Blueprints

Blueprints are specifications for Actively Validated Services (AVS) or Instances on the Tangle Network. Developers build blueprints using our Gadget SDK (opens in a new tab) and deploy them to the Tangle Network. Once deployed, users can create Instances of the Blueprint, which are run by Tangle Operators. The Tangle Network incentivizes operators to run these instances by rewarding them with TNT tokens and fees from instancing and instance exeuction. Developers incentivize operators to run instances by specifying additional rewards for operators in the Blueprint.

An Actively Validated Service or Blueprint Instance is a computational service that runs a specified period of time, potentially user-specified or on-demand or forever. Instances allow Blueprints to be reused multiple times, so that useful services can be leveraged by many customers. A key benefit of instancing Blueprints is that each instance can have different operators and diffierent restaked assets securing them.

A Tangle Blueprint is defined by:

• An program binary.
• A set of smart contracts that provide programmability over the service's output verification and handling of malicious failures

Tangle Blueprints specify their target environment for program execution. The Blueprint's binary can run natively on the operator's machine, in a virtual machine, or in a containerized environment. We are constantly working to provide the right environments for developers to build Blueprints so that operators are satisfied executing Blueprint Instances. Our Gadget SDK supports building AVS and Blueprint Instances directly on Eigenlayer without the same instancing as exists on Tangle, allowing developers nonetheless to leverage the features of our SDK to build and test their services on Eigenlayer. Future integrations with other restaking infrastructures are planned.

Blueprint Manager

On Tangle, Blueprints have an offchain and an onchain lifecycle. The offchain component is managed by what we call the Blueprint Manager. The Blueprint Manager can be considered Tangle's Operator Node. We even plan to run the Blueprint Manager as an AVS on other restaking infrastructures in order to aggregate operators and assets around Tangle Blueprints.

This onchain and offchain logic functions as follows:

1. Operators must register for Blueprints onchain. This indicates an operators willingness to accept requests for Blueprint Instances of that type.
2. Operators upon registering for Blueprints onchain, download the Blueprint's binary and metadata from the Tangle Network. This is handled by the Blueprint Manager, which listens for new registrations.
3. Operators upon accepting Blueprint Instance requests, execute the Blueprint's binary. This is where the target environment of the Blueprint is important. The Blueprint Manager is responsible for executing the Blueprint's binary in the correct environment be it natively or in Docker or an alternative VM.

Blueprint and Service Instance Lifecycle

Blueprints interact with the Tangle Network in several key ways:

1. Blueprints are deployed to Tangle, with their metadata and smart contracts stored and deployed on-chain.
2. Blueprints are instantiated, triggering the creation of an Instance, which represents a single AVS. The Instance runs for some period of time.
3. Blueprints are destroyed once they reach their time-to-live (TTL) or run out of funds to incentivize operators to run their service.

Blueprints provide a useful abstraction, allowing developers to create reusable service infrastructures as if they were smart contracts. This enables developers to monetize their work and align long-term incentives with the success of their creations, benefiting proportionally to their Blueprint's usage.

The Blueprint object is the core restaking object in Tangle, implemented primarily in the pallet-services module of the Tangle codebase. Assets are viewed as being restaked on Blueprints, with Operators running Instances of Blueprints and users restaking/staking their assets with those Operators.

Detailed Interactions

Developers

Developers interact with Tangle Blueprints by deploying them to the blockchain. A Blueprint specification contains metadata and smart contracts, currently targeting the EVM. The smart contracts are deployed to the Tangle EVM, while the metadata is stored in Tangle's runtime.

The Blueprint includes one main smart contract responsible with all aspects of customizing a Blueprint's behavior and features. Developers have the flexibility to extend this contract, create child contracts, and anything that adheres to the function signatures expected by the runtime when executing logic. The Blueprint smart contract handles:

1. Registration: Specifies how Operators register for the Blueprint, allowing the developer to add additional fees, access control, KYC, and any other EVM-deployable functionality to the registration process.
2. Request: Defines how consumers of Blueprints initiate Service Instances, providing the same customizability as the EVM for the initialization process of Service Instances.
3. On Job Hooks: Allows developers to specify custom logic to be executed when a job is created.
4. On Job Result Hooks: Allows developers to specify custom logic to be executed when a job is completed, such as verifying a job's output.
5. Custom slashing conditions: Allows developers to specify custom slashing conditions for Operators, such as failing to provide a service or providing a malicious service. These would be callable by anyone or priveledged callers but is entirely up to the developer to design.

Blueprint upgrades are handled differently than runtime upgrades and should eventually be supported through an additional Blueprint smart contract for governance. Upgrades should not overwrite previous versions to protect against malicious updates to active and future services. Instead, upgrades allow for a form of Operator lock-in, enabling developers to quickly benefit from the success of existing services and pass liquidity, as users can request "new versions" of the Blueprint while accessing the already restaked capital from the success of previous versions.

Blueprints empower developers to create, customize, and monetize technical service configurations on the Tangle Network, defining features, behavior, resource requirements, and the Gadget binary for services such as Threshold MPC, zero-knowledge provers, AI infrastructure, and more. Developers can programmatically incentivize operators to restake on their services and update them to improve and benefit from their long-term success. Tangle Blueprints are designed for reuse by various users and projects.

Consumers

Tangle Network provides a user-friendly platform for consumers to discover, deploy, and manage Blueprint Instances. Consumers can access tailored technical services with varying configurations and features, specify their requirements (e.g., threshold of participants, registration criteria), and select a subset of Operators to provide the service. The stake recursion process increases the economic security of reliable services.

Consumers interact with Tangle by initializing Blueprints, which create Blueprint Instances. To initialize an Instance, a consumer:

1. Selects a participation selection strategy that satisfies the Blueprint's Request smart contract constraints. Participation strategies may not be necessary if there are no constraints, as any subset could generally be selected for the Instance.
2. Provides additional metadata required by the Blueprint's Request smart contract.
3. Pays the fee required for the Instance configuration.

Operators

Operators are incentivized to provide the services specified in the Blueprints to consumers through a reward system funded by the staking and recursion process. TNT holders govern this process, deciding which Blueprints receive incentives based on their value to the network. Operators play a vital role in maintaining the decentralized infrastructure and ensuring the availability and performance of the services offered. They also provide the value of sorting Blueprints by utility, unless co-opted for malicious intent.

Delegators and Nominators

Delegators and Nominators contribute to the economic security of the Tangle Network by providing liquidity through the stake recursion process. They earn rewards based on their participation and the network's overall performance. The inflation and reward distribution mechanism incentivizes both developers and restakers, with a portion of the inflationary rewards directed to developers who create attractive services that attract liquidity from restakers.

Composability and Ecosystem

Blueprints can be composed and linked together to create sophisticated, interoperable applications, fostering innovation and collaboration within the Tangle ecosystem. The Tangle architecture is uniquely suited for complex cryptographic applications, such as multi-party computation (MPC) and zero-knowledge (ZK) services, as well as oracles, custody solutions, bridge co-processors, and proving networks. Developers are encouraged to collaborate and contribute to expanding the library of apps and services on Tangle, and will be rewarded with incentives for their valuable contributions.