Overview
How the Lineth protocol works​
Lineth provides the technical protocol used by Linea Mainnet and other networks built with Lineth. This page focuses on the protocol flow: how transactions move from execution to proof generation and finalized state.
For the deployable stack and operator overview, see Lineth. For the public network overview, see Linea Mainnet.
Protocol flow​
At a high level, the Lineth protocol processes transactions through four stages.
1. Execute transactions​
Transactions enter an Ethereum-compatible execution environment. Smart contracts run against the current network state, and each accepted transaction produces a deterministic state transition.
2. Batch and trace blocks​
Executed blocks are grouped into batches. The protocol records the execution traces needed to prove that each state transition was computed correctly.
3. Generate validity proofs​
The proving system uses those traces to generate zero-knowledge proofs. A verifier can check the proofs without replaying every transaction in the batch.
4. Submit for data availability and finalization​
The protocol submits the information required for data availability, verification, and finalization to the configured finalization layer. Data availability and finalization choices depend on the deployment model: Linea Mainnet is one deployment that finalizes to Ethereum, while other Lineth-based networks can use different finalization paths.
Component details​
This overview is intentionally high level. For the architecture and component-level details behind execution, batching, proving, onchain contracts, and finalization, see architecture.
Next steps​
- New to the Linea and Lineth names? See Linea and Lineth for how the public network relates to the open-source stack.
- Review the architecture for component-level protocol details.
- Read the Lineth overview for the deployable stack and operator view.
- Understand Linea Mainnet as a public deployment of the protocol.