EPP Status Codes
The standardized flags on a domain that show its state — locked, on hold, pending transfer, and more.
- glossary
EPP status codes are the machine-readable flags defined by the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) that describe exactly what operations are permitted on a domain at any given moment. They come in two namespaces: client* codes set by the registrar and server* codes set by the registry, with the server codes taking precedence. Common ones include clientTransferProhibited (the transfer lock that blocks outbound moves), serverDeleteProhibited (registry-level protection against deletion), clientHold (suspends DNS resolution, often for non-payment), and pendingDelete which marks a domain in its grace period before it is released and available for registration again — a state adjacent to pending delete. Understanding these codes matters practically: a domain showing serverTransferProhibited cannot be moved even after the registrar unlocks it, which surprises buyers mid-transaction.
Related keywords
- EPP status codes
- clientHold
- serverTransferProhibited
- domain status
- pending delete
Contributors
Namefi is a collective of engineers, designers, and operators who obsess over building tools that make managing your onchain domain names effortless.
Victor Zhou is a technology founder and standards editor focused on digital identity and trust. He founded Namefi, edits Ethereum Improvement Proposals, and previously led smart-contract architecture work at Google Labs.
His work sits at the intersection of naming, ownership, and the systems people use to establish identity online. That perspective makes him especially interested in the way names move between personal meaning, public recognition, and digital infrastructure.
For Namefi, Victor edits and writes about domains as durable digital identity: how names become ownable onchain assets, how tokenization changes custody and trust, and what naming can learn from the systems people use to establish identity online.