CATalog FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about CATalog
What is CATalog?
CATalog is a decentralized, on-chain shared database containing CAT asset details such as symbols, names, and display images. CAT issuers register their CATs and receive an NFT which can be used to change the corresponding entry's details at any time. Verifiers - usually marketplaces or sites that display CAT data - may maintain curated lists of CATs that meet their listing rules (e.g., 'The CAT is not trying to impersonate another CAT'). Because everything is on-chain and on DataLayer, all websites, wallets, and dApps can see data and act on it.
Registration != verification. On-chain registration establishes ownership of a TAIL hash in the shared registry. Verifier curation is an optional second layer: marketplaces and sites apply their own policies on top of the on-chain data.
How is a CAT's owner determined?
The owner of a CAT is defined as the first entity to register that CAT's TAIL program on CATalog. For this reason, issuers must use a CAT issuance tool that supports CATalog in order to avoid someone else claiming their CAT's entry.
How should I refer to CATalog?
Please always spell CATalog like this sentence does - the first three letters should be in uppercase, while the rest of the word is in lowercase. The only exception to this rule is Rust code, where you may spell CATalog as Catalog to meet naming conventions.
What are the fees to list a CAT?
Registration fees are stored on-chain in the registry state as registration_price (CAT mojos paid to the payment CAT defined by cat_maker_puzzle_hash). At the time of writing, mainnet commonly uses 5 wUSDC.b per entry, but always check the current on-chain state - the price singleton can change both the fee token and the amount.
CATalog entries do not expire and do not require renewal fees. Verifiers may require additional funds in exchange for listing or curating CATs.
Fee governance flows through a Medieval Vault multisig (6-of-10 warp.green validators on mainnet), which updates registry pricing via the delegated_state action.
How do I register a CAT?
Registration is a two-phase process:
Create a precommitment coin (payment CAT locked with TAIL reveal and NFT recipient)
Wait
relative_block_heightblocks (typically 32 on mainnet), then complete registration
At launch, a web app that makes this process very easy is planned. You can also use the slot-machine CLI with a running Sage wallet:
If the precommit becomes invalid (wrong fee, wrong CAT, or TAIL already registered), use catalog register --refund. Full command reference: CLI Reference.
How do I know CATalog was properly deployed?
Anyone can use slot-machine with chia-wallet-sdk to verify CATalog's deployment:
This checks the launcher, premine registrations (catalog_premine_mainnet.csv), price schedule (catalog_price_schedule_mainnet.csv), and state scheduler wiring against trusted CSVs in the slot-machine repo.
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