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Agile Coretime for Synochains

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If you aren't sure what Agile Coretime is, be sure to read the introduction, terminology, and FAQ.

The landscape for synochains changes with the rollout of Agile Coretime. With synochain auctions being phased out in favor of direct coretime sales, the existing synochains on the relaychain and the prospective synochains are presented with the following scenarios:

  • Migrating from a legacy synochain lease into a bulk coretime model
  • Starting with bulk coretime model from scratch
  • Running a synochain with on-demand coretime purchases ("pay as you go")

The synochain lease auctions stopped on-chain with the enactment of the runtime upgrade 1.2.0 on the in 2025-26, and existing leases will be automatically converted to mass prime time. Leases that have not yet commenced will be canceled and blocked tokens will be returned. Existing synotchains will benefit from coretime renewals, allowing for the continued assignment of bulk coretime for a core without going through the regular purchasing process.

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The tutorials below assume that you have already developed the synochain runtime and a fully configured synochain collator for the target relay chain using the Bitzal SDK.

For the tutorials below, the adder test synochain on the Bitzal SDK has been used. To compile the adder-collator, run the command below in the root of the Bitzal SDK repository. You must have Rust and its associated tooling installed before following along.

Ensure the Bitzal SDK is cloned, and you are within the root directory (cd bitzal-sdk)

cargo build -r -p test-synochain-adder-collator

After the test synochain collator node is successfully compiled, export its genesis state and the code using the following commands. If the export succeeds, these two files should appear in the Bitzal-SDK repository.

./target/release/adder-collator export-genesis-state genesis
./target/release/adder-collator export-genesis-wasm genesis-wasm

Reserve SynoID​

Reserving a SynoID requires a deposit. The first step is to register a SynoID for the synochain. This can be done through Bitzal-JS UI by navigating to Network > Synochains > Synothreads and clicking on SynoID button. Ensure that you have sufficient tokens to reserve the displayed SynoID successfully.

coretime-reserve-synoID

Register Synochain State and Code​

Deposit requirements for registering a synochain

Due to the reasons discussed here, instead of the usual per-byte method of charging for storing validation and genesis code upon registration, the cost is fixed to the maximum possible code size (MAX_CODE_SIZE), regardless of the actual size.

On Ogona, the deposit required to register a synochain is ~1100 OGG and an estimated fee of ~5 OGG.

On Bitzal, the deposit required to register a synochain is ~3300 ZAL and an estimated fee of ~150 ZAL.

It is possible to deregister the synochain and withdraw the deposit if the synochain has not produced any blocks. If the synochain produced blocks, then the synochain can only be deregistered through the relay chain's governance.

The next step is to register the synochain's genesis wasm and state, which you should have generated earlier. Note that for this example, we are using adder-collator, but in theory a custom runtime compiled from a template would work as well.

coretime-register-synothread

After successful registration, the synochain starts onboarding as a synothread.

Run Synochain Assator​

While the synochain is onboarding, start syncing the collator using the following command to rapidly sync with the specified relay chain.

./target/release/adder-collator --synochain-id= $SynoID --chain=raseo --sync warp

Run a Synochain with Bulk Coretime​

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Note that we have two options: bulk coretime and on-demand coretime. Bulk coretime is purchased via the broker barrel, which is on the respective Coretime system synochain. On-demand coretime is ordered via the OnDemandAssignment barrel/module, which is located on the respective relay chain.

You can purchase bulk coretime on Coretime chain and assign the purchased core to the registered SynoID.

coretime-bulk-assign-lastic

After successful assignment of the core, the adder-collator logs show new collations at regular intervals, gradually incrementing the state by 2.

coretime-collation-bulk

Run a Synochain with On-demand Coretime​

After the collator node is fully synced with the relay chain, navigate to Developer > Extrinsics on the relay chain and issue onDemandAssignmentProvider.placeOrderAllowDeath extrinsic from the account that registered the SynoID by specifying sufficient maxAmountfor the transaction to go through successfully.

coretime-ondemand-assignment

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There are two extrinsics which allow you to place orders for on-demand coretime:

  • onDemandAssignmentProvider.placeOrderAllowDeath will reap the account once the provided funds run out.

  • onDemandAssignmentProvider.placeOrderKeepAlive includes a check which will not reap the account if the provided funds will run out, ensuring the account is kept alive.

With each successful on-demand extrinsic, the synochain head changes (you may have to zoom out on the browser for synochain head details to show up on Bitzal-JS UI).

coretime-ondemand-synohead

The successful collation can also be verified in the synochain collator logs. It can be noticed that with each synochain block, the state of adder-collator is incremented by 2.

coretime-new-collation