fuellabs/fuel-core

Fuel Core is a full node implementation for the Fuel blockchain network, written in Rust. A "full node" is a computer program that fully participates in a blockchain network, it downloads and validates every transaction and block, stores the complete history of the chain, and helps relay information to other participants. Fuel Core is the software you run if you want to operate one of these nodes on the Fuel network. The Fuel network (specifically Fuel v2, branded as Fuel Ignition) is a high-performance blockchain designed for parallel transaction execution. Unlike traditional blockchains that process transactions one at a time, Fuel uses a different transaction model to allow concurrent processing, which significantly increases throughput. Fuel Core is the implementation that makes this possible on the actual network. Under the hood, Fuel Core is built in Rust for performance and safety. It stores blockchain state in RocksDB, an embedded high-speed key-value database. It exposes a GraphQL API on port 4000, meaning clients, wallets, developer tools, other services, send structured queries to interact with the node rather than a raw binary protocol. The node handles block production, transaction execution via the FuelVM (Fuel's own virtual machine), and peer-to-peer networking. You would run Fuel Core if you are a node operator who wants to participate in the Fuel mainnet or testnet, a developer building applications on the Fuel network who needs a local blockchain for testing, or a contributor working on the Fuel protocol itself. It can also run in an in-memory mode with no persistent state, which is convenient for rapid local development. The tech stack is Rust with RocksDB for storage, GraphQL for the external API, and Docker or Kubernetes for deployment.