Skip to content
Michael Fazio edited this page Mar 15, 2026 · 6 revisions

Torsten — A Rust Cardano Node

Welcome to the Torsten wiki. Torsten is a from-scratch Rust implementation of the Cardano node, targeting 100% compatibility with cardano-node (Haskell).

Quick Links

Wiki Pages

Page Description
Architecture Decision Records Index of ADRs documenting key design choices
Protocol Compliance Feature-area compliance status vs. cardano-node
Known Issues Current known issues and mitigations
Getting Started for Developers Developer onboarding guide
Performance Baselines Measured performance numbers from preview testnet

Project Overview

Torsten is a 14-crate Cargo workspace implementing the full Cardano node stack in Rust:

  • Consensus — Ouroboros Praos with VRF leader election, KES signing, chain selection
  • Ledger — Full UTxO-HD ledger with Phase-1/Phase-2 transaction validation, rewards, governance (CIP-1694)
  • Network — Ouroboros mini-protocols (N2N and N2C), pipelined ChainSync, multiplexer
  • Storage — ChainDB with ImmutableDB (append-only chunk files) and VolatileDB, custom LSM-tree UTxO store
  • CLI — cardano-cli compatible command-line interface (33+ subcommands)
  • Block Production — VRF schedule computation, block forging, opcert management

For build instructions, configuration, and testnet usage, see the main README and the Getting Started for Developers page.

Clone this wiki locally