Retire deprecated sei_* association methods, document addr precompile

[alexander-sei]

Summary

Replaces learn/accounts and the address-resolution part of the EVM reference with the on-chain addr precompile path (0x0000000000000000000000000000000000001004), and retires the deprecated sei_* JSON-RPC methods that the old copy pointed users at.

Why

The sei_* JSON-RPC namespace is deprecated and gated by enabled_legacy_sei_apis in app.toml (see evmrpc/sei_legacy.go):

• sei_associate is not in the default allowlist. On every public Sei RPC (evm-rpc.sei-apis.com, third-party providers, etc.) it returns legacy_sei_deprecated. The docs were telling readers to build a flow that fails for the vast majority of them.
• sei_getSeiAddress / sei_getEVMAddress are enabled by default today but belong to the same deprecated namespace and may be removed in a future release. They duplicate getSeiAddr / getEvmAddr on the addr precompile, which is a normal EVM call available on every RPC and never deprecated.

The on-chain addr precompile already covers all three operations (associate, getSeiAddr, getEvmAddr) and is what first-party Sei integrations now use end-to-end. The first-party dashboard's recent switch to the precompile path is tracked in sei-dashboard#8.

What changed

learn/accounts.mdx

• Drop Method 5: Gasless Association via Signed Message (the sei_associate flow) — its row in the table, its ~35-line code snippet, and the surrounding callouts. Method 3 covers the same wallet-signed-message UX without depending on a gated endpoint.
• Drop the Manual Association From the CLI subsection (the seid tx evm associate-address snippet).
• Replace the two sei_get*Address curl examples under Query Linked Addresses with eth_call against the precompile, plus a viem TypeScript example that covers both getSeiAddr and getEvmAddr directions. Selector 0x0c3c20ed verified against viem.toFunctionSelector('function getSeiAddr(address) view returns (string)').
• Update the methods-table footnote and the Recap bullet to match the trimmed surface.
• Add a <Note> for readers arriving from old links, pointing operators who want the legacy method back to /node/node-operators (where the chain's default app.toml is mirrored).
• Replace the stale pinned commit link to sei-chain/precompiles (was 44fd60cec6…) with /tree/main/precompiles/addr.

evm/reference.mdx

• Drop the rows for sei_associate, sei_getSeiAddress, and sei_getEVMAddress from the legacy methods accordion table.
• Drop their dedicated subsections (parameters / object schema / result tables / example requests) from "Address & Cross-VM Helpers".
• Split that section into two:
  • Address Resolution — full precompile docs (curl + viem) for both directions, with a <Note> explaining the historical helpers.
  • Cross-VM Transaction Lookup — keeps #### sei_getCosmosTx (no precompile equivalent yet).
• Leave the default enabled_legacy_sei_apis code block intact — it mirrors what seid init actually writes to app.toml. Omitting the two sei_get*Address entries there would make the docs disagree with the chain default.

Not touched

• node/node-operators.mdx — the commented # "sei_associate", line and the two enabled get-helpers in the default allowlist are accurate operator reference for what the chain ships. Removing them would diverge from chain reality.

Reviewer notes

• The <Note> blocks on both pages are load-bearing for SEO / external-link continuity: they explain to anyone arriving here from a stale Google result, a third-party tutorial, or an old bookmark why the section they remembered no longer exists.
• I spotted a separate bug in learn/accounts.mdx: the "Sei Address Derivation" snippet near the bottom (under "Deriving Addresses from the Public Key") says to keccak256-hash the public key and take the first 20 bytes for the bech32 — but Cosmos sei derivation is SHA256→RIPEMD160, as the Python/TypeScript snippets later in the same doc correctly show. Not fixed in this PR to keep the scope focused on association method availability; happy to do it in a follow-up.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[cursor]

PR Summary

Low Risk
Markdown-only changes to developer docs; no runtime, auth, or application code paths are modified.

Overview
Documentation now steers developers away from deprecated sei_* association and lookup RPCs toward the on-chain addr precompile at 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000001004 via standard eth_call / viem readContract.

On learn/accounts, the gasless sei_associate flow (Method 5), CLI seid tx evm associate-address, and sei_get*Address curl examples are removed; lookup uses getSeiAddr / getEvmAddr, with notes that public RPCs return legacy_sei_deprecated for sei_associate. The public-key derivation section is corrected to SHA256→RIPEMD160 (compressed) for bech32 and keccak256 (uncompressed, no 0x04) for EVM.

On evm/reference, sei_associate and the two get-address methods drop out of the legacy accordion and long-form sections; Address Resolution documents the precompile, while sei_getCosmosTx stays under Cross-VM Transaction Lookup. The default enabled_legacy_sei_apis example in docs is unchanged so it still matches chain defaults.

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