Your identity in Talk is pseudonymous.
You can read Talk without registration.
To speak, you create an Identity with a Passkey and choose one current @name.
Talk does not require your real name, email address, phone number, or password.
Conversation disappears. Identity and @name remain.
How Identity works
- Choose an available
@name. - Create a Passkey.
- Your authenticator creates the credentials used to prove that this Identity belongs to you.
- Talk stores only the information needed to recognize your Identity and current name.
credential_id public_key current_name name_credit
Your private key remains on your device or with your Passkey provider. Talk never receives it.
When you return, your Passkey proves that the Identity is yours.
What is public
Your Talk Identity is pseudonymous.
Public
@name
messages you are sending right now
Not required to be public
real name
email
phone number
photo
job
biography
private key
password
No real-name profile is required. Your @name is your public identity inside Talk.
Your @name
Every Identity has exactly one current @name. There are no collections of names, owned-name portfolios, resale markets, or transfers between users.
Identity → @alice
Your first name is free
When you create your Identity, you choose your first available name for free.
name_credit = $0
Later, you can change your name to another available name. Changing it may require payment.
Name rules
Names are lowercase. For names from 1 to 5 characters, only letters a-z are allowed.
For names of 6 characters or more, the first five characters must be letters. After that, letters, numbers, and hyphens are allowed. The underscore is never allowed. A name cannot end with -, and two hyphens in a row are not allowed.
@ai ✓ @alice ✓ @alice1 ✓ @alice-dev ✓ @money-1 ✓ @a1test ✗ @alice_dev ✗ @_alice ✗ @abcde- ✗ @alice--dev ✗
Name prices
The price depends only on length, not on meaning, popularity, profession, brand, company, dictionary value, or perceived desirability.
1 character → $10,000 2 characters → $1,000 3 characters → $100 4 characters → $10 5 characters → $5 6+ characters → $1
Availability is separate: the requested name must currently be free.
Changing your @name
Talk checks the naming rules, checks availability, determines the normal price, and calculates the payment.
payment = max(0, new_name_price - current_name_credit)
Your current name category acts as credit toward a more expensive name. For example, moving from a $5 name to a $10 name requires a $5 payment.
If the new name is cheaper, the payment is $0. The difference is not refunded and does not become a cash balance.
old_name → becomes available current_name → new_name name_credit → new name price
Talk does not keep your old name reserved. Another Identity may take it once it becomes available.
One active session
One registered Identity can have one active Talk session at a time. If the same Identity starts another live session, the previous active session is closed.
This does not prevent anyone from reading Talk. Reading does not require an Identity.
Reading does not require Identity
Anyone can open Talk and read the public live conversation. You do not need an account, Passkey, @name, email address, or password.
Read freely. Passkey to speak.
What remains
Talk does not treat ordinary conversation as a permanent publication archive. The conversation is live. Your Identity is persistent. Your current @name is the public way other people recognize that Identity.
conversation → temporary Identity → persistent @name → current public identity
Choose a name and create a Passkey to speak in Talk.
Conversation disappears. Identity and @name remain.