LibraryConsensus2023Design paperCorpus record
CometBFT: the consensus implementation in the Tendermint line
CometBFT. CometBFT maintainers.
CometBFT is the software specification of the Tendermint-style consensus many chains run. The 2018 Tendermint paper is the ancestor. This is the implementation's document.
A reading of the project's public design document. Not a copy, not a benchmark, and not an offer.
CometBFT is the software specification of the Tendermint-style consensus many chains run. The 2018 Tendermint paper is the ancestor. This is the implementation's document.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 8
01 Claim ledger
What the paper is allowed to say
Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.
Claim 01 · Paper model
The defect
A chain that says Tendermint may be running CometBFT, a fork, or a paper it never implemented. The binary is the fact.
Claim 02 · Paper model
The proposal
CometBFT is the software specification of the Tendermint-style consensus many chains run. The 2018 Tendermint paper is the ancestor. This is the implementation's document.
Claim 03 · Paper model
The mechanism
Rounds, prevotes, and precommits are the steps. A block is committed when a polka of precommits exists, in the language of this family.
Claim 04 · Paper model
The bound
This note does not say any named chain has upgraded to a particular version.
02 Three cuts
Observation, model, falsifier
A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.
01 The defect
Observation
What the study says
A chain that says Tendermint may be running CometBFT, a fork, or a paper it never implemented. The binary is the fact.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Which chain software is actually in the binary you mean?
02 The proposal
Observation
What the study says
CometBFT is the software specification of the Tendermint-style consensus many chains run. The 2018 Tendermint paper is the ancestor. This is the implementation's document.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Which chain software is actually in the binary you mean?
03 The mechanism
Observation
What the study says
Rounds, prevotes, and precommits are the steps. A block is committed when a polka of precommits exists, in the language of this family.
Model
What has to hold
No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Which chain software is actually in the binary you mean?
04 The bound
Observation
What the study says
This note does not say any named chain has upgraded to a particular version.
Falsifier
What would retire it
What commit rule does the version you opened specify?
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01Rounds, prevotes, and precommits are the steps. A block is committed when a polka of precommits exists, in the language of this family.
- 02Evidence of double-signing is how the implementation talks about slashing inputs. The chain's slashing policy may sit above it.
- 03A light client in this stack verifies the validator set changes. Without that, a bridge is trusting a header someone handed it.
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
What the name has to mean
The cut
CometBFT is the software specification of the Tendermint-style consensus many chains run. The 2018 Tendermint paper is the ancestor. This is the implementation's document.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
The Tendermint study remains the research note. Do not merge parameters.
What actually moves
The cut
Evidence of double-signing is how the implementation talks about slashing inputs. The chain's slashing policy may sit above it.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
This note does not say any named chain has upgraded to a particular version.
What a later deployment may change
The cut
A light client in this stack verifies the validator set changes. Without that, a bridge is trusting a header someone handed it.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
A later client, parameter or reward formula is a different object from this paragraph.
05 Register
What has to be true
Model · Not re-measured
You are reading the CometBFT docs, not the original Tendermint paper.
Model · Not re-measured
The document is the one at the source URL. A marketing page with the same brand is not this text.
Model · Not re-measured
No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
Finality here assumes the usual one-third bound. It is not a proof-of-work confirmation.
A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.
07 Pre-mortem
What to check before you use the idea
- 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.
08 Anatomy
The paper, in the order a builder needs
The problem it names
A chain that says Tendermint may be running CometBFT, a fork, or a paper it never implemented. The binary is the fact.
What the design proposes
- Rounds, prevotes, and precommits are the steps. A block is committed when a polka of precommits exists, in the language of this family.
- Evidence of double-signing is how the implementation talks about slashing inputs. The chain's slashing policy may sit above it.
- A light client in this stack verifies the validator set changes. Without that, a bridge is trusting a header someone handed it.
How the mechanism is specified
- Rounds, prevotes, and precommits are the steps. A block is committed when a polka of precommits exists, in the language of this family.
- Evidence of double-signing is how the implementation talks about slashing inputs. The chain's slashing policy may sit above it.
- A light client in this stack verifies the validator set changes. Without that, a bridge is trusting a header someone handed it.
What this page does not treat as proven
- This note does not say any named chain has upgraded to a particular version.
- The Tendermint study remains the research note. Do not merge parameters.
- Finality here assumes the usual one-third bound. It is not a proof-of-work confirmation.
Why the desk still reads it
CometBFT is the software specification of the Tendermint-style consensus many chains run. The 2018 Tendermint paper is the ancestor. This is the implementation's document.
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- Precommit
- A vote that a proposal should be committed. A quorum of them is the commit.
- Light client
- A verifier of headers and validator sets. It is not a full node.
10 Repository
Every linked record on this page
Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.