Resolving without the API

Every read method on TipClient goes through the public API by default. resolveOnChain() is the exception: it never calls the API at all.

const client = new TipClient({ rpcUrl: "https://api.devnet.solana.com" });
const identity = await client.resolveOnChain("daniel");

Given an RPC endpoint, this derives @daniel's PDA locally, fetches the account directly from the Solana validator, and decodes it, entirely independent of the TIP API, the Postgres mirror, or the Redis cache. If all three of those were down at once, this path still resolves the tag, because the program is the source of truth and this path reads it directly.

This is why TIP is described as a protocol rather than a service: the service is a convenience layer, not a dependency.

What you lose on this path

Only tag, owner, wallet, and bump are real on-chain data. displayName, avatar, bio, and preferredToken are mirror-only fields with nothing on-chain to read, so they always come back null. verified and merchant are moderation concepts with no on-chain equivalent and always come back false. If you need profile data, go through the regular API-backed resolve() instead; use resolveOnChain() when availability of the on-chain fields matters more than the profile extras.