Resolve with ENS

A handles.link name resolves like any other ENS name. Your library needs to support wildcard names (ENSIP-10) and offchain lookups (ERC-3668). viem and ethers v6 support both.

The gateway answers for Ethereum mainnet only; see Status.

With viem

ENS lives on Ethereum mainnet, so connect to mainnet. Pass the chain you want an address for as a coin type:

import { createPublicClient, http, toCoinType } from 'viem';
import { mainnet } from 'viem/chains';

const client = createPublicClient({ chain: mainnet, transport: http() });

const address = await client.getEnsAddress({
  name: 'octocat.github.handles.link',
  coinType: toCoinType(mainnet.id),
});

address is the holder of octocat on GitHub, as recorded on Ethereum mainnet. It is null if nobody holds the handle there.

toCoinType(1) is 60, the coin type ENS uses for Ethereum, so leaving out coinType gives the same answer.

In a wallet

Paste the name into the recipient field. Wallets that support ENS subnames with offchain lookups, such as MetaMask, resolve it the same way.

Compared to IdentityRegistry

ENS and IdentityRegistry give the same answer. Which one to use depends on where the name comes from:

• Use ENS when a person types or pastes a name, or when you want names to work in wallets you do not control.
• Use IdentityRegistry from your own code and contracts. It needs no gateway, and it can also tell you when the handle was proved. See Resolve a handle.