First time breaking down the Cartesi sequencer! Let’s unpack what it is, why it matters, and how it works. 🧵↓
1/ Interactive apps need speed. Ethereum settlement takes time. Nobody wants to wait minutes for L1 finality on every click. That’s where a sequencer comes in.
2/ The sequencer takes signed user operations and confirms them right away (soft confirmation).
In the background, it posts them to L1 in batches. Users get a near-instant response, and Ethereum stays the source of truth.
Full scoop on our sequencer: https://github.com/cartesi/sequencer
3/ What happens technically? Each group of user ops (a frame) points to a safe L1 block. The onchain scheduler takes in deposits up to that block, then runs the same ops in the same order.
The sequencer and the rollup follow the same rule, so both end up with the same state.
4/ There’s a single sequencer, but it can’t steal funds or forge state. The rollup checks everything, and fraud proofs enforce the result.
Deposits skip the sequencer entirely. A censoring sequencer can delay them by a few hours at most. It can never block them.
5/ The Cartesi sequencer is still alpha, but it’s progressing fast.
It plans for L1 outages, crashes, reboots, long downtime, and hostile mempools. On every startup, it checks its database and Ethereum to identify what needs fixing.
A separate watchdog double-checks its state.
6/ The latest release, v0.1.0-alpha.10, ships the sequencer, machine images, and watchdog together.
New: public fee quotes, app history with replay, C app bindings, a rewritten watchdog, and Cartesi Machine v0.21.0. Breaking changes.
Read the notes first: https://github.com/cartesi/sequencer/releases/tag/v0.1.0-alpha.10
Repost: https://x.com/cartesiproject/status/2109993133866119399
1/ Interactive apps need speed. Ethereum settlement takes time. Nobody wants to wait minutes for L1 finality on every click. That’s where a sequencer comes in.
2/ The sequencer takes signed user operations and confirms them right away (soft confirmation).
In the background, it posts them to L1 in batches. Users get a near-instant response, and Ethereum stays the source of truth.
Full scoop on our sequencer: https://github.com/cartesi/sequencer
3/ What happens technically? Each group of user ops (a frame) points to a safe L1 block. The onchain scheduler takes in deposits up to that block, then runs the same ops in the same order.
The sequencer and the rollup follow the same rule, so both end up with the same state.
4/ There’s a single sequencer, but it can’t steal funds or forge state. The rollup checks everything, and fraud proofs enforce the result.
Deposits skip the sequencer entirely. A censoring sequencer can delay them by a few hours at most. It can never block them.
5/ The Cartesi sequencer is still alpha, but it’s progressing fast.
It plans for L1 outages, crashes, reboots, long downtime, and hostile mempools. On every startup, it checks its database and Ethereum to identify what needs fixing.
A separate watchdog double-checks its state.
6/ The latest release, v0.1.0-alpha.10, ships the sequencer, machine images, and watchdog together.
New: public fee quotes, app history with replay, C app bindings, a rewritten watchdog, and Cartesi Machine v0.21.0. Breaking changes.
Read the notes first: https://github.com/cartesi/sequencer/releases/tag/v0.1.0-alpha.10
Repost: https://x.com/cartesiproject/status/2109993133866119399