Gateway Registry

Overview

The Gateway Address Registry (GAR) is the public registry of ar.io gateways. It records which gateways have joined the network, how they can be reached, and the metadata applications need to discover and evaluate them.

Gateway registry state is maintained by the ar.io Solana programs. Registered gateways are identified by Solana addresses and publish service information such as hostname, protocol settings, staking state, and operator-provided metadata.

Joining the Registry

To join the ar.io network, a gateway operator registers their gateway and locks ARIO as operator stake. Registration connects the gateway's public endpoint, operator address, observer address, and service metadata to the onchain registry.

Once registered, a gateway can become eligible for network incentives, delegation, and observation through OIP. Gateway operators also need enough SOL to pay Solana transaction fees for network interactions.

The registry has a maximum capacity of 3,000 gateways. Each gateway requires a 20,000 ARIO minimum network-join stake, and each gateway can have up to 10,000 unique delegated stakers.

What the Registry Enables

Discovery

Apps, users, and other gateways can use the registry to find gateways by endpoint, service metadata, stake, observed performance, and supported capabilities.

Incentive Participation

The registry connects gateway identity to staking, delegated stake, performance history, and reward eligibility. OIP uses this information to evaluate gateways and distribute rewards.

Network Transparency

Gateway information is publicly visible through Solana state and network tooling such as gateways.ar.io. This makes participation, performance, and configuration easier to inspect.

Operator Choice

Gateways can specialize. Some may focus on fast public access, some on indexing, some on private infrastructure, some on paid access, and some on specific moderation or compliance policies.

Relationship to OIP

The registry is the set of gateways that OIP can observe and evaluate. Registered gateways are periodically checked for availability, correctness, and ArNS resolution behavior. Reliable gateways can earn rewards, while gateways that repeatedly fail can lose eligibility and eventually be removed through pruning.

Recap

• The Gateway Address Registry is the public source of network gateway metadata.
• Gateways join by registering service details and locking operator stake.
• Registered gateways can participate in OIP, receive delegations, and become eligible for rewards.
• Apps can use registry data to discover, filter, and route through gateways.
• Poorly performing gateways can be pruned from the network after sustained failure.

Explore the Gateway Ecosystem