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Key Concepts

Users​

A Nillion Network user has a Ed25519 key pair consisting of a public and private key.

User Key​

The user_key is the user's private key. The user key should never be shared publicly, as it unlocks access and permissions to secrets stored on the network.

User ID​

The user_id is derived from the user's public key, and is the public user identifier. Other parties can grant a user permission to a secret based on their user id.

Programs​

A Nada program is also a piece of software that is written in Nada language, then compiled to generate a mid-level intermediate (MIR) representation of the program that can be stored in the Nillion Network for future use. Programs are characterized by a set of inputs, the computation logic, and a set of outputs. Programs are reusable, and computation is invoked by a Nillion Client. At computation time, the client specifies inputs, which can be any combination of Secrets already stored in the network, secrets provided at compute time, and public variables.

Program ID​

The program_id is the identifier for a program stored in the Nillion Network. The convention for program_id is the {user_id}/{program_name} where the user_id corresponds to the user that stored the program in the network, and the program_name is the program name the storer set when storing the program.

Party​

A Party is a named entity involved in Nada program computation. Parties can supply inputs to calculations, reveal outputs of calculations, or both.

Party ID​

The party_id, sometimes called peer_id, is the public identifier for a Party.

Inputs​

An Input is named external data provided by a specific Party for Nada program computation. Inputs can be secret or public.

Outputs​

An Output is the named result of a Nada program revealed to a specific Party after computation.

Secrets​

A Nillion Secret, identified in the network by a store_id, consists of one or more named secret values. Secrets can be stored in the network or provided as inputs to programs at compute time.

Store ID​

The store_id is the identifier for a set of one or more named secret values stored in the Nillion Network. This store_id is returned by the network as a result of storing a secret.

Secret Name​

The secret_name is a user given name for a single secret value.

Permissions​

Permissions are access control mechanisms attached to a secret stored in the network

Default Permissions​

Any user_id given "default permissions" at store time through default_for_user(user_id) will have permission to retrieve and update the permissions of a secret.

Secret Permissions​

A user_id can be given retrieve, update, delete, and/or compute permissions on a secret.

  • retrieve / read a secret: add_retrieve_permissions(user_id)
  • update a secret: add_update_permissions(user_id)
  • delete a secret: add_delete_permissions(user_id)
  • compute on a secret: add_compute_permissions({user_id: {program_id}})

Clusters​

A cluster is a subset of the compute nodes that exist in the Nillion Network.

Cluster ID​

The cluster_id is the identifier for a cluster of nodes in the Nillion Network.

Nodes​

Nodes in the Nillion Network have public and private key pairs.

Node Key​

The node_key is the node's private key, which it keeps a secret.

Peer ID​

The peer_id is a libp2p concept. Each node is a peer in the overall peer-to-peer Nillion Network. The peer_id serves as a unique identifier for each peer or node, and is a verifiable link between a peer and its public cryptographic key.

Bootnodes​

Bootnodes are nodes designated as entry points of the Nillion Network. All the nodes require a list of bootnodes to be able to join the network. After a node dials the configured bootnodes and connects, the bootnodes introduce them to the rest of the network allowing the peer discovery process to start.

Dealer nodes​

A dealer node is an SDK-based node that sends tasks to the Nillion Network.

Result nodes​

A result node is an SDK-based node that receives the results of computations run on the Nillion Network.

Compute nodes​

Compute nodes can perform all the functions of the Nillion Network including computation and storage.

Relay servers​

Because dealer and result nodes can run anywhere (web browsers, other platforms), compute nodes are configured as relay servers with libp2p's Circuit Relay protocol. Dealers and result nodes can establish relay circuits with relay servers in order to operate in the network the same as the rest of the nodes.