Snapshots

Overview

Snapshots are critical components in the Constellation Network's Hypergraph network. They represent the shared state of the network at a specific moment in time. Much like blocks are the base unit of state in blockchain-based systems, snapshots are the fundamental unit of state that forms Constellation’s immutable ledger. The concept of blocks exists as well with snapshots containing zero or more blocks each. Blocks contain sets of transactions or data that have passed DAG-based consensus on L1 layers (DAG L1, metagraph L1s).

There are two primary snapshot types for metagraph development:

1. Global Snapshots: Generated on the Global L0 network, these snapshots encapsulate the network state at a specific point in time. They include data from both the DAG L1 and metagraph networks.
2. Metagraph Snapshots: Produced by a metagraph's L0 network layer, these snapshots form the metagraph's local L1 chain. After passing metagraph L0 consensus, metagraph snapshots are submitted to the Global L0 for inclusion in a Global Snapshot. They can be submitted as raw serialized data, which is not decodable by the Global L0, or as specific serialized data formats that are decodable by the Global L0 for validation, such as the Currency Snapshot format supported by Euclid's Metagraph Framework.