Rococo V1  -  A Holiday Gift to the Polkadot Community

The Rococo-V1 Parachains Testnet is live. Rococo is a public testnet, maintained by Parity Technologies and the community, aimed towards testing both the parachains consensus process itself and parachains built by the community.

By PolkadotDecember 22, 2020

By: Rob Habermeier, Polkadot founder

On behalf of the Polkadot team,

The Rococo V1 Parachains Testnet is up and running. Rococo is a public testnet, maintained by Parity Technologies along with the Polkadot developer community, aimed towards testing both the parachains consensus process itself as well as parachains built by the community and their interactions with each other. Earlier this year, we launched Rococo V0, which was based off of our prototype parachains code. Now, we’re introducing Rococo V1, based on the latest version of parachain consensus — the same code that will run on Polkadot and Kusama. The parachains V1 codebase is our production-ready code for parachains consensus, which differs from V0 in the mechanisms by which parachains are included as well as having a more robust and extensible software architecture.

Parachain slots will be made available as technology allows, and will be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. Like Rococo-V0, we will periodically restart Rococo V1 as backwards-incompatible changes emerge to enable us as a dev team to iterate faster over parachain-related APIs and take us to an earlier launch of the parachains functionality on the Polkadot and Kusama networks. Registering a parachain on Rococo will also involve a commitment to run at least one validator node of Rococo as well as at least one collator of the registered parachain. Validator nodes will be run out of the `master` branch of the Polkadot GitHub Repository. Reach out to us on the Element channel below for more information on running a validator node. Over time, we may require teams to maintain more validator nodes.

We won’t be opening up parachain registration by the community until early next year, Jan. 4 at the earliest, so teams can rest and charge up over the holiday season. We’ve got a big year ahead of us.

The Rococo UI — blocks are coming in, along with parachain block events.

Rococo itself comes with support for XCMP-lite, our channel-based cross-parachain messaging protocol, which uses the relay chain as a transport mechanism. This is still being integrated in Cumulus, so you can look out for releases soon which provide APIs for using XCMP. Over the near future, we’ll be rolling out further parachain consensus improvements and optimizations on Rococo as we finish developing the last remaining components of parachains. After that point, we can safely call Polkadot’s codebase feature-complete.

Parachain developers and users of the Rococo testnet can join us in the Rococo Element Room

You can access the Rococo UI at Rococo Polkadot-JS Apps.

And our documentation on Parachains V1 is hosted in the Implementer’s Guide

Happy Coding and Happy Holidays,
Rob

From the blog

How play-to-earn (P2E) is transforming onchain mobile sports gaming

Play-to-earn games are transforming mobile sports gaming. Learn how blockchain, NFTs, and platforms like Polkadot create new opportunities for digital asset ownership and cross-chain gameplay.

Polkadot Token 2049 and Decoded Asia 2024: A multichain ecosystem in action

At Token 2049 and Decoded Asia 2024 in Singapore, Polkadot teams and contributors showcased a multichain future for real-world applications. Key moments included Dr. Gavin Wood’s vision for digital individuality, Chrissy Hill’s regulatory insights, and announcements from emerging projects shaping the Web3 ecosystem.

What is a crypto wallet? Your all-access pass to the future web

In Web3, your wallet is your most valuable digital tool. It’s more than just a place to store, send, and receive cryptocurrencies securely—it’s your passport to the decentralized world.

July 2024: Key network metrics and insights

Welcome to your go-to source for the latest tech updates, key metrics, and discussions within Polkadot, brought to you by the Parity Success Team. This blog series covers a variety of topics, drawing insights from GitHub, project teams, and the Polkadot Forum.

Polkadot 2.0: The rebirth of a network

Polkadot 2.0 reimagines blockchain with a bold rebrand and powerful features: Agile Coretime, Async Backing, and Elastic Scaling. Step into a more flexible, faster, and scalable network. Learn about the improvements and changes that led to this next era of Polkadot.

Meet the Decentralized Futures grant recipients: transforming ideas into impact on Polkadot

The Decentralized Mic is here to spotlight the innovative projects and teams driving Polkadot’s growth. Join us as we explore the achievements of Decentralized Futures grant recipients and their contributions to the Polkadot ecosystem on the new ecosystem community call series.

The ultimate 2024 Polkadot grants and funding guide

Explore Polkadot ecosystem funding: grants, venture capital, bounties, and community initiatives. Discover opportunities for blockchain builders today.

Decoded 2024: Polkadot’s vision for a decentralized future

Polkadot Decoded 2024 in Brussels brought together top blockchain minds to explore the future of Web3. Highlights included Björn Wagner's insights on payments and Dr. Gavin Wood's vision for digital individuality. Showcasing technical breakthroughs and real-world use cases, Polkadot affirmed its leadership in the multi-chain future.

June 2024: Key network metrics and insights

Welcome to your go-to source for the latest tech updates, key metrics, and discussions within Polkadot, brought to you by the Parity Success Team. This blog series covers a variety of topics, drawing insights from GitHub, project teams, and the Polkadot Forum.

Introducing the New Polkadot Ledger App

Discover the new Polkadot Ledger app for seamless, secure transactions. Now available on Ledger Live, it supports Polkadot, Kusama, and more.

Polkadot’s May Ecosystem Insights

Welcome to your go-to source for the latest tech updates, key metrics, and discussions within Polkadot, brought to you by the Parity Success Team. This blog series covers a variety of topics, drawing insights from GitHub, project teams, and the Polkadot Forum.

Top takeaways from the decentralization panel at Consensus

Consensus by Coindesk 2024: a blockbuster success