Orange Paper
The normative Bitcoin consensus specification lives on thebitcoincommons.org, not inside this book. docs.thebitcoincommons.org (this site) documents how BLVM implements and operates on the network; the commons site hosts the auditable spec text itself.
Read the Orange Paper: thebitcoincommons.org/orange-paper.html · Consensus Spec (rule register): spec.html
Where to read the spec
Bitcoin Commons publishes several linked viewers, all sourced from blvm-spec on GitHub:
| Page | Source file | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Consensus Spec | consensus spec | Primary entry: numbered rules in RFC 2119 language, each tied to Orange Paper §refs and blvm-consensus |
| Orange Paper | Orange Paper source | Extended formal spec: navigation hub for PROTOCOL, ARCHITECTURE, and related definitions |
| PROTOCOL | protocol specification | Formal consensus mathematics (functions, invariants, proofs) |
| ARCHITECTURE | architecture spec | Implementation design and how spec pieces compose |
Cross-links between viewers rewrite internal markdown references (for example §5.3.1 in the Consensus Spec jumps to the matching section in PROTOCOL or ARCHITECTURE). The homepage spec section includes an interactive structure map (sunburst) over Orange Paper content.
Which page should I open?
| Goal | Start here |
|---|---|
| Audit a specific consensus requirement (MUST / SHOULD / MAY) | Consensus Spec |
| Understand the full formal model and how documents relate | Orange Paper |
| Read detailed math for a rule (functions, pre/postconditions) | PROTOCOL |
| See how spec maps to implementation structure | ARCHITECTURE |
| Run a node, configure RPC, modules, deployment | This book: Introduction, First node |
The Orange Paper name refers to the extended formal specification (Orange Paper source and its PROTOCOL / ARCHITECTURE companions). In BLVM discussions it is also treated as the intermediate representation (IR), the reference against which blvm-consensus is validated, not generated.
Audience: protocol specification is written for mathematicians and protocol reviewers, rules, invariants, and state transitions in standard notation, independent of any implementation language. Implementations in Rust (or future languages) conform to this document; they do not replace it as the normative audit surface.
Source and changes
All spec markdown is maintained in blvm-spec (Layer 1 constitutional repo). The commons viewers fetch live content from GitHub; edit the markdown there and open a pull request, do not expect the full spec text in blvm-docs.
In BLVM
blvm-consensus implements these rules. BLVM Specification Lock, tests, and review validate code against the spec. The Orange Paper is the IR, the implementation is not generated from it. See compiler-like architecture.