The Arweave Name System is coming to AO!

Builders can now experiment with their friendly ArNS names within AO, making it easy to reference any process, data, or owner.

Names not hashes

Long strings of random characters are unwieldy and difficult to reference. We’ve made it easier.

With ArNS in AO you can make friendly names for:

1. AO Processes: Any MU, CU, SU can become an ArNS name

2. Data: Change any Files, Data sets, etc. to a friendly name

3. Owner: Update your process ID to an ArNS name

While any kind of AO Process can be mapped to a Name, we have developed a new Arweave Name Token Process. This adds all of the functionality of an ANT into AO. Now you can mange your name’s undernames and permissions right within the comforts of AO, and then compose this functionality into any other AO Process you can dream of.

The details

The ArNS-AO Registry is easily accessible in AOS via the new ArNS Blueprint. It resolves names by fetching and caching the latest ownership and data pointer information, with a simple TTL to keep it refreshed. It is then easy to reference any Name’s Process ID, Owner or data pointer.

To sync any former SmartWeave Names in the ArNS-AO Registry, we added a special command that leverages 0rbit’s data oracle to pull any name and its details. This ensures that if a name is missing, it can be easily added via a self-service approach. Our team can always help when needed!

Let’s experiment

At this time, Names must still be purchased via arns.app using test IO (tIO) tokens.

We have put together a quick guide on how to leverage ArNS in AO. Learn how to run the specific commands to sync, update and leverage your ArNS name in AO by checking it out on our docs portal: https://docs.ar.io/guides/experimental/ao-resolver/

Interested in the experimental Lua code? You can find the codebases for the ArNS-AO Registry, ArNS-AO Resolver Blueprint at our Github: https://github.com/ar-io/ao-pilot

Why ArNS?

The Arweave Name System (ArNS) operates similarly to traditional Domain Name Systems, with the registry being decentralized, permanent, and stored on the Arweave network. It's an open, permissionless domain name registrar for anything stored on the permaweb. Names resolve across all gateway domains in the AR.IO Network, ensuring domains are secure and globally accessible, streamlining access to the permaweb's digital content.
ArNS names are:

• Transferable

• Expandable with subdomains known as undernames

• Censorship-resistant

• Google searchable

And much more with this new AO integration!

Get involved!

Want to share feedback with us or looking to get your domain name on the permaweb? Join our Discord channel to talk about how you are leveraging ArNS in AO, and what you would like to see next!

This is just the tip of the iceberg to what is in potentially in store for the AR.IO Network and AO, so stay tuned and follow us on Twitter for more updates!