> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.myme.so/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Handles and publishers

> Publisher identity for accounts and community-published types — username convention, reservations, change policy, account deletion

A handle is the public identifier for a Marfa account. The same string serves two roles:

* **Account username.** Every Marfa account has a handle. Required at signup, unique per Marfa instance, used in URLs, in the marketplace, anywhere identity surfaces publicly.
* **Publisher handle.** When the account publishes types, those types live in the handle's namespace: `<publisher>.<type>`. No separate claim — the username is the publisher handle.

Reservation rules apply at signup. Squatting is prevented before publishing is possible.

## Username convention

| Rule               | Detail                                                               |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Allowed characters | Lowercase alphanumeric and hyphens.                                  |
| Hyphen rules       | No leading or trailing hyphens. No consecutive hyphens.              |
| Length             | 3–32 characters.                                                     |
| Case               | Stored and compared case-insensitively. `Carla` and `carla` collide. |

Examples that pass: `august`, `readwise`, `carla`, `me-cayzer`, `acme-co`.
Examples that fail: `-carla`, `carla-`, `carla--co`, `ab` (too short), `MyHandle` (uppercase).

## What's reserved

Three categories of handle cannot be claimed:

* **Reserved roots.** `core`, `system`, `app`, `user`, `marfa`. These root names belong to the platform's namespace tiers — claiming them as handles would corrupt the type-identifier grammar.
* **Reserved structural words.** Common-meaning words (`admin`, `api`, `support`, `help`, `docs`, `console`, `auth`, `login`, `register`, `settings`, `dashboard`, `billing`, `terms`, `privacy`, `about`, `home`, plus pronouns and similar literals). Pre-claimed against squatting and to keep ordinary URLs and surfaces unambiguous.
* **Reserved brand names and future-platform namespaces.** Major tech companies and consumer apps (`google`, `apple`, `microsoft`, `obsidian`, `notion`, `figma`, etc.) plus names plausibly needed for future platform-shipped namespaces (`sync`, `auth`, `data`). Pre-claimed to prevent confusion-by-impersonation.

Attempting to claim a reserved handle returns `400 handle_reserved`. Trademarks and offensive terms beyond the reserved list are handled via takedown or dispute on demand.

The reserved-handles list is maintained in the platform repository and reviewed before public release. Coverage tightens over time; once published it does not loosen.

## Domain verification

A publisher can verify a domain to gain a verified-publisher badge. The badge sits next to the handle in the marketplace and console; it does not create a parallel namespace. `august.meal_plan` and `me.cayzer.meal_plan` do not coexist as different things — the verified-domain badge displays alongside the existing handle, and the type identifier stays singular.

## Handle change policy

**Handles are practically immutable.** Once claimed, they don't change. Manual support-led rename for genuine exceptions.

Architecturally, the handle is separate from the underlying user-id. Internal references (audit trails, admin records, federated metadata) key off the immutable user-id. The handle is the public-facing label and could be renameable in the future without touching the foreign references.

When demand for renames justifies it, the marketplace will support GitHub-shaped redirects: a renamed handle redirects to the new handle for a grace period; new types use the new handle; old types stay or migrate lazily; the old handle releases for re-registration only after the grace period expires.

## Account deletion

Deleting a publisher account triggers two behaviors:

* **Published types stay live, marked orphaned.** Consumers don't lose access to types they've already installed. The registry continues to list them; new installs are still possible but warned.
* **The handle locks for \~1 year.** It cannot be re-registered during that window. This blocks impersonation — re-claiming a deleted handle and pretending to be the original publisher.

Existing spaces that installed the publisher's types are unaffected by the handle lock. The schema is already copied into their space; orphaning only stops new updates from the original.

## Why a single global namespace

The handle namespace is global for discovery, not for lock-in. Same shape as GitHub or npm — a global namespace exists to make discovery work, not because it's the only place types can live.

Self-hosters can use the central registry, mirror it, or skip it entirely. Schemas are inspectable and portable; a type is just a schema, you can extract it, modify it, register it elsewhere. Pure-local users never touch the central service.

The global handle namespace is the price of network effects, not a precondition for using Marfa.