OpenFiat Node Synchronization Protocol (ONSP)
The OpenFiat Node Synchronization Protocol (ONSP) defines how OpenFiat nodes establish, maintain, verify, recover, and converge on a consistent view of the…
Abstract
The OpenFiat Node Synchronization Protocol (ONSP) defines how OpenFiat nodes establish, maintain, verify, recover, and converge on a consistent view of the global marketplace state.
Unlike traditional blockchains that synchronize blocks, OpenFiat synchronizes protocol state. This state includes advertisements, reservations, liquidity vaults, settlements, disputes, governance objects, reputation records, identity claims, service registrations, oracle updates, and risk intelligence.
The Node Synchronization Protocol ensures that independently operated nodes eventually converge on the same deterministic state while minimizing bandwidth consumption, supporting rapid recovery from downtime, and allowing new nodes to join the network efficiently.
1. Introduction
The OpenFiat network is a decentralized marketplace composed of independently operated nodes distributed across the world.
Nodes may:
- Join the network for the first time.
- Restart after maintenance.
- Lose connectivity.
- Experience hardware failures.
- Miss protocol events.
- Operate across unreliable networks.
The protocol therefore requires a deterministic synchronization mechanism that guarantees eventual consistency without relying on centralized infrastructure.
2. Scope
This specification defines:
- Node bootstrap
- Initial synchronization
- Incremental synchronization
- State verification
- Event replay
- Checkpoint synchronization
- Snapshot coordination
- Missing event recovery
- Synchronization validation
- Version compatibility
- Recovery after failure
This specification does not define:
- Peer discovery (OFS-1100)
- Gossip transport (OFS-1200)
- Snapshot format (OFS-1300)
- Session replication (OFS-1400)
- Service discovery (OFS-1500)
3. Design Goals
The Node Synchronization Protocol SHALL:
- Guarantee eventual consistency.
- Minimize synchronization bandwidth.
- Support rapid node recovery.
- Support partial synchronization.
- Support deterministic replay.
- Scale to millions of protocol objects.
- Remain implementation independent.
4. Design Philosophy
Synchronization is state-driven, not block-driven.
Rather than replaying an immutable blockchain, OpenFiat synchronizes the current marketplace state and the protocol events required to reach it.
Every compliant node that processes the same ordered event stream SHALL converge to an identical state.
5. Node States
Every node progresses through the following synchronization lifecycle.
A node MUST NOT advertise itself as fully synchronized until it reaches the Synchronized state.
6. Synchronization Sources
A node MAY synchronize from one or more peers simultaneously.
Synchronization sources SHOULD be selected based on:
- Reputation
- Synchronization completeness
- Latency
- Geographic proximity
- Protocol version compatibility
- Historical reliability
Nodes SHOULD periodically rotate synchronization peers to improve resilience.
7. Bootstrap Synchronization
A newly started node performs the following sequence:
- Discover peers.
- Establish authenticated sessions.
- Select synchronization peers.
- Download the latest verified snapshot.
- Verify snapshot integrity.
- Replay missing protocol events.
- Validate state consistency.
- Begin continuous synchronization.
Bootstrap synchronization SHOULD complete before serving client requests whenever practical.
8. Synchronization Modes
The protocol defines four synchronization modes.
Initial Synchronization
Used by a brand-new node.
Downloads:
- Latest snapshot.
- Missing protocol events.
Recovery Synchronization
Used after downtime.
Downloads only events that occurred while the node was offline.
Continuous Synchronization
Maintains real-time consistency using the Gossip Protocol.
Verification Synchronization
Periodically validates that local state matches the network.
9. Snapshot Coordination
Snapshot transfer is defined by OFS-1300.
The Node Synchronization Protocol specifies when snapshots are used.
Nodes SHOULD prefer snapshots whenever replaying historical events would be less efficient.
Applications SHOULD avoid replaying excessively old event histories.
10. Incremental Synchronization
After snapshot installation, nodes request only missing events.
Example:
Incremental synchronization minimizes bandwidth and startup time.
11. Event Replay
Every replayed event MUST preserve its original ordering.
Examples include:
- AdvertisementCreated
- AdvertisementUpdated
- ReservationOpened
- ReservationExpired
- SettlementCompleted
- ReputationUpdated
- IdentityClaimPublished
- GovernanceProposalCreated
- OracleUpdated
- RiskRecordPublished
Reordered events MUST be rejected.
12. State Verification
Nodes SHALL verify synchronization correctness using deterministic state validation.
Validation MAY include:
- State hashes
- Object counts
- Version identifiers
- Snapshot hashes
- Event sequence numbers
Verification failures trigger re-synchronization.
13. Checkpoints
Nodes MAY publish signed synchronization checkpoints.
A checkpoint represents a deterministic view of protocol state at a specific point in time.
Checkpoint metadata includes:
- Checkpoint ID
- Timestamp
- State Hash
- Snapshot Version
- Event Sequence Number
- Digital Signature
Checkpoints accelerate synchronization while improving verification.
14. Event Gaps
Nodes detect missing events through sequence validation.
Example:
Nodes MUST request missing events before processing later dependent events.
15. Conflict Detection
If two synchronization sources provide conflicting state information:
- Verify signatures.
- Compare event histories.
- Validate state hashes.
- Prefer deterministic consensus.
Persistent conflicts SHOULD reduce peer reputation.
16. Recovery After Failure
Unexpected interruptions include:
- Power failure
- Network outage
- Storage failure
- Process crash
Recovery process:
- Validate database integrity.
- Restore latest checkpoint.
- Identify missing events.
- Replay events.
- Resume continuous synchronization.
17. Version Compatibility
Synchronization peers MUST negotiate supported protocol versions.
Nodes SHOULD synchronize only with compatible protocol versions.
Version negotiation includes:
- Protocol Version
- Snapshot Version
- Serialization Version
- Compression Support
- Feature Flags
18. Synchronization Performance
Implementations SHOULD optimize:
- Parallel downloads
- Multi-peer synchronization
- Incremental verification
- Batch event replay
- Compression
- Snapshot caching
- Lazy object loading
Synchronization MUST remain deterministic regardless of optimization strategy.
19. Security Considerations
Nodes MUST protect against:
- Fake snapshots
- Tampered event streams
- Replay attacks
- State corruption
- Malicious synchronization peers
- Downgrade attacks
- Partial synchronization attacks
Every synchronization artifact MUST be cryptographically verified before acceptance.
20. Failure Handling
Synchronization failures include:
- Invalid snapshot
- Missing events
- Signature verification failure
- Unsupported protocol version
- Corrupted storage
- Network interruption
Nodes SHOULD automatically retry synchronization using alternate peers whenever possible.
21. Conformance
A compliant implementation MUST:
- Support bootstrap synchronization.
- Support incremental synchronization.
- Verify snapshot integrity.
- Verify event ordering.
- Detect missing events.
- Support deterministic replay.
- Validate synchronized state.
- Recover after interruption.
- Negotiate protocol versions.
22. Relationship to Other Specifications
The Node Synchronization Protocol coordinates the complete state convergence process.
23. Future Extensions
Future protocol versions may introduce:
- Differential snapshots
- Region-aware synchronization
- Multi-path synchronization
- Adaptive synchronization scheduling
- Zero-copy snapshot streaming
- Content-addressable synchronization
- Peer-assisted state reconstruction
- Cryptographic accumulator verification
24. Summary
The OpenFiat Node Synchronization Protocol ensures that every compliant node converges on the same deterministic marketplace state regardless of when it joins the network, how long it has been offline, or which peers it synchronizes from.
By combining verified snapshots, deterministic event replay, continuous gossip synchronization, and cryptographic state validation, OpenFiat provides a synchronization model that is efficient, fault tolerant, bandwidth conscious, and resilient against malicious peers.
The Node Synchronization Protocol answers one fundamental question:
"How do independently operated OpenFiat nodes continuously converge on an identical, verifiable marketplace state without relying on centralized infrastructure or blockchain block synchronization?"