Hoon Kernels
vesl's logic lives in Hoon kernels. These get compiled to Nock (via hoonc) and loaded by the Hull at runtime. For most developers, the kernels ship pre-compiled — you don't need to touch Hoon.
Kernels
vesl ships four kernels — each a progressively lighter slice of the protocol:
| Kernel | File | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| vesl | vesl-kernel.hoon | Full: settlement, STARK proving, and tx-engine |
| beak | beak-kernel.hoon | Settlement + verification, no STARK proving |
| grip | grip-kernel.hoon | Commitment + verification, no settlement |
| ink | ink-kernel.hoon | Commitment only — just hashing and root registration |
Supporting libraries:
- vesl-logic.hoon — pure verification gates (Merkle, manifest, settlement)
- vesl-prover.hoon — STARK proof generation
- vesl-verifier.hoon — STARK verification
Compilation
If you're working on the kernels themselves:
bash
hoonc --new protocol/lib/vesl-kernel.hoon hoon/The --new flag forces a fresh compile (hoonc caches aggressively). Compiled kernels are output as .jam files in assets/.
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