Aether-Chain

A high-performance distributed data availability layer combining LSM-Tree storage with blockchain immutability and P2P networking.

🌟 Features

• LSM-Tree Storage - Memory-efficient key-value storage with Skip-List memtable and SSTable persistence
• Blockchain Integrity - SHA-256 hash chaining with Merkle Tree per block
• P2P Networking - Decentralized node discovery via libp2p (mDNS + GossipSub)
• WASM Smart Contracts - Sandboxed validation logic using Wazero runtime
• Real-time Dashboard - Interactive block explorer with WebSocket live updates
• Multi-node Cluster - Run 3-node testnet locally with Docker Compose

🏗️ Architecture

graph TB
    subgraph "👤 Client Layer"
        Dashboard[React Dashboard]
        CLI[CLI Tool]
    end

    subgraph "🔌 API Layer"
        HTTP[HTTP REST :8080]
        WS[WebSocket /ws]
        GRPC[gRPC :50051]
    end

    subgraph "⚙️ Core Engine"
        CM[Chain Manager]
        MT[Memtable<br/>Skip-List]
        SST[SSTable<br/>Disk Storage]
        MK[Merkle Tree]
    end

    subgraph "🌐 P2P Network"
        Node[libp2p Node :6001]
        Gossip[GossipSub PubSub]
        MDNS[mDNS Discovery]
    end

    subgraph "📜 Smart Contracts"
        VM[Wazero WASM Runtime]
    end

    Dashboard --> HTTP
    Dashboard --> WS
    CLI --> GRPC

    HTTP --> CM
    GRPC --> CM
    WS --> CM

    CM --> MT
    MT -->|Flush| SST
    SST --> MK
    CM --> VM

    CM --> Gossip
    Node --> MDNS
    Gossip --> Node

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🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Go 1.24+
• Node.js 20+ (for dashboard)
• Docker & Docker Compose

Run with Docker (Recommended)

# Start 3-node cluster
docker-compose up --build

# Access dashboard
open http://localhost:8081

Run Locally

# Build
make build

# Start node
./aetherd start --port 6001 --data ./data

🖥️ Dashboard

The interactive dashboard lets you:

Feature	Description
Generate Blocks	Run benchmark to create blocks via LSM-Tree
Write Data	Store custom data in memtable
Verify Chain	Check blockchain integrity
View Peers	See P2P network status
Block Explorer	Browse all blocks with details
Architecture View	Visualize system layers

🔌 API Endpoints

HTTP REST

Endpoint	Method	Description
/api/status	GET	Node status & metrics
/api/blocks	GET	List all blocks
/api/bench	POST	Run benchmark
/api/write?value=data	POST	Write to memtable
/api/memtable	GET	Memtable info
/api/peers	GET	P2P peers
/api/merkle	GET	Merkle tree structure
/api/verify	GET	Verify chain integrity
/api/arch	GET	Architecture info

WebSocket

• ws://localhost:8080/ws - Real-time block notifications

gRPC

• SubmitData(key, value) - Write data to chain

🛠️ Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	Go 1.24
Storage	LSM-Tree (Skip-List + SSTable + mmap)
Networking	libp2p, gRPC, WebSocket
Smart Contracts	Wazero (WebAssembly)
Frontend	React 19, Vite, TailwindCSS
Infrastructure	Docker, Docker Compose

📁 Project Structure

aether-chain/
├── cmd/aetherd/       # CLI entry point
├── api/               # HTTP, gRPC, WebSocket servers
├── core/
│   ├── engine/        # Chain manager, Memtable, SSTable
│   ├── block/         # Block structure
│   └── vm/            # WASM executor
├── p2p/               # libp2p networking
├── proto/             # Protobuf definitions
├── storage/           # Virtual filesystem
├── dashboard/         # React frontend
├── Dockerfile         # Multi-stage build
└── docker-compose.yml # 3-node cluster config

📝 How It Works

1. Write → Data enters Memtable (RAM, Skip-List)
2. Flush → When full (~10KB), flush to SSTable (Disk)
3. Block → SSTable becomes immutable block with hash chain
4. Verify → Merkle Tree ensures data integrity
5. Propagate → New blocks broadcast to peers via GossipSub

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE

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Made with ❤️ by JullMol