Consensus

    Channel

    Consensus has four separate channels. The channel identifiers are listed below.

    Name Number
    StateChannel 32
    DataChannel 33
    VoteChannel 34
    VoteSetBitsChannel 35

    Message Types

    Proposal

    Proposal is sent when a new block is proposed. It is a suggestion of what the next block in the blockchain should be.

    Name Type Description Field Number
    proposal Proposal Proposed Block to come to consensus on 1

    Vote

    Vote is sent to vote for some block (or to inform others that a process does not vote in the current round). Vote is defined in the Blockchain section and contains validator’s information (validator address and index), height and round for which the vote is sent, vote type, blockID if process vote for some block (nil otherwise) and a timestamp when the vote is sent. The message is signed by the validator private key.

    Name Type Description Field Number
    vote Vote Vote for a proposed Block 1

    BlockPart

    BlockPart is sent when gossiping a piece of the proposed block. It contains height, round and the block part.

    Name Type Description Field Number
    height int64 Height of corresponding block. 1
    round int32 Round of voting to finalize the block. 2
    part Part A part of the block. 3

    NewRoundStep

    NewRoundStep is sent for every step transition during the core consensus algorithm execution. It is used in the gossip part of the CometBFT consensus protocol to inform peers about a current height/round/step a process is in.

    Name Type Description Field Number
    height int64 Height of corresponding block 1
    round int32 Round of voting to finalize the block. 2
    step uint32   3
    seconds_since_start_time int64   4
    last_commit_round int32   5

    NewValidBlock

    NewValidBlock is sent when a validator observes a valid block B in some round r, i.e., there is a Proposal for block B and 2/3+ prevotes for the block B in the round r. It contains height and round in which valid block is observed, block parts header that describes the valid block and is used to obtain all block parts, and a bit array of the block parts a process currently has, so its peers can know what parts it is missing so they can send them. In case the block is also committed, then IsCommit flag is set to true.

    Name Type Description Field Number
    height int64 Height of corresponding block 1
    round int32 Round of voting to finalize the block. 2
    block_part_set_header PartSetHeader   3
    block_parts int32   4
    is_commit bool   5

    ProposalPOL

    ProposalPOL is sent when a previous block is re-proposed. It is used to inform peers in what round the process learned for this block (ProposalPOLRound), and what prevotes for the re-proposed block the process has.

    Name Type Description Field Number
    height int64 Height of corresponding block 1
    proposal_pol_round int32   2
    proposal_pol bitarray   3

    ReceivedVote

    ReceivedVote is sent to indicate that a particular vote has been received. It contains height, round, vote type and the index of the validator that is the originator of the corresponding vote.

    Name Type Description Field Number
    height int64 Height of corresponding block 1
    round int32 Round of voting to finalize the block. 2
    type SignedMessageType   3
    index int32   4

    VoteSetMaj23

    VoteSetMaj23 is sent to indicate that a process has seen +2/3 votes for some BlockID. It contains height, round, vote type and the BlockID.

    Name Type Description Field Number
    height int64 Height of corresponding block 1
    round int32 Round of voting to finalize the block. 2
    type SignedMessageType   3

    VoteSetBits

    VoteSetBits is sent to communicate the bit-array of votes a process has seen for a given BlockID. It contains height, round, vote type, BlockID and a bit array of the votes a process has.

    Name Type Description Field Number
    height int64 Height of corresponding block 1
    round int32 Round of voting to finalize the block. 2
    type SignedMessageType   3
    block_id BlockID   4
    votes BitArray Round of voting to finalize the block. 5

    Message

    Message is a oneof protobuf type.

    Name Type Description Field Number
    new_round_step NewRoundStep Height of corresponding block 1
    new_valid_block NewValidBlock Round of voting to finalize the block. 2
    proposal Proposal   3
    proposal_pol ProposalPOL   4
    block_part BlockPart   5
    vote Vote   6
    received_vote ReceivedVote   7
    vote_set_maj23 VoteSetMaj23   8
    vote_set_bits VoteSetBits   9
    Decorative Orb