Sealing and rules
What sealing changes, why rule evaluation must be deterministic, and the order of operations that makes a collection trustworthy.
Protocol behavior Verified 2026-08-31
Describes the Atomicals protocol itself at the pinned reference revision. It does not promise that any product exposes it.
- Page ID
-
protocol/containers/sealing-and-rules - Normative authority
- Atomicals reference implementation
- Networks
- mainnet
- Documentation version
- 2026.08
- Audience
- creator, developer
- Owner
- bitcoin-universe-docs
- Sources
-
- Atomicals ElectrumX
at
v1.5.2.0 - Atomicals JavaScript CLI
at
1333565efbfe
- Atomicals ElectrumX
at
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What sealing does
Section titled “What sealing does”Sealing applies the sl operation. After it:
- state can no longer change;
- a Container manifest can no longer be edited;
- the object can still be transferred.
There is no unseal. Sealing the wrong manifest is permanent.
The order that makes a collection trustworthy
Section titled “The order that makes a collection trustworthy”- Mint the Container and wait for its name to resolve.
- Build the manifest from the final item set.
- Verify the manifest locally against every item you intend to allow.
- Attach it with
enable-dmint. - Read it back from the chain and compare it to what you built.
- Seal.
- Publish the sealed manifest and the Container Atomical ID.
- Open minting.
Step five is the one people skip. Read back what is actually on chain before making it permanent.
Rule evaluation must be deterministic
Section titled “Rule evaluation must be deterministic”Two implementations reading the same sealed manifest and the same claim must reach the same answer. That means:
- no dependence on wall clock time;
- no dependence on the order results happen to arrive in;
- no dependence on a service that may be unavailable;
- bounded work per evaluation.
A rule that cannot be evaluated deterministically cannot be verified by an independent party, which defeats the purpose of sealing it.
Rules that involve payment
Section titled “Rules that involve payment”A payment rule names an output the claim must include. Evaluation checks the output exists, pays the required amount, and carries the correct payment marker.
Because payment is part of validity, a claimant who pays the wrong amount or to the wrong script has made an invalid claim and lost the fee.
For Subrealms
Section titled “For Subrealms”The same rule machinery governs Subrealm claims under a parent Realm. See claims and rules.