# Register your name
URL: https://docs.arcns.io/get-started/

> Search a name, register it in two transactions, point it at your addresses, prove you control them, and set it as your primary — a step-by-step walkthrough on app.arcns.io.

Getting a name takes a few minutes. Everything happens at [app.arcns.io](https://app.arcns.io) — you'll need a wallet on Arc testnet and a little **USDC**, which on Arc is both the gas asset and the registration price (see [Fees](/pricing/)).

**Step 1**

### Open the app and sign in [#open-the-app-and-sign-in]

Go to [app.arcns.io](https://app.arcns.io) and connect the wallet you want your name tied to — an injected wallet such as MetaMask, or sign in with email, Google, X, Discord, GitHub, Telegram or a passkey to get an embedded wallet. This wallet will own the name, so use one you control and intend to keep. The app switches you to Arc testnet (chain id `5042002`) when you act.

**Step 3**

### Search for a name you like [#search-for-a-name-you-like]

Type the name you want — say `you` — into the search box. The app tells you whether `@you`, `you.arc` and `you.circle` are available and what each costs, read live from the price oracle. Shorter names cost more (see [Fees](/pricing/)). If it's taken, try a variation until you find one that's free.

> **Note**
> Names are **letters, numbers and hyphens only** (`a-z`, `0-9`, `-`; 1 to 32 characters; no hyphen at the edges or back-to-back, not all digits) — no emoji and no lookalike symbols from other alphabets. That's deliberate: it stops anyone from registering a name that *looks* identical to yours. More on that in [Trust & transparency](/trust/).

**Step 5**

### Register it — two transactions, a minute apart [#register-it--two-transactions-a-minute-apart]

Pick what you're registering as (`Human`, `Merchant` or `Org` — this is recorded with a `@handle`; `Agent` is defined on chain but not offered in the app yet) and confirm. Registration is **commit-reveal**: the first transaction commits a hash of your name, address and a random secret so nobody can front-run you; after at least **60 seconds** of chain time (and within 24 hours) the second transaction reveals and registers it, paying the one-time price shown. The app keeps your pending commitment in the browser between the two steps and tells you when it's ready. From that moment `@you` is yours — no renewals, ever.

**Step 7**

### Point it at your addresses [#point-it-at-your-addresses]

Open your name and add the addresses you want it to resolve to — your Arc address, and optionally your Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana addresses. Now when someone sends to `@you`, a name-aware wallet looks up the record for the chain they're on. A chain you haven't added is an explicit "no record", never a guess.

**Step 9**

### Prove you control them [#prove-you-control-them]

Verify each address so it shows as **verified**: the app walks you through a control proof for each chain — a signature from that address (or an on-chain call for a smart-contract wallet) for Arc and Ethereum, and a signed challenge plus public key for Bitcoin and Solana. Verified records are the ones wallets can trust — see [Verified records](/verified/).

> **Note**
> Any later change to a record clears its verified flag, and a change of owner makes every old record unreadable. What is shown as verified was proven by the current owner for the current address — nothing else.

**Step 11**

### Add a profile (optional) [#add-a-profile-optional]

Add a website, a description, an avatar and other text records. This is what turns `@you` from a routing label into an identity people recognize.

**Step 13**

### Set it as your primary name [#set-it-as-your-primary-name]

Mark `@you` (or `you.arc`) as your **primary** name. This is the reverse link: explorers and apps that integrate ArcNS will show your wallet as that name instead of a raw address — but only while it forward-confirms, so a stale primary is never shown.

## That's it [#thats-it]

You now have a name that works across chains, records you can prove, and an identity apps can display. From here you might want to:

**[Get paid to your name](/get-paid/)**

Share the QR code and payment link that come with your name so anyone can pay you by scanning or tapping.

**[Set up recovery & locks](/features/#a-safety-net)**

Give yourself a way back in if you lose access, and a way to freeze a handle in an emergency.

**[Add a subname](/features/#subnames)**

pay.you.arc for payments, docs.you.arc for a project — under the name you already own.

**[Understand the fees](/pricing/)**

What you paid, why shorter names cost more, and how the price climbs over time and volume.

> **Note**
> **Looking someone up?** The search on [app.arcns.io](https://app.arcns.io) works two ways: type a name to check if it's free to register, or look up a name that already exists to see whose it is and what it points to — with the namespace and registry shown alongside. It's how you find a name to register, and how you check one before you trust it.

> **Note**
> **Registering from a script or an agent?** The same registration is available without a wallet on Arc through [registration-as-a-service](/api/#registration-as-a-service): `POST /raas/register`, paid once over x402, minted to your address. For your own transactions, the [SDK](/quickstart/)'s `buildCommit` / `buildRegister` return the unsigned calls, and the [MCP server](/mcp/)'s `prepare_register` does the same for an agent.

## Questions [#questions]

Questions: [support@arcns.io](mailto:support@arcns.io).