**Goal:** decide whether staking into a subnet right now is a reasonable idea — not just "is it
healthy," but "who already controls it, and what would my stake actually buy."

## The sequence [#the-sequence]

```
1. get_subnet { netuid }              — identity, integration readiness, curation state
2. get_subnet_health { netuid }       — is it actually up right now
3. get_subnet_economics { netuid }    — price, pool size, emission share, registration status
4. get_subnet_concentration { netuid } — who already holds the stake (Nakamoto coefficient)
5. get_subnet_stake_quote { netuid, amount, direction: "stake" } — what your amount actually buys
```

Steps 1–4 are read-only lookups; run them in any order once you have a netuid. Step 5 needs a
real amount, so run it last.

## What each output means [#what-each-output-means]

* **`get_subnet`** — `profile.readiness.score` (0–100) and `curation.review_state` are the fastest
  signal for "is this a real, maintained subnet" before you look at anything financial.
* **`get_subnet_health`** — `summary.status` should be `ok`. A subnet that's `degraded` or `failed`
  right now doesn't disqualify it from staking (health tracks the subnet's API surfaces, not its
  chain economics), but it's worth knowing before you go looking for its dashboard.
* **`get_subnet_economics`** — `registration_allowed` + `open_slots` tell you if new miners/validators
  can even join; `alpha_price_tao` and `emission_share` are the subnet's current market size.
* **`get_subnet_concentration`** — the number that actually answers "how risky is this stake."
  `stake.nakamoto_coefficient` is how many entities you'd need to collude to control the subnet.
  **1 means one entity already can.**
* **`get_subnet_stake_quote`** — `price_impact_pct` tells you whether your own stake would move the
  price meaningfully; `expected_out` is the alpha you'd actually receive.

## Failure branch [#failure-branch]

`get_subnet_health` returning `unknown` for every surface (not `ok`/`degraded`/`failed`) means the
prober hasn't reached this subnet's endpoints yet — check `get_subnet`'s `curation.review_state`
instead; a `maintainer-reviewed` subnet with no recent probe data is usually just new to the
registry, not actually down.

## Executed transcript (subnet 1, "Apex", 2026-07-28) [#executed-transcript-subnet-1-apex-2026-07-28]

<Callout title="Real output, condensed" type="info">
  Run live against the production API for this doc — not aspirational. Full JSON trimmed to the
  fields the steps above actually use.
</Callout>

```json
// 1. get_subnet { netuid: 1 }
{ "name": "Apex", "status": "active",
  "profile": { "readiness": { "score": 96, "readiness_tier": "buildable" },
               "curation_level": "maintainer-reviewed" } }

// 2. get_subnet_health { netuid: 1 }
{ "summary": { "status": "ok", "ok_count": 3, "failed_count": 0, "avg_latency_ms": 218 } }

// 3. get_subnet_economics { netuid: 1 }
{ "alpha_price_tao": 0.008532047, "registration_allowed": true, "open_slots": 0,
  "validator_count": 10, "miner_count": 246, "emission_share": 0.006692 }

// 4. get_subnet_concentration { netuid: 1 }
{ "stake": { "nakamoto_coefficient": 1, "gini": 0.833289, "top_1pct_share": 0.585467 } }

// 5. get_subnet_stake_quote { netuid: 1, amount: 100, direction: "stake" }
{ "expected_out": 11725.4, "expected_out_unit": "alpha", "price_impact_pct": 0.384 }
```

**Reading this one:** readiness (96) and health (ok) both look good, and 100 TAO would only move
the price 0.38% — but `nakamoto_coefficient: 1` means a single entity already holds enough stake to
control consensus on this subnet. That's not disqualifying (many active subnets look like this
today), but it's the one number this sequence surfaces that a glance at the price chart wouldn't.

## Tools used [#tools-used]

[`get_subnet`](/docs/api-reference/subnets/subnet-detail), [`get_subnet_health`](/docs/api-reference/health/subnet-health), [`get_subnet_economics`](/docs/economics), [`get_subnet_concentration`](/docs/api-reference/subnets/subnet-concentration), [`get_subnet_stake_quote`](/docs/api-reference/subnets/subnet-stake-quote) — same tools, callable directly over MCP (`prompts/get name="evaluate_subnet_before_staking"`) or as the REST routes each links to.