, for example alicia.07. The suffix 00 is never used, and the app skips digits that are already taken, so different people can share the same base name.
  4. Confirm. The app signs the registration request on your device, and your keys never leave it. It does not submit the registration itself. It sends the signed request to the network's attester service (the identity backend), which vouches for you and submits it to the People chain on your behalf.
  5. The attester queues the request before submitting it, so the username appears a few seconds after you confirm. Once it is on-chain, you are a lite person and your username is live.

Reach Full personhood (optional)

Full personhood needs an invitation. The app redeems a one-time invitation voucher, which then moves your verification forward on-chain. You can't request a voucher yourself. The team hands them out directly, for example as a QR code at an event. Without one, your tier is Lite.

That is expected, and nothing is wrong. Lite covers every user flow in these guides. The only thing Full adds is claiming a .dot name with a six-to-eight-character stem and no digits (see Reserved and short-name gating).

Why some features need personhood

Personhood lets apps offer one-person-one-action experiences fairly, such as a single vote, a single claim or one entry per human. Without it, one user could act many times from many accounts. Apps read your tier, and your alias for that app, directly from the chain, so they can enforce these limits without learning who you are.

Claiming a username can also mirror it into .dot naming, so the same name works across app and discovery flows. Operator-run infrastructure does this, not a transaction of your own. To see whether yours was mirrored, search the name in the DotNS UI. Nothing else about your account depends on it. Short names are the ones a tier unlocks: see Register a .dot domain.

If something blocks you

  • The name is unavailable: try another base name, or accept the suffix the app proposes.
  • The registration does not finalize: check that your account has enough PAS for fees.
  • Full personhood is not offered: that is expected without an invitation voucher. These guides assume Lite.
  • An app does not recognize your status yet: wait for the on-chain update to finalize, then reopen the app.

Learn more

Last update: October 28, 2026
| Created: July 16, 2026