Introducing Bonsai
Consider this your introductory developer guide for all things Bonsai. We'll have more content for you as we continue development, so be sure to check back for more resources. We're preparing to release a public network soon and have limited access available by waitlist. In the meantime, read on to learn more about Bonsai's capabilities and discover how Bonsai supports off-chain computations.
What is Bonsai?
Bonsai is a general purpose zero-knowledge proof network. We're particularly excited about Bonsai's ability to perform off-chain computations for blockchain smart contracts, so we've developed an example that functions as a starter template as a preview of Bonsai's capabilities. If you're excited to get started yourself, sign up to join our Bonsai waitlist. Early access to Bonsai will allow you to write programs that interact with the Bonsai network and give you a feel for how the Bonsai proving service works.
We're launching a public network very soon though, so keep an eye on this website for a more complete guide! Once we've launched a public network, you'll be able to call our API and submit programs you'd like to be executed on the zkVM. Bonsai will run your guest zkVM program whenever you ask, passing it inputs you've provided.
How does Bonsai help?
Any application that would benefit from verifiable execution can use Bonsai, but for this explanation, we'll assume you're building a computation-heavy application that lives on a blockchain.
Instead of incurring on-chain execution costs, you can write the computationally expensive portions of your contract as a zkVM program. This program can be written in plain Rust and stored on Bonsai. You won't need to host or manage any part of its execution.
When you're ready to execute the program for the RISC Zero zkVM, you don't even need to communicate with the Bonsai API directly. Each supported blockchain will include an intermediating bridge contract that manages API calls to Bonsai. Your smart contract can call the bridge contract, passing it any program inputs you'd like your guest program to access during execution.
Once execution has completed, the results will be available on-chain.
Community support
Join us on the RISC Zero Discord and follow for announcements on Twitter.