Indexing

This page explains indexing services.

Since only the commitments and nullifiers of created and consumed resources are stored on a distributed ledger (see #creation and #consumption) and not the resource object itself, a node wanting to know about current global blockchain state must

• (1) be online all the time,

• (2) observe all transactions that occur, and

• (3) store all created and consumed resource objects on their hard drive.

For a normal user, this is not feasible. Moreover, the above assumes that all transactions are transparent and not shielded or private, in which case a node would not be able to see them.

Indexing is the process of tracking created and consumed resources and storing the information in a database. This database can then be filtered with custom predicates by service users. Users wanting to know, for example, their current balance, after being offline for a couple of days can query an indexing service for resources they might have received.

Indexing service providers can commit to archiving:

• All visible state

• App-specific state (e.g., based on the resource kind)

• User-specific state (e.g., based on ownership or other resource properties)

Commercial indexing services are expected to charge fees. However, since becoming an indexer is permissionless and a simple service commitment within the Anoma protocol, normal peer-to-peer nodes can become indexers, too. Moreover, nodes in the network can also commit to caching resources relevant for their peers free of charge for a certain period of time, thus contributing to a decentralized and mutual service economy.

Current private devnet A central Anoma node is providing indexing services and allows filtering resources by kind and owner.