Skip to content

Username & proof of personhood

Claim a human-readable username in the Polkadot app and understand the proof-of-personhood tier attached to it. Some features, such as reserving certain .dot names or using apps that allow only one action per person, need that signal before they can treat an account as a distinct human.

This is a devnet

The Polkadot Products Devnet is a public developer preview. Tokens here have no real value, and flows may change. Never reuse a recovery phrase from a real, value-bearing wallet on a devnet.

What a username and personhood are

A username is a short, readable name that stands in for your account's long technical address — easier to share and to recognise. When you claim one, the app registers you on the People chain as a lite person.

Personhood is the network's way of expressing "this account belongs to a distinct human", without exposing who you are. There are two tiers:

  • Lite — earned by registering an attested username. This is the tier most users reach.
  • Full — earned through the personhood "game" or by being invited, which provides stronger, one-account-per-human assurance.

Apps and smart contracts can read your tier through an on-chain interface and adjust what they offer accordingly. In practice, an app only needs to know whether you have no personhood, Lite personhood, or Full personhood.

Your privacy is preserved

When an app checks your personhood, it does not receive your identity. It receives a per-application 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 have not set one up yet, follow Create an account & get funds first.

Claim a username

  1. Open the app and go to the profile or identity section, then choose to claim a username.
  2. Enter a base name. The app validates it for you and will tell you if the name is unavailable or does not meet the network's formatting rules.
  3. The app pairs your base name with a two-digit suffix (for example, alice.07). The suffix 00 is never used, and the app skips digits that are already taken, so distinct people can share the same base name.
  4. Confirm. The app signs the registration request on your device — your keys never leave it — and submits it. Nothing is sent to a server to sign on your behalf.
  5. Wait for the registration to finalize on-chain. Once it does, you are a lite person and your username is live.

Behind the scenes, the app records your username on the People chain. Your username can also be reflected into .dot naming so it works across app and discovery flows.

sequenceDiagram
    participant You as You (device)
    participant App as Polkadot app
    participant People as People chain
    participant DotNS as Asset Hub (.dot names)
    You->>App: Choose base name, confirm
    You->>App: Sign registration on device
    App->>People: Register you as a lite person
    People-->>App: Finalized
    People-->>DotNS: Username can be reflected into .dot naming

Reach Full personhood (optional)

Lite personhood is enough for everyday use. Some features may require Full personhood, which you reach by taking part in the personhood game or by redeeming an invitation. When you have an invitation, the app can request a one-time ticket and use it on-chain to progress your verification. Availability of the game and invitations can change between Devnet builds, so this step may not be active at all times.

Why some features need personhood

Personhood exists so that apps can offer one-person-one-action experiences fairly — for example, a single vote, a single claim, or one entry per human — rather than letting one user act many times from many accounts. Because apps read your tier (and a privacy-preserving alias) directly from the chain, they can enforce these limits without ever learning your identity.

Reserving a name is also tied to your registration: claiming your username is what puts a matching .dot name in your name. More desirable or scarce names may be gated behind a personhood tier, so completing this flow is what unlocks them. To learn how naming works, see Register a .dot name.

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 and that you are connected to the Devnet.
  • Full personhood is not offered. Lite is the expected tier for most current flows; Full depends on which personhood flows are active in the current build.
  • An app does not recognize your status yet. Wait for the on-chain update to finalize, then reopen the app.

Learn more