TSUNAGI Project

The cockpit of a Cardano validator

TSUNAGI is an independent Cardano validator implementation focused on operator visibility, deterministic execution, and decision transparency. No Haskell dependency. No IOG codebase fork. Pure Zig — covering networking, consensus, ledger, and an operator-facing decision surface.

→Leader schedule prediction with confidence scoring
→Execution quality scoring (parent_gap, probe_advantage, latency)
→Decision metrics per leader slot: posterior, EV, Kelly, LLR
→Guardian safety layer (health monitoring, safe-mode)
→Full runtime observability via /status/full

Architecture

Networking

Node-to-node mux, ChainSync, BlockFetch, TxSubmission. Interoperable with cardano-node v14+.

Consensus

Praos leadership evaluation, VRF/KES verification, slot observatory, shadow producer, candidate validator.

Ledger

Deterministic UTxO engine with apply/rollback symmetry. CBOR block decode, tx parsing, delta tracking.

Operator

Health scoring, telemetry dashboard, mempool observatory, confirmation tracking, producer dry-run.

Milestones

ChainSync + BlockFetch (mainnet, preview, sancho)

Ancestry-verified UTxO with LMDB persistence

TX decode with intelligence flags (cert, script, collateral, withdrawal)

Mempool: six-gate admission + confirmed eviction

TxSubmission2: bidirectional serve + ingest (proven end-to-end)

Validation envelope v0/v1A (uniqueness, balance, validity, address)

Operator core: health 0–100, runtime state, guardian mode

Trust stack: eight signed layers, all verifiable

Block forge (VRF + KES, preview) + propagation server

Protocol params, native scripts, epoch transitions

Plutus evaluation, multi-node trust network, Midnight

Operator Surfaces

Live Dashboard Guardian Operator

What TSUNAGI Is

TSUNAGI is a self-observing, decision-aware Cardano validator built from scratch in Zig. It follows the Cardano blockchain, maintains its own ledger state, admits and serves transactions, and computes verifiable trust from its own runtime observations. It is a real validator. It connects to the Cardano network. It processes real blocks. It maintains real UTxO state. It admits real transactions through a hardened mempool with six validation gates. It serves real blocks and transactions to relays. It computes a real signed trust graph that anyone with the public key can verify.

The current implementation includes:

Leader schedule prediction — upcoming leader slots computed from live node state
Execution quality scoring — latency, parent freshness, and probe advantage
Signal layer — 6 normalized signals with confidence and drift tracking
Decision engine — Bayesian posterior, Expected Value, Kelly criterion, log-likelihood ratio
Hardfork readiness — live protocol-parameter tracking and automatic guard mode

What TSUNAGI Is Not

Not a full validating node yet — no Plutus, no native scripts, no epoch transitions. Not a consensus participant. Not a relay. Not an indexer, wallet, or smart contract runtime. Not a production replacement for cardano-node today. Progressing toward a full Zig-native Cardano validator.

Every capability is proven before it is claimed. Every limitation is stated. The trust stack exists because trust should be computed from observation, not assumed from convention.

Links

Live Node

Dashboard · Explorer · Operator · Status

Documentation

Whitepaper · Architecture · Manifesto

Source

Private during active development. Public release planned after stability milestone.

Let It Run. Let It Resolve.

tsunagi.tech · Independent Cardano infrastructure research