Multi-Marker + Era 1 Compatibility Layer

Product direction (2026-10): The Doginals inscription standard is ord (push-only on Dogecoin). The experimental dog marker is scoped to Good Dog Registry / eternal.dog registry JSON — not a general Era 2 replacement, and not for minted dog photos (those stay ord).

This document describes how a unified indexer can still parse both markers without splitting numbering.

Overview

Indexers that opt into multi-marker support:

ord — Doginals standard (images, ÐMP, most protocols, GDR media refs)
dog — Lab carrier for GDR registry ops only (dog-marker-envelope.md)
Future markers only if a product lane needs them

Marketplace (ÐMP), collections, and photo Doginals remain on ord.

Era / lane definitions

Doginals (ord): Community inscription standard. First-class; continuous numbering.
GDR lab (dog): Optional registry envelope for eternal.dog identity JSON. Does not redefine Doginals.
Retired direction: “Era 2 dog replaces ord for all new inscriptions” — do not ship product copy that way.

Continuous Numbering

Doginal #0 remains #0 forever. No renumbering or splits.
Indexers maintain a single global sequence across all markers.
Ordering: Canonical inscription order determines numbering, regardless of marker.

Important: Numbering Divergence Between Indexers

This design creates intentional numbering divergence between ord-only and multi-marker indexers:

Ord-only indexer (legacy Doginals): Numbers only ord marker inscriptions sequentially
Multi-marker indexer (Dogenals): Numbers ALL inscriptions (ord + dog + future) in canonical order

Example:

Block 5000000: 3 ord inscriptions → ord-only indexer assigns #1000, #1001, #1002
Block 5000001: 2 dog inscriptions → multi-marker indexer assigns #1003, #1004 to these dog inscriptions
Result: Same inscriptions get different numbers in different indexers

This divergence is by design for ecosystem unification. Dogenals prioritizes:

Protocol-agnostic numbering (one continuous sequence)
Future compatibility (dog markers get numbers too)
Unified ecosystem state (all inscriptions in one index)

Legacy ord-only indexers will show different numbers than multi-marker Dogenals indexers. This is acceptable because:

Era 1 ord inscriptions remain fully functional
The divergence only affects numbering, not inscription validity or ownership
Users can choose their indexer based on their needs
Dogenals provides the unified view for modern applications

Unified Indexer Requirements

Indexers MUST implement a unified parsing and state management layer that:

Detects inscription markers in transaction scripts
Parses payloads according to marker-specific rules
Produces unified Dogenals state (Doginal IDs, metadata, protocols)

Marker Detection

Indexers MUST scan for inscription markers in the first input’s scriptSig:

ord: OP_FALSE OP_IF "ord" (Bitcoin-style)
dog: OP_FALSE OP_IF "dog" (Dogenals native)
Future: Defined in respective marker specs

Payload Parsing

ord: Parse as Bitcoin Ordinals-style JSON in the script.
dog: Parse as Dogenals native envelope (versioned, CBOR-preferred metadata).
Unified output: Convert to standard Dogenals JSON format for internal state.

State Unification

All inscriptions, regardless of marker, contribute to the same:

Doginal numbering sequence
ÐMS metadata index
ÐMP marketplace state
Protocol-specific state (DogeRelics, ÐMaps, etc.)

Era 1 Compatibility Rules

Legacy ord inscriptions are treated as full Dogenals citizens:

Continuous Numbering

Era 1 ord inscriptions get Doginal numbers in canonical order.
No separate “ord-only” numbering — unified sequence.

Metadata Compatibility

ÐMS: Era 1 inscriptions can have ÐMS metadata attached via linked inscriptions.
DRC-721: Era 1 inscriptions support parent/child relationships via trailer tags.
Indexers MUST index ÐMS and DRC-721 data for ord inscriptions.

Marketplace Compatibility

ÐMP: Era 1 inscriptions are fully tradable via ÐMP operations.
Listings, bids, settlements work identically regardless of marker.

Protocol Participation

Era 1 inscriptions participate in all Dogenals protocols:

DogeRelics: Can be parents/children in relic chains.
ÐMaps (p: "Ð:MAPS"): Can claim titles or be used in upgrades.
Koinu Relics: Can be included in generative sets.
Universal DRC-20: Can hold DRC-20 balances.

Implementation Guidelines

Indexer Architecture

[Transaction Scanner]
    ↓
[Marker Detector] → [ord Parser] → [Unified Converter]
    ↓              → [dog Parser] → [Unified Converter]
    ↓              → [Future Parser] → [Unified Converter]
    ↓
[Unified State Manager]
    ↓
[Dogenals APIs: numbering, ÐMS, ÐMP, etc.]

Unified JSON Format

All parsed inscriptions are converted to a standard internal JSON format:

{
  "id": "txidi0",
  "number": 12345,
  "marker": "ord|dog|future",
  "era": 1|2|...,
  "content": { /* inscription content */ },
  "metadata": { /* ÐMS data */ },
  "protocols": { /* protocol-specific data */ }
}

Canonical Ordering

Inscription order for numbering follows the same rules across markers:

Block height (ascending)
Transaction index in block (ascending)
Output index (ascending)
Inscription index within transaction (ascending)

Migration and Backwards Compatibility

No breaking changes: Era 1 ord inscriptions continue working exactly as before.
Additive only: New features (dog marker, advanced metadata) are opt-in.
Future markers: Designed to slot into the same unified system.

Security Considerations

Marker validation: Indexers MUST validate marker syntax and reject malformed inscriptions.
State consistency: Unified state must be consistent across markers.
Reorg handling: All markers follow the same reorg rules.

Future Extensions

This layer provides the foundation for:

Quantum-safe markers
Compressed metadata formats
Advanced envelope features

All while maintaining Era 1 compatibility and continuous numbering.

Launch Wave Collections Readme