Identifiers and networks
Protocol identifiers, network identifiers, asset identifiers, and the route prefix contract.
Universe implementation Verified 2026-08-31
Describes what a Bitcoin Universe service actually does today. It is not a statement about the protocol in general.
- Page ID
-
develop/identifiers-and-networks - Normative authority
- Universe implementation documentation
- Networks
- mainnet
- Documentation version
- 2026.08
- Audience
- developer, integrator
- Owner
- bitcoin-universe-docs
- Sources
-
- Universe ARC-20 index and Marketplace v1 authority
at
670030e50071private repository - Universe Atomicals NFT, Realm, and Subrealm index
at
1d9109c68d95private repository
- Universe ARC-20 index and Marketplace v1 authority
at
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Protocol identifiers
Section titled “Protocol identifiers”The Marketplace router exposes four isolated protocol authorities. These exact strings are the identifiers:
| Identifier | Asset kind |
|---|---|
arc20 |
Fungible ARC-20 tokens |
atomicals_nft |
Plain non-fungible Atomicals |
realms |
Top-level Realms |
subrealms |
Subrealms |
Every route, cursor, idempotency scope, listing, offer, order, reservation, browse query, and status count is scoped to one of these. Non-ARC-20 storage keys are prefixed internally, and the prefix is never returned as a public asset ID.
Asset identifiers
Section titled “Asset identifiers”| Identifier | Shape | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Atomical ID | <txid>i<index> |
The primary key |
| Compact Atomical ID | The compact wire form | Payloads and marketplace collateral |
| Location | <txid>:<vout> |
Current custody, never a key |
| Ticker | A lowercase name | Display, always alongside the resolved ID |
Network identifiers
Section titled “Network identifiers”Responses carry the network they apply to. A result for one network says nothing about another, because activation conditions differ. See activation boundaries.
Route prefixes
Section titled “Route prefixes”Universe indexer routes follow the pattern /<indexer-name>/<endpoint-name>, where the prefix is
the indexer repository name with the index- prefix removed.
Versioned API surfaces additionally use a /v1/ segment. The exact inventory for each service is
in its reference page:
What never to derive
Section titled “What never to derive”- Never derive identity from a ticker, realm name, or container name.
- Never derive a route from a display name.
- Never assume a protocol identifier is interchangeable with another lane.
- Never treat a location as stable.