README
¶
CometBFT
Byzantine-Fault Tolerant State Machine Replication. Or Blockchain, for short.
| Branch | Tests | Linting |
|---|---|---|
| main |  |
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| v1.x |  |
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| v0.38.x |  |
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| v0.37.x |  |
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| v0.34.x |  |
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CometBFT is a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) middleware that takes a state transition machine - written in any programming language - and securely replicates it on many machines.
It is a fork of Tendermint Core and implements the Tendermint consensus algorithm.
For protocol details, refer to the CometBFT Specification.
For detailed analysis of the consensus protocol, including safety and liveness proofs, read our paper, "The latest gossip on BFT consensus".
Documentation
Complete documentation can be found on the website.
Releases
Please do not depend on main as your production branch, as it may receive
significant breaking changes at any time. Use
releases instead.
If you intend to run CometBFT in production, we're happy to help. To contact us, in order of preference:
- Create a new discussion on GitHub
- Reach out to us via Telegram
- Join the Cosmos Network Discord and
discuss in
#cometbft
More on how releases are conducted can be found here.
Security
Please see SECURITY.md.
Minimum requirements
| CometBFT version | Requirement | Version | Tested with |
|---|---|---|---|
| main | Go version | 1.22 or higher | 1.22 |
| v1.x | Go version | 1.22 or higher | 1.22 |
| v0.38.x | Go version | 1.21 or higher | 1.22 |
| v0.37.x | Go version | 1.20 or higher | 1.22 |
| v0.34.x | Go version | 1.20 or higher | 1.20 |
Install
See the install guide.
Quick Start
Contributing
Please abide by the Code of Conduct in all interactions.
Before contributing to the project, please take a look at the contributing guidelines and the style guide. You may also find it helpful to read the specifications, and familiarize yourself with our Architectural Decision Records (ADRs) and Request For Comments (RFCs).
Versioning
As of v1, CometBFT uses the following approach to versioning:
- Major version bumps, such as v1.0.0 to v2.0.0, would generally involve changes that force users to perform a coordinated upgrade in order to use the new version, such as protocol-breaking changes (e.g. changes to how block hashes are computed and thus what the network considers to be "valid blocks", or how the consensus protocol works, or changes that affect network-level compatibility between nodes, etc.).
- Minor version bumps, such as v1.1.0 to v1.2.0, are reserved for rolling out new features or substantial changes that do not force a coordinated upgrade (i.e. not protocol-breaking), but could potentially break Go APIs.
- Patch version bumps, such as v1.0.0 to v1.0.1, are reserved for bug/security fixes that are not protocol- or Go API-breaking.
Upgrades
We do not guarantee compatibility between major releases of CometBFT. Minor releases of the same major release series (v1.1, v1.2, etc.) should, unless otherwise specified, be compatible with each other. Patch releases of the same minor release series (v1.0.1, v1.0.2, etc.) are guaranteed to be compatible with each other.
For more detailed information on upgrading from one version to another, see UPGRADING.md.
Supported Versions
Because we are a small core team, we have limited capacity to ship patch updates, including security updates. Consequently, we strongly recommend keeping CometBFT up-to-date. Upgrading instructions can be found in UPGRADING.md.
Currently supported versions include:
- v1.x: Currently in pre-release with no guarantees as to API stability until a release candidate is cut. See RELEASES.md for details on our process as to API stability guarantees that can be expected of CometBFT pre-releases.
- v0.38.x: CometBFT v0.38 introduces ABCI 2.0, which implements the entirety of ABCI++
- v0.37.x: CometBFT v0.37 introduces ABCI 1.0, which is the first major step towards the full ABCI++ implementation in ABCI 2.0
- v0.34.x: The CometBFT v0.34 series is compatible with the Tendermint Core v0.34 series
Resources
Libraries
- Cosmos SDK: A framework for building high-value public blockchain applications in Go
- Tendermint in Rust
- ABCI Tower
Applications
Research
Below are links to the original Tendermint consensus algorithm and relevant whitepapers, which CometBFT will continue to build on.
- The latest gossip on BFT consensus
- Master's Thesis on Tendermint
- Original Whitepaper: "Tendermint: Consensus Without Mining"
Join us
CometBFT is currently maintained by Informal Systems. If you'd like to work full-time on CometBFT, we're hiring!
Funding for CometBFT development comes primarily from the Interchain Foundation, a Swiss non-profit. Informal Systems also maintains cometbft.com.
Directories
¶
| Path | Synopsis |
|---|---|
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abci
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server
Package server is used to start a new ABCI server.
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Package server is used to start a new ABCI server. |
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api
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cmd
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merkle
Package merkle computes a deterministic minimal height Merkle tree hash.
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Package merkle computes a deterministic minimal height Merkle tree hash. |
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xchacha20poly1305
Package xchacha20poly1305 creates an AEAD using hchacha, chacha, and poly1305 This allows for randomized nonces to be used in conjunction with chacha.
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Package xchacha20poly1305 creates an AEAD using hchacha, chacha, and poly1305 This allows for randomized nonces to be used in conjunction with chacha. |
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Package events - Pub-Sub in go with event caching
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Package events - Pub-Sub in go with event caching |
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Package evidence handles all evidence storage and gossiping from detection to block proposal.
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Package evidence handles all evidence storage and gossiping from detection to block proposal. |
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Package flowrate provides the tools for monitoring and limiting the flow rate of an arbitrary data stream.
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Package flowrate provides the tools for monitoring and limiting the flow rate of an arbitrary data stream. |
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Package inspect provides a tool for investigating the state of a failed CometBFT node.
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Package inspect provides a tool for investigating the state of a failed CometBFT node. |
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libs
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json
Package json provides functions for marshaling and unmarshaling JSON in a format that is backwards-compatible with Amino JSON encoding.
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Package json provides functions for marshaling and unmarshaling JSON in a format that is backwards-compatible with Amino JSON encoding. |
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protoio
Package protoio may be internalized (made private) in future releases.
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Package protoio may be internalized (made private) in future releases. |
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pubsub
Package pubsub implements a pub-sub model with a single publisher (Server) and multiple subscribers (clients).
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Package pubsub implements a pub-sub model with a single publisher (Server) and multiple subscribers (clients). |
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pubsub/query
Package query implements the custom query format used to filter event subscriptions in CometBFT.
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Package query implements the custom query format used to filter event subscriptions in CometBFT. |
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pubsub/query/syntax
Package syntax defines a scanner and parser for the CometBFT event filter query language.
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Package syntax defines a scanner and parser for the CometBFT event filter query language. |
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service
Package service may be internalized (made private) in future releases.
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Package service may be internalized (made private) in future releases. |
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sync
Package sync may be internalized (made private) in future releases.
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Package sync may be internalized (made private) in future releases. |
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package light provides a light client implementation.
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package light provides a light client implementation. |
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TODO: Better handle abci client errors.
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TODO: Better handle abci client errors. |
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Package node is the main entry point, where the Node struct, which represents a full node, is defined.
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Package node is the main entry point, where the Node struct, which represents a full node, is defined. |
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Package privval provides different implementations of the types.PrivValidator.
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Package privval provides different implementations of the types.PrivValidator. |
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rpc
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core
Package core defines the CometBFT RPC endpoints.
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Package core defines the CometBFT RPC endpoints. |
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grpc/client
Note that no auto-generated gRPC code is directly exposed via the client interface.
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Note that no auto-generated gRPC code is directly exposed via the client interface. |
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jsonrpc
HTTP RPC server supporting calls via uri params, jsonrpc over HTTP, and jsonrpc over websockets
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HTTP RPC server supporting calls via uri params, jsonrpc over HTTP, and jsonrpc over websockets |
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jsonrpc/server
Commons for HTTP handling
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Commons for HTTP handling |
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scripts
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metricsgen
metricsgen is a code generation tool for creating constructors for CometBFT metrics types.
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metricsgen is a code generation tool for creating constructors for CometBFT metrics types. |
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metricsgen/metricsdiff
metricsdiff is a tool for generating a diff between two different files containing prometheus metrics.
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metricsdiff is a tool for generating a diff between two different files containing prometheus metrics. |
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XXX: This package may be internalized (made private) in future releases.
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XXX: This package may be internalized (made private) in future releases. |
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indexer/sink/psql
Package psql implements an event sink backed by a PostgreSQL database.
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Package psql implements an event sink backed by a PostgreSQL database. |
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Package statesync may be internalized (made private) in future releases.
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Package statesync may be internalized (made private) in future releases. |
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XXX: This package may be internalized (made private) in the future releases.
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XXX: This package may be internalized (made private) in the future releases. |
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test
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e2e/pkg/grammar/grammar-auto/lexer
Package lexer is generated by GoGLL.
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Package lexer is generated by GoGLL. |
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e2e/pkg/grammar/grammar-auto/parser
Package parser is generated by gogll.
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Package parser is generated by gogll. |
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e2e/pkg/grammar/grammar-auto/parser/bsr
Package bsr implements a Binary Subtree Representation set as defined in
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Package bsr implements a Binary Subtree Representation set as defined in |
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e2e/pkg/grammar/grammar-auto/parser/slot
Package slot is generated by gogll.
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Package slot is generated by gogll. |
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e2e/pkg/grammar/grammar-auto/parser/symbols
Package symbols is generated by gogll.
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Package symbols is generated by gogll. |
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e2e/pkg/grammar/grammar-auto/sppf
Package sppf implements a Shared Packed Parse Forest as defined in:
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Package sppf implements a Shared Packed Parse Forest as defined in: |
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e2e/pkg/grammar/grammar-auto/token
Package token is generated by GoGLL.
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Package token is generated by GoGLL. |
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Package factory provides generation code for common structs in CometBFT.
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Package factory provides generation code for common structs in CometBFT. |