Skip to main content

Editorial guidelines

This protocol specification is a first attempt to describe the Aztec protocol in its entirety.

It is still a work in progress. For example, we haven't settled on exact hashes, or encryption schemes, or gas metering schedules yet, so it won't contain such exact details as the Ethereum yellow paper.

Target audience​

Initially, the target audience is people at Aztec Labs. Can we explain the protocol requirements and the protocol itself to ourselves, without gaps?

In particular, can we explain the protocol to the wider cryptography team, whose help we'll need to ensure the protocol is secure.

(Naturally, if external people do stumble upon this work, they're by all means welcome to critique it and contribute!)

Editorial comments​

This document should be considered the foundation of the protocol. It shouldn't need to refer to the implementation details elsewhere in this monorepo. (The protocol should inform the implementation; not the other way around).

The details should be sufficient for some other engineering team to implement the entire protocol.

Some of the info we need to populate this document might have already been written in the top-level docs/ dir of the monorepo. But the target audience is different. Reduce verbose prose. Remove monorepo code snippets (but note that simple pseudocode snippets to explain a protocol concept are fine). Don't describe components of the sandbox (that's an implementation detail and doesn't belong in this doc).

Diagrams​

To increase the probability of diagrams being up to date we encourage you to write them in mermaid. Mermaid is a markdown-like language for generating diagrams and is supported by Docusaurus, so it will be rendered automatically for you. You simply create a codeblock specifying the language as mermaid and write your diagram in the codeblock. For example:

```mermaid
graph LR
    A --> B
    B --> C
    C --> A
```

Mermaid supports multiple types of diagrams, so finding one that suits your needs should be possible. Consult their documentation or try out their live editor to see if they've got what you need.

When writing class diagrams, we recommend using the classDiagram type and composition arrows *-- to represent extensions. Also for the sake of readability, add all the components in the class itself, including composite types. For example:

```mermaid
classDiagram
    class A{
        foo: Bar
    }
    class B{
        hip: Hap
        zap: Zip
    }
    class C{
        a: A
        b: B
        flip: Flap
    }
    C *-- A: a
    C *-- B: b
```

Mermaid doesn't cover my case, what should I do?​

If mermaid doesn't cover your case, please add both the rendered image and the source code to the documentation. Most of the tools for diagramming can export a non-rendered representation that can then be updated by other people. Please name it such that it is clear what tool was used.

This should allow us to keep the diagrams up to date, by allowing others to update them.

For each protocol feature​

Describe the requirements. Explain why the requirements are requirements. Justify them. Recall any discarded requirements. Explain that they were considered, and explain why they were discarded. (Perhaps link to discourse, if applicable).

Explain what the protocol is, and explain why it meets each requirement. Provide links to discourse (if applicable), so that people can get context on protocol decisions.

Flag any requirements that are not-yet being met by the protocol described within this doc. Discuss what we've considered (or link to a discourse discussion).