OML — Open Mina Light Client

OML is a modular Rust implementation of a Mina light client designed for research, experimentation, and lightweight node deployments.

The project focuses on providing a minimal, modular architecture for interacting with the Mina protocol without running a full node. It aims to verify Mina consensus proofs and participate in peer-to-peer networking while maintaining a small resource footprint.

OML is built as a Rust workspace with independent crates for networking, consensus verification, cryptography, storage, and shared types.

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Goals

• Provide a lightweight Mina client implementation
• Enable succinct blockchain verification
• Offer a modular architecture for research and experimentation
• Serve as a foundation for building Mina tooling and integrations
• Demonstrate a minimal P2P + consensus verification stack

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Architecture

OML follows a modular workspace design:

oml/
├── bin/oml                # CLI node binary
│
├── crates/
│   ├── consensus          # Consensus / proof verification
│   ├── crypto             # Cryptographic primitives
│   ├── p2p                # Peer-to-peer networking
│   ├── storage            # Persistent state
│   └── types              # Shared data structures
│
├── Cargo.toml             # Workspace configuration
└── Cargo.lock

Components

bin/oml

The main executable that launches the node.

Responsibilities:

• Initialize storage
• Start the P2P network
• Run the consensus verifier
• Connect to peers

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crates/types

Defines common data structures shared across the project.

Examples:

• Blocks
• Transactions
• Hashes
• Signatures
• Network messages

This crate contains minimal dependencies to keep shared structures lightweight.

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crates/crypto

Implements cryptographic primitives required by the client.

Includes:

• hashing utilities
• signature verification
• keypair management
• cryptographic helpers

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crates/p2p

Implements the peer-to-peer networking layer.

Modules:

• "node.rs" – node lifecycle management
• "protocol.rs" – network message definitions
• "tcp.rs" – TCP transport implementation
• "transport.rs" – networking abstraction layer

This layer allows nodes to discover peers, exchange blocks, and propagate messages.

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crates/storage

Handles persistent state and local data management.

Responsibilities:

• block storage
• chain state
• indexing
• peer metadata

Storage backends can be swapped depending on requirements.

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crates/consensus

Implements consensus verification logic.

The light client verifies blockchain updates and ensures correctness without storing the full chain state.

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Rust (latest stable)
• Cargo

Install Rust:

curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh

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Build

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/binsta/oml
cd oml

Build the project:

cargo build --release

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Run the node

cargo run --bin oml

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Development

Run tests:

cargo test

Format code:

cargo fmt

Run clippy:

cargo clippy

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Design Principles

OML follows several core principles:

• Modularity — independent crates for each subsystem
• Security — minimal trusted components
• Performance — async networking and efficient serialization
• Extensibility — easy to extend with additional modules

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Project Status

This project is currently in early development and is intended primarily for:

• research
• experimentation
• protocol learning
• lightweight verification tooling

APIs and internal modules may change.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

You can help by:

• improving networking components
• adding consensus verification logic
• improving documentation
• writing tests
• security reviews

Please open an issue before submitting major changes.

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License

MIT License