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Submitting governance actions

Common aspects of all types of governance actions​

A proposal is the process of putting together all the information required to submit a governance action to the chain. A proposal consists of:

  • A deposit
  • The reward account that will receive the deposit return
  • The governance action
  • An anchor

When using the cardano-cli to create a governance action, you will notice that it creates a proposal.

Deposit and stake credentials

Any ada holder can submit a governance action to the chain. They must provide a deposit, which will be returned when the action is finalized (whether it is ratified or has expired). To facilitate this process, the proposer must specify the stake credential that will receive the refunded deposit.

Previous governance action ID

To prevent unintended conflicts between governance actions of the same type, some governance actions must include the governance action ID of the most recently enacted action of its respective type. Notably, this requirement does not apply to treasury withdrawal and info governance actions.

You can get the last enacted governance action IDs with:

cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r .nextRatifyState.nextEnactState.prevGovActionIds
{
  "Committee": {
    "govActionIx": 0,
    "txId": "fe2c99fe6bc75a9666427163d51ae7dbf5a60df40135361b7bfd53ac6c7912ec"
  },
  "Constitution": {
    "govActionIx": 0,
    "txId": "2bcf2a93cb840d72e6fbbad4d52419fa69a3971dee2e32fab414e32a44ecbaf7"
  },
  "HardFork": null,
  "PParamUpdate": null
}

Please note that both the update committee and motion of no confidence actions share the same space, referred to as 'Committee' within the governance state. Consequently, the governance state stores a single value to represent both of these actions. The system also verifies either of these actions against this single stored value.

Anchors

When proposing a governance action, the proposer must employ an anchor, which comprises a URL hosting a document that outlines additional context for the proposed changes, along with the document's hash.

The document at the URL can be of a free form. It's important that it should communicate to ada holders the why and the how of the proposal. This tutorial mostly uses 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/master/CIP-0108/examples/treasury-withdrawal.jsonld' as an example, see here for more details.

See CIP-100 | Governance Metadata and CIP-0108 | Governance Metadata - Governance Actions for standard.

You can use cardano-cli to get the hash:

cardano-cli hash anchor-data --file-text treasury-withdrawal.jsonld
311b148ca792007a3b1fee75a8698165911e306c3bc2afef6cf0145ecc7d03d4

Alternatively, utilize b2sum to hash the document:

b2sum -l 256 treasury-withdrawal.jsonld
311b148ca792007a3b1fee75a8698165911e306c3bc2afef6cf0145ecc7d03d4  treasury-withdrawal.jsonld

You will need to supply the hash of the document when creating a governance action.

Update committee actions​

Update committee to add a new CC member:​

Assume you want to add three CC members who have generated cold keys and have provided their key hashes:

  • 89181f26b47c3d3b6b127df163b15b74b45bba7c3b7a1d185c05c2de
  • ea8738081fca0726f4e781f5e55fda05f8745432a5f8a8d09eb0b34b
  • 7f6721067362d4ae9ca73469fe983ce5572dad9028386100104b0da0

You can create a proposal to add them as new CC members with an expiration epoch (--epoch) for each of them. This is a good time to review the threshold. Let’s say that our proposal will change the Committee threshold to 66%:

  • Create the proposal:
cardano-cli conway governance action update-committee \
  --testnet \
  --governance-action-deposit $(cardano-cli query protocol-parameters | jq -r '.govActionDeposit') \
  --deposit-return-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
  --anchor-url https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/master/CIP-0108/examples/treasury-withdrawal.jsonld \
  --anchor-data-hash 311b148ca792007a3b1fee75a8698165911e306c3bc2afef6cf0145ecc7d03d4 \
  --add-cc-cold-verification-key-hash 89181f26b47c3d3b6b127df163b15b74b45bba7c3b7a1d185c05c2de \
  --epoch 100 \
  --add-cc-cold-verification-key-hash ea8738081fca0726f4e781f5e55fda05f8745432a5f8a8d09eb0b34b \
  --epoch 95 \
  --add-cc-cold-verification-key-hash 7f6721067362d4ae9ca73469fe983ce5572dad9028386100104b0da0 \
  --epoch 90 \
  --threshold 0.66 \
  --out-file update-committee.action
  • Note: If there is a previously enacted governance action to update the committee, the proposal must also include --prev-governance-action-tx-id and --prev-governance-action-index.

Update committee to remove an existing CC member:​

Assume that you want to remove the CC member with the key hash 89181f26b47c3d3b6b127df163b15b74b45bba7c3b7a1d185c05c2de. You can do this with:

cardano-cli conway governance action update-committee \
  --testnet \
  --governance-action-deposit $(cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.currentPParams.govActionDeposit') \
  --deposit-return-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
  --anchor-url https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/master/CIP-0108/examples/treasury-withdrawal.jsonld \
  --anchor-data-hash 311b148ca792007a3b1fee75a8698165911e306c3bc2afef6cf0145ecc7d03d4 \
  --remove-cc-cold-verification-key-hash 89181f26b47c3d3b6b127df163b15b74b45bba7c3b7a1d185c05c2de \
  --threshold 1/2 \
  --prev-governance-action-tx-id fe2c99fe6bc75a9666427163d51ae7dbf5a60df40135361b7bfd53ac6c7912ec \
  --prev-governance-action-index 0 \
  --out-file update-committee.action

Update committee to only change the threshold:​

cardano-cli conway governance action update-committee \
  --testnet \
  --governance-action-deposit $(cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.currentPParams.govActionDeposit') \
  --deposit-return-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
  --anchor-url https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/master/CIP-0108/examples/treasury-withdrawal.jsonld \
  --anchor-data-hash 311b148ca792007a3b1fee75a8698165911e306c3bc2afef6cf0145ecc7d03d4 \
  --threshold 60/100 \
  --prev-governance-action-tx-id fe2c99fe6bc75a9666427163d51ae7dbf5a60df40135361b7bfd53ac6c7912ec \
  --prev-governance-action-index 0 \
  --out-file update-committee.action

Updating the constitution​

This section describes how to propose a new constitution. Lets's use as an example the interim constitution that is to be used on Mainnet. It is available in https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafkreifnwj6zpu3ixa4siz2lndqybyc5wnnt3jkwyutci4e2tmbnj3xrdm

Find the last enacted Constitution governance action​

Find the last enacted governance action of this type, If the query returns null it means the current constitution (if it exists) is not enacted in a governance action, but instead supplied on the Conway genesis file.

cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.nextRatifyState.nextEnactState.prevGovActionIds.Constitution'
null

When the constitution has been enacted through a governance action, you will see the transaction ID and index of the proposing transaction, we will use this information later:

cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.nextRatifyState.nextEnactState.prevGovActionIds.Constitution'
{
  "govActionIx": 0,
  "txId": "bf4832f443fe34f26f929ce2fbb26cc35ef4fda31150b2da45969a9bac4f7a8c"
}

Prepare the constitution anchor.​

When proposing a new constitution, you are required to put it on a URL that is publicly accessible and, ideally, in some sort of persistent form. For example put it on IPFS, like the interim constitution

  • Download the file from its url:
wget https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafkreifnwj6zpu3ixa4siz2lndqybyc5wnnt3jkwyutci4e2tmbnj3xrdm -O constitution.txt
  • Get its hash, you can do it with blake2 or with cardano-cli:
b2sum -l 256 constitution.txt
a77245f63bc7504c6ce34383633729692388dc1823723b0ee9825743a87a6a6d  constitution.txt

or

cardano-cli conway governance hash anchor-data --file-text constitution.txt
a77245f63bc7504c6ce34383633729692388dc1823723b0ee9825743a87a6a6d

The guardrails script​

While the constitution is an informal, off-chain document, there will also be an optional script that can enforce some guidelines. This script acts to supplement the constitutional committee by restricting some proposal types.

At the Chang hardfork, the interim constitution will be supplemented with a Guardrails script. The raw files can be found at Plutus/cardano-constitution.

The guardrails script applies only to protocol parameter update and treasury withdrawal proposals.

Follow the instructions in the README.md file to compile the PlutusV3 script. A successful compilation creates the following:

cat guardrails-script.plutus 
{
    "type": "PlutusScriptV3",
    "description": "",
    "cborHex": "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"
}

Now, get the script hash with:

cardano-cli hash script --script-file guardrails-script.plutus 
fa24fb305126805cf2164c161d852a0e7330cf988f1fe558cf7d4a64

Create the proposal to update the constitution:​

When there is no previously enacted constitution: 

cardano-cli conway governance action create-constitution \
  --testnet \
  --governance-action-deposit $(cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.currentPParams.govActionDeposit') \
  --deposit-return-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
  --anchor-url https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/master/CIP-0100/cip-0100.common.schema.json \
  --anchor-data-hash "9d99fbca260b2d77e6d3012204e1a8658f872637ae94cdb1d8a53f4369400aa9" \
  --constitution-url https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafkreifnwj6zpu3ixa4siz2lndqybyc5wnnt3jkwyutci4e2tmbnj3xrdm \
  --constitution-hash "a77245f63bc7504c6ce34383633729692388dc1823723b0ee9825743a87a6a6d" \
  --constitution-script-hash "fa24fb305126805cf2164c161d852a0e7330cf988f1fe558cf7d4a64"
  --out-file

When there is a previously enacted constitution, we need to reference the previous governance action id (TXID and INDEX):

cardano-cli conway governance action create-constitution \
  --testnet \
  --governance-action-deposit $(cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.currentPParams.govActionDeposit') \
  --deposit-return-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
  --anchor-url https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/master/CIP-0108/examples/treasury-withdrawal.jsonld \
  --anchor-data-hash 311b148ca792007a3b1fee75a8698165911e306c3bc2afef6cf0145ecc7d03d4 \
  --constitution-url https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafkreifnwj6zpu3ixa4siz2lndqybyc5wnnt3jkwyutci4e2tmbnj3xrdm \
  --constitution-hash "a77245f63bc7504c6ce34383633729692388dc1823723b0ee9825743a87a6a6d" \
  --constitution-script-hash "fa24fb305126805cf2164c161d852a0e7330cf988f1fe558cf7d4a64" \
  --prev-governance-action-tx-id "bf4832f443fe34f26f929ce2fbb26cc35ef4fda31150b2da45969a9bac4f7a8c" \
  --prev-governance-action-index 0 \
  --out-file constitution.action

From here, you just need to submit the proposal in a transaction

Motion of no confidence​

  • Find the last governance action enacted of this type:
cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.nextRatifyState.nextEnactState.prevGovActionIds.Committee'
{
  "govActionIx": 0,
  "txId": "fe2c99fe6bc75a9666427163d51ae7dbf5a60df40135361b7bfd53ac6c7912ec"
}

Create a motion no-confidence governance action:​

cardano-cli conway governance action create-no-confidence \
  --testnet \
  --governance-action-deposit $(cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.currentPParams.govActionDeposit') \
  --deposit-return-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
  --anchor-url https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/master/CIP-0108/examples/treasury-withdrawal.jsonld \
  --anchor-data-hash 311b148ca792007a3b1fee75a8698165911e306c3bc2afef6cf0145ecc7d03d4 \
  --prev-governance-action-tx-id fe2c99fe6bc75a9666427163d51ae7dbf5a60df40135361b7bfd53ac6c7912ec \
  --prev-governance-action-index 0 \
  --out-file no-confidence.action

From here, you just need to submit the proposal in a transaction

Treasury withdrawal​

In addition to the stake credential required to obtain a deposit refund, the proposer must also furnish stake credentials for receiving funds from the treasury in the event that the governance action is approved.

Also, treasury withdrawals must reference the Guardrails script when present.

Create the treasury withdrawal proposal:​

cardano-cli conway governance action create-treasury-withdrawal \
  --testnet \
  --governance-action-deposit $(cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.currentPParams.govActionDeposit') \
  --deposit-return-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
  --anchor-url https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/master/CIP-0108/examples/treasury-withdrawal.jsonld \
  --anchor-data-hash 311b148ca792007a3b1fee75a8698165911e306c3bc2afef6cf0145ecc7d03d4 \
  --funds-receiving-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
  --constitution-script-hash "fa24fb305126805cf2164c161d852a0e7330cf988f1fe558cf7d4a64" \
  --transfer 50000000000 \
  --out-file treasury.action
  • Note that you do not need to provide any previous governance action ID on treasury withdrawals.

From here, you just need to submit the proposal in a transaction

Info​

Create the 'info' governance action:​

cardano-cli conway governance action create-info --testnet \
  --governance-action-deposit $(cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.currentPParams.govActionDeposit') \
  --deposit-return-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
  --anchor-url  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/master/CIP-0108/examples/treasury-withdrawal.jsonld \
  --anchor-data-hash 311b148ca792007a3b1fee75a8698165911e306c3bc2afef6cf0145ecc7d03d4 \
  --out-file info.action

From here, you just need to submit the proposal in a transaction

Update protocol parameters​

When updating protocol parameters, you must reference the Guardrails script. This reference is not automatically inferred because, actions can be created off-line so the cli may not have access to a node, and also because a governance action may be submitted in advance, anticipating that a new Guardrails script will be ratified and enacted during the proposal's lifespan.

cardano-cli conway governance action create-protocol-parameters-update \
  --testnet \
  --governance-action-deposit $(cardano-cli conway query gov-state | jq -r '.currentPParams.govActionDeposit') \
  --deposit-return-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
  --anchor-url https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/master/CIP-0108/examples/treasury-withdrawal.jsonld \
  --anchor-data-hash 311b148ca792007a3b1fee75a8698165911e306c3bc2afef6cf0145ecc7d03d4 \
  --constitution-script-hash "fa24fb305126805cf2164c161d852a0e7330cf988f1fe558cf7d4a64" \
  --key-reg-deposit-amt 1000000 \
  --out-file pp-update.action
  • Note: If there is a previously enacted governance action to update the protocol parameters, the proposal must also include --prev-governance-action-tx-id and --prev-governance-action-index.

Continue with build, sign and submit the transactions

Submitting Motion of no-confidence, Update committee, New Constitution, Hardfork initiation or Info proposals in a transaction​

Submitting the *.action file to the blockchain is the essential step in bringing your proposal to life and making it accessible for the community to participate in the voting process. This process essentially transforms your proposal from a conceptual idea into an actionable item. Once submitted, it becomes part of the public ledger, while also allowing members of the governance bodies to review, discuss, and ultimately cast their votes on its approval or rejection.

  • Note that you can also use build-raw and calculate-min-fee to build transactions in an off-line setting. The example below uses the convenient build:
cardano-cli conway transaction build \
  --tx-in "$(cardano-cli query utxo --address "$(< payment.addr)" --output-json | jq -r 'keys[0]')" \
  --change-address $(< payment.addr) \
  --proposal-file info.action \
  --out-file tx.raw
cardano-cli conway transaction sign \
  --tx-body-file tx.raw \
  --signing-key-file payment.skey \
  --out-file tx.signed
cardano-cli conway transaction submit \
  --tx-file tx.signed

Submitting a Treasury-withdrawal or Protocol-parameter-update governance action​

info

These types of proposals must reference the guardrails script, therefore must supply a collateral and the guardrails script either directly or as a reference script.

Build, sign and submit the transaction​

When building the transaction, we include the *.action file and supply the guardrails script with --proposal-script-file. Note that the guardrails script does not require a datum to be passed, only a redeemer value, which can be just an empty json.

cardano-cli conway transaction build \
  --proposal-script-file guardrails-script.plutus \
  --tx-in-collateral "$(cardano-cli query utxo --address "$(< payment.addr)" --output-json | jq -r 'keys[0]')" \
  --proposal-redeemer-value {} \
  --tx-in "$(cardano-cli query utxo --address "$(< payment.addr)" --output-json | jq -r 'keys[0]')" \
  --change-address "$(< payment.addr)" \
  --proposal-file pp-update.action \
  --out-file pparams-tx.raw

Estimated transaction fee: Coin 313228
  • Sign the transaction with payment.skey:
cardano-cli conway transaction sign \
  --tx-file pparams-tx.raw \
  --signing-key-file payment.skey \
  --out-file pparams-tx.signed
  • Submit it to the chain with:
cardano-cli conway transaction submit \
  --tx-file pparams-tx.signed

Finding the governance action ID of your proposal​

You may want to find your governance action ID to share it with others on Discord1 and seek their support. The transaction ID and the index of the transaction that submitted the proposal serve as the action ID. An effective way to find your governance action ID is by querying the governance state and filtering by (the proposer) stake key hash.

First, find your key hash with:

cardano-cli conway stake-address key-hash --stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey

8e0debc9fdc6c616ac40d98bf3950b436895eea9cccf0396a6e5e12b

Use jq to filter the gov-state output by the stake key hash. The output contains all the relevant information about your governance actions, including actionId:

cardano-cli conway query gov-state \
| jq -r --arg keyHash "8e0debc9fdc6c616ac40d98bf3950b436895eea9cccf0396a6e5e12b" '.proposals | to_entries[] | select(.value.returnAddr.credential.keyHash | contains($keyHash)) | .value'
{
  "action": {
    "contents": [
      [
        {
          "credential": {
            "keyHash": "7249a71391f08399f06b492eae7892a33191699625cff50b7dee55c6"
          },
          "network": "Testnet"
        },
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