Technical Vision Council Meeting Minutes

This thread will be used to publish meeting minutes summarizing the outcome of each Technical Vision Council meeting.

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Technical Vision Council Meeting #1 – December 14, 2023

Member Attendance

Present: Carsten Munk (Chair), Erick de Moura, Payal Patel, Cynthia Gliga, Pedro Argento, Carlo Fragni, Milton Jonathan, Bruno Maia

Absent: Augusto Teixeira

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Minimalist Integration Between Cartesi Rollups and Espresso Sequencer / DA Layer

Summary of Proposal / Forum Discussion: To fully unlock the computational capacity and increased design space offered by Cartesi Rollups and the Cartesi Virtual Machine with its Linux OS, DApps need access to more robust data availability solutions. This proposal seeks to prioritize a minimalist integration between Cartesi Rollups and the data availability solution by the team at Espresso.

The short-term goal of this integration is to explore the expanded DApp design space made possible by Cartesi + Espresso DA. In the medium-term, this integration also aims to provide valuable lessons for further protocol integrations with other DA layers like EigenDA, Celestia, and Syscoin, bringing Cartesi’s modular vision to life.

Vote: 8 in favor. 0 against.

Item # 2: Nonodo: local Cartesi node for development and testing

Summary of Proposal / Forum Discussion: The Cartesi Node is the software that validators execute when validating DApps on mainnet. The current implementation of the Cartesi Node has a “host mode” that allows developers to quickly test their applications in a local environment. The Cartesi Node Reference Implementation Unit intends to rewrite the Cartesi Node software with a new architecture that does not include host mode.

This proposal seeks to prioritize an alternative to host mode, so that once the new node architecture is implemented and current host mode is deprecated, developers can still have a playground to test their DApp logic without delving into the underlying complexities of the Cartesi infrastructure.

Vote: 8 in favor. 0 against.

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Technical Vision Council Meeting #2 – December 21, 2023

Member Attendance

Present: Carsten Munk (Chair), Erick de Moura, Payal Patel, Pedro Argento, Carlo Fragni, Milton Jonathan, Bruno Maia

Absent: Cynthia Gliga, Augusto Teixeira

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Meta Discussion on Vision Council Process

Summary of Discussion: The Vision Council held a meta discussion on the process for setting the ecosystem’s Technical Evolution Plan (TEP), including how best to incentivize robust participation in the technical vision forum by core contributors, what level of granularity should be included in the TEP, what the distinction should be between TEP “product-defining” features as opposed to non-core features, and what the council’s overall guiding principles should be in assessing whether to include a feature in the TEP.

The Vision Council resolved to continue the discussion in the coming weeks and to present actionable findings to the community once consensus has been reached on core topics affecting the council’s administration and operation.

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Technical Vision Council Meeting #3 – January 4, 2024

Member Attendance

Present: Milton Jonathan (Chair), Erick de Moura, Payal Patel, Pedro Argento, Carlo Fragni, Carsten Munk, Bruno Maia, Cynthia Gliga, Augusto Teixeira

Absent: None

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Getting all core features included in the Technical Vision Forum

Summary of Discussion: In order for a technical feature to be reviewed by the Vision Council and included in the ecosystem’s Technical Evolution Plan (TEP), a proposal must be submitted for public review and comment in the Technical Vision Forum. Submission by current core technical contributors to the Technical Vision Forum is therefore a critical first step in order to ensure that all core features currently under development are included in the TEP.

The Technical Vision Council discussed how best to ensure that core technical contributors are made aware of and partake in the process. The Vision Council resolved that it would enlist the aid of the Cartesi Foundation to solidify messaging regarding the process and to conduct outreach to core technical contributors in the ecosystem to encourage prompt and active participation in the Technical Vision Forum.

Item # 2: Achieving consensus on a guiding vision to shape TEP decisions

Summary of Discussion: The Vision Council is responsible for ultimately determining which technical features are included in the ecosystem’s TEP. The council acknowledged, however, that it will be exceedingly difficult to prioritize features without first coalescing around a guiding principle through which to analyze technical proposals.

The Vision Council resolved to conduct an asynchronous exercise in analyzing the current market, forecasting where the market is moving over the next 6 to 12 months, and assessing where Cartesi fits in that market. The goal of the exercise is for the Vision Council to coalesce around a strong vision that aligns the project’s technological offerings with the market and ensures that all individual features included in the TEP work together toward a common goal.

Item # 3: Process for transforming individual technical proposals into a TEP

Summary of Discussion: The process as originally anticipated provides that the Vision Council would review proposals in the Technical Vision Forum and vote “yes” or “no” on whether a given feature should be included in the TEP. The council discussed, however, that simply voting “yes” or “no” is not sufficient for the creation of a TEP.

First (as discussed in Agenda Item #2 above), a common vision is required in order to align and prioritize the ecosystem’s technological offerings in light of the broader market direction. Additionally, creating a TEP and prioritizing features necessitates coordination with various ecosystem stakeholders, including members of core technical units who do not sit on the Vision Council.

The Vision Council acknowledged that the ecosystem’s Technical Coordination Unit already plays a key role in helping various technical stakeholders prioritize their contributions within the holistic context of the broader project. With that, the council determined that, rather than voting “yes” or “no” on each forum proposal in isolation, a more productive workflow would be to leverage the Technical Coordination Unit’s existing expertise and relationships in the ecosystem in creating a first draft of the TEP, which the council could then finalize in a collaborative manner.

Accordingly, the council resolved to adopt the following process for transforming Technical Vision Forum proposals into a final TEP:

  1. The Vision Council will align on a strong common vision to guide the creation of the TEP (see Agenda Item #2 above).

  2. Contributors and community members will propose technical features in the Technical Vision Forum for public comment and discussion.

  3. The Technical Coordination Unit will review all Technical Vision Forum proposals and leverage its expertise and existing relationships in the ecosystem to develop a draft TEP that prioritizes technical features in a manner consistent with Vision Council’s common vision.

  4. The Technical Coordination Unit will present a draft TEP to the Vision Council. The Vision Council will then collaboratively review and revise the draft as necessary, leveraging council members’ individual expertise and ensuring that feature inclusion and prioritization is aligned with the council’s vision.

  5. After a collaborative review of the draft, the Vision Council will vote to approve the TEP, ensuring that (i) each individual feature went through the proper public forum comment process; and (ii) all included features and their respective prioritizations are aligned with the council’s vision.

  6. The council will review its collective vision every 6 months, thereby ensuring a fluid mechanism for adapting the TEP consistent with project progress in the context of a rapidly changing market environment.

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Technical Vision Council Meeting #4 – January 11, 2024

Member Attendance

Present: Milton Jonathan (Chair), Erick de Moura, Payal Patel, Pedro Argento, Carlo Fragni, Carsten Munk, Bruno Maia, Cynthia Gliga, Augusto Teixeira

Absent: None

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Alignment on framework to guide technical vision

Summary of Discussion: In the previous Vision Council meeting, the council discussed the necessity to coalesce around a strong vision through which to analyze technical proposals, in order to align the project’s technological offerings with the market and ensure that all individual features included in the TEP work together toward a common goal.

In the current meeting, the council continued the discussion on a framework for prioritizing the composition of the TEP and resolved to publish the framework upon reaching consensus.

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Technical Vision Council Meeting #5 – January 18, 2024

Member Attendance

Present: Augusto Teixeira (Chair), Erick de Moura, Payal Patel, Pedro Argento, Carlo Fragni, Carsten Munk, Bruno Maia, Cynthia Gliga, Milton Jonathan

Absent: None

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Alignment on principles to guide technical vision

Summary of Discussion: In the previous Vision Council meeting, the council discussed the necessity to coalesce around a strong vision through which to analyze technical proposals, in order to align the project’s technological offerings with the market and ensure that all individual features included in the TEP work together toward a common goal.

In the current meeting, the Vision Council acknowledged that Cartesi’s technical thesis is grounded in unlocking what can be referred to as blockchain’s “Cone of Innovation”. Specifically, as Ethereum and other modular projects scale their data availability capabilities, Cartesi’s high-computation execution layer provides a DApp design space that is poised to unlock a new era of decentralized use cases.

The Vision Council believes that the industry’s recent and growing focus on modular DA solutions further validates Cartesi’s thesis, and sets the stage for Cartesi to truly showcase the technology’s role in unlocking novel blockchain use cases. Against that backdrop, the Vision Council identified four strategic guideposts to inform the composition and prioritization of technical features in the TEP:

  1. Entrench Cartesi in the modular movement, fostering crosspollination of the Cartesi ecosystem with other prominent and technically compatible modular projects, and integrating a production-ready Cartesi solution with other modular protocols.

  2. Showcase Cartesi’s technical capabilities by providing effective technical infrastructure and support that drive the launch of mainnet DApps.

  3. Keep Cartesi on the edge of innovation and decentralization through the continued research and development of new technologies.

  4. Enhance the developer experience through convenience tooling that eases DApp creation and deployment.

Item # 2: New council member addition

Summary of Discussion: Several technical contributors in the Cartesi ecosystem who were named as inaugural members of the Vision Council resigned their positions before the council began meeting in earnest last month, in order to focus their contributions elsewhere in the ecosystem.

In order to ensure that the Vision Council remains a representative cross-section of the ecosystem with respect to technical knowledge, the council voted unanimously to invite Felipe Argento, original technical lead of Cartesi Rollups, to join the Vision Council moving forward.

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Technical Vision Council Meeting #6 – January 25, 2024

Member Attendance

Present: Carlo Fragni (Chair), Erick de Moura, Payal Patel, Pedro Argento, Milton Jonathan, Carsten Munk, Bruno Maia, Cynthia Gliga, Augusto Teixeira

Absent: Felipe Argento

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Draft TEP review and discussion

Summary of Discussion: In accordance with the procedures set forth by the Vision Council in the January 4, 2024 meeting, the Technical Coordination Unit presented an initial draft of the TEP to the Vision Council for review.

The council deliberated the composition and prioritization of the TEP features and resolved to publish the finalized TEP upon reaching consensus.

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Technical Vision Council Meeting #7 – February 1, 2024

Member Attendance

Present: Cynthia Gliga (Chair), Payal Patel, Pedro Argento, Felipe Argento, Carsten Munk, Milton Jonathan

Absent: Augusto Teixeira, Erick de Moura, Bruno Maia, Carlo Fragni

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Draft TEP review and discussion

Summary of Discussion: The council continued deliberating the composition and prioritization of the TEP features.

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Technical Vision Council Meeting #8 – February 8, 2024

Member Attendance

Present: Payal Patel (Chair), Cynthia Gliga, Pedro Argento, Felipe Argento, Milton Jonathan, Augusto Teixeira, Erick de Moura, Bruno Maia, Carlo Fragni

Absent: Carsten Munk

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Draft TEP review and discussion

Summary of Discussion: The council continued deliberating the composition and prioritization of the TEP features.

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Technical Vision Council Meeting #9 – April 25, 2024

Member Attendance

Present: Cynthia Gliga (Chair), Erick de Moura, Pedro Argento, Carsten Munk, Bruno Maia, Milton Jonathan, Felipe Argento

Absent: Augusto Teixeira, Carlo Fragni, Payal Patel

Guest: Ashley Liu (UX Boost)

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Approval of final TEP features

Summary of Discussion: The Vision Council approved the following final list of features for inclusion in the inaugural Cartesi Technical Evolution Plan:

R&D, decentralization and design space expansion

Quorum Consensus
Enhanced Vouchers
Generic I/O
Dave on Compute
Lambda
Hypervisor
Base layer state access
Dave on Rollups

Modularity and integrations

Lambada
EigenLayer Co-Processor
DA Integration
Sequencer Integration
ENS Relay and Resolver

Infrastructure and support for mainnet dApps

Multi-dApp Rollups Node
Sunodo Deploy (name changing to Cartesi Deploy)
CartesiScan
Monolithic Rollups Node

Convenience and tooling

High-Level Frameworks
NoNodo
Reproducible Builds

Futuristic Experiments

Cartesi on Bitcoin
Cartesi on ZK using RiscZero
Rollups in Browser
Composability via dApp state access

Item # 2: Delegation of TEP flow, design, and copy to ecosystem marketing and UX functions

Summary of Discussion: The Vision Council discussed the visualization of the TEP with contributors from the ecosystem’s marketing and UX functions, and authorized those units to finalize the visual representation of the TEP based upon the above-listed features in Item #1.

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Hello,
I think it will serve as a central repository for capturing key discussions, decisions, and action items, ensuring transparency and keeping all stakeholders informed about the council’s progress and strategic direction.

Technical Vision Council Meeting #10 – November 18, 2024

Member Attendance

Present: Cynthia Gliga, Erick de Moura, Pedro Argento, Carsten Munk, Bruno Maia, Milton Jonathan, Felipe Argento, Augusto Teixeira, Carlo Fragni, Payal Patel

Absent: None

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Temperature Check on Cartesi Validator Marketplace Proposal

Summary of Discussion: The Vision Council discussed the Vision Forum entry proposing the inclusion of a Cartesi Validator Marketplace in the ecosystem’s TEP.

While the Vision Council generally views the proposal in a favorable light, given that the proposal implicates significant topics touching upon CTSI utility, the council has unanimously voted to request a Snapshot temperature check on the proposal from CTSI holders.

The Vision Council is proposing a 4-day voting period, after which time the council will review the results of the temperature check and hold a council vote for TEP inclusion.

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Technical Vision Council Meeting #11 – November 24, 2024

Member Attendance

Present: Cynthia Gliga, Erick de Moura, Pedro Argento, Carsten Munk, Bruno Maia, Milton Jonathan, Felipe Argento, Augusto Teixeira, Carlo Fragni, Payal Patel

Absent: None

Secretary (Non-Voting): Brandon Isaacson

Agenda

Item # 1: Cartesi Validator Marketplace

Summary of Discussion: Upon the conclusion of a CTSI holder temperature check, the Vision Council revisited the Cartesi Validator Marketplace proposal.

The Vision Council believes that the Cartesi Validator Marketplace represents an important step for the Cartesi ecosystem and appchain industry as a whole, streamlining the way appchains and validators connect, while implementing a CTSI incentive mechanism that connects dapps, validators, and community members.

Moreover, the Council recognizes that the proposal does not add any new trust assumptions that would prevent a single validator from being able to defend and enforce the honest progression of any appchain.

With the CTSI holder community signaling support for the proposal, the Vision Council unanimously voted in favor of including the Validator Marketplace in the ecosystem’s Technical Evolution Plan.

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