Deactivate a domain

See Domains for why deactivation is timelocked and what a pending deactivation means. This page covers the sithbit domain deactivate command’s four modes: request, --finalize, --cancel, and --false (reactivate).

sithbit domain deactivate <domain> \
  [--finalize] \
  [--cancel] \
  [--false] \
  [--keypair <delegate keypair>] \
  [--skip-preflight]

Arguments

• <domain> (required) — the domain to act on.
• --finalize (optional) — flips the domain inactive once the timelock has elapsed since the request. Run before the timelock has elapsed, it is rejected on-chain. Mutually exclusive with --cancel.
• --cancel (optional) — aborts an in-flight deactivation request before it finalizes, leaving the domain active as if the request had never happened. Mutually exclusive with --finalize.
• --false (optional) — reactivates the domain. This is the one instant mode of the command; it is not subject to the timelock.
• --keypair <delegate keypair> — the delegate’s signing keypair. Required on every invocation: a signer that isn’t the postoffice’s standing delegate is refused with error 66, NotDelegate. Defaults to your configured default keypair when omitted.
• --skip-preflight (optional) — submits the transaction without a local simulation pass first.

With none of --finalize, --cancel, or --false given, the command opens a new timelock: it stamps the request with the current chain time and creates a small transient PDA that tracks it. The domain remains active — mail keeps flowing — until the request is finalized; its presence is what marks the domain as having a pending deactivation.

The timelock duration

The wait between a deactivation request and the earliest it can be finalized is a fixed 7 days. There is no flag to shorten or extend it.

Examples

Request deactivation of a domain:

sithbit domain deactivate badactor_domain.com

Finalize a request once at least 7 days have passed:

sithbit domain deactivate --finalize badactor_domain.com

Cancel a pending request, refunding the transient PDA’s rent to the delegate and leaving the domain active:

sithbit domain deactivate --cancel badactor_domain.com

Reactivate a domain immediately, with no waiting period:

sithbit domain deactivate --false recovered_domain.com

Errors

• NotDelegate (error 66) — the signing --keypair isn’t the postoffice’s recorded standing delegate. All four modes are delegate-only.
• Finalizing before the 7-day timelock has elapsed is rejected on-chain.
• --finalize and --cancel cannot be combined.

Note: when a domain is retired for good rather than temporarily suspended, see Closing accounts for domain close instead.