People

Handles and accounts

How @handles work across apps, what a realm handle is, and how people rename or switch accounts.

Claiming a handle#

Anyone can claim @name at openpulse.org with an email address. It is theirs worldwide, and they add a passkey next. Claiming a handle is an OpenPulse account, not access to the Console.

Handles inside your app#

Inside your realm a person appears as @name.yourrealm. Someone who signs in with an existing @alice chooses the local name they want in your realm (usually the same); you never assign a random one to a person who chose to sign in with OpenPulse.

If people sign in to your app some other way (your own accounts, Microsoft), your backend can still give them an identity in your realm quietly, so live features work. They can link it to their own OpenPulse account later.

Renaming#

People can rename a handle; the DID underneath stays, so conversations, payments and permissions keep working. Renaming asks for the passkey or the second factor. Store the DID, show the handle.

More than one account#

One unlock can hold several identities: a personal handle and handles in the apps and workplaces someone uses. They switch between them without signing in again; each app sees only the account used for it.