The goal of this issue is to produce a high-level specification of the p2p communication layer adopted by CometBFT.

The original issue is tendermint/tendermint#9089, it refers to the implementation of the p2p layer on v0.34.x branch.

Definition of Done

Ultimately what we want here is a clear understanding of how the existing p2p layer works in v0.34 through v0.38+ (it's the same implementation). The target audience here is consensus engine developers, which includes the CometBFT team. The impact we anticipate here is that our team will be able to move faster in debugging and fixing issues in the p2p layer, as well as providing support for future work on refactoring the existing implementation.

This issue can be considered "done" once we have documentation in the spec/p2p directory of the repository that helps consensus engine developers understand the operation of the p2p layer in CometBFT.

Tracked Issues

• Documentation:
  • spec/p2p: review, update, and consolidate the legacy documentation #981
  • p2p: review and update the documentation of the p2p configuration parameters #1038
• spec/p2p: Define a structure for the P2P specification #598
• Write up documentation for each component/relevant behavior of the P2P layer:
  • spec/p2p: Document reactors and the Reactor interface #599
  • spec/p2p: Document channels and multiplex connections #600
  • spec/p2p: Document execution flows for establishing connections #601