This directory contains the plain english specs for Optimism, a minimal optimistic rollup protocol that maintains 1:1 compatibility with Ethereum.
- Introduction
- Overview
- Deposits
- Withdrawals
- Execution Engine
- L2 Output Root Proposals
- Rollup Node
- Rollup Node P2p
- Guaranteed Gas Market
- Messengers
- Bridges
- Predeploys
- Glossary
Our aim is to design a protocol specification that is:
- Fast: When users send transactions, they get reliable confirmations with low-latency. For example when swapping on Uniswap you should see that your transaction succeed in less than 2 seconds.
- Scalable: It should be possible to handle an enormous number of transactions per second which will enable us to charge low fees. V1.0 will enable us to scale up to and even past the gas limit on L1. Later iterations will scale much further.
- Modular: Our designs will use modularity to reduce complexity and enable parallel contributions. Coming up with good conceptual frameworks & composable atoms of software enables us to build extremely complex software even when any one person cannot hold that much in their brain.
- Minimal: Rollups should be minimal to best take advantage of the battle-tested infrastructure (like Geth) that already runs Ethereum. An ideal optimistic rollup design should be representable as a diff against Ethereum client software.
- Developer Driven: Our designs will be developer driven to ensure we are actually building something that people want to use. We must constantly engage with the developers who will be using our software to avoid creating a system no one wants to use.
- Clear and Readable: The specs we write are written to be read. So tight feedback loop with the systems team consuming the spec is also key!
- Secure: This is self-evident. We cannot lose money and in a system where even a bit of downtime can result in loss of funds this means everything we build must be incredibly secure.
- Decentralizable: Everything we build must have a clear path towards decentralization. Today Optimism relies on OptimismPBC to function, but eventually it will be managed by a DAO and even in that decentralized future our system must thrive.