svmgov — Solana Governance

Program ID: govYkyQ3ePtGULAtY6V75qjWE8UH4vCUVQ1W4HdCAZU

svmgov is an Anchor-based Solana program that implements the full governance lifecycle for Solana validators. Voting power is derived directly from active stake — weights are verified cryptographically using Merkle proofs from the NCN snapshot system.

New here? Start with Terminology before diving into program internals and workflows.

What is svmgov?

svmgov enables the Solana validator community to:

Propose — Any validator with ≥ 100,000 SOL staked can create a governance proposal with a GitHub link for full details
Signal support — Other validators signal support; once 15% of cluster stake supports it, voting opens
Vote with stake weight — Each validator’s vote is weighted by their active stake, proven via Merkle proof
Override as a delegator — Individual stakers can override their validator’s vote, asserting their own preference with their specific stake account

Proposal Lifecycle


CREATED ──► SUPPORT PHASE ──► VOTING PHASE ──► FINALIZED
              │                    │
              │ 15% cluster stake  │ end_epoch reached
              │ threshold met      │ (permissionless)
              ▼                    ▼
         voting=true          finalized=true
         snapshot_slot set    results locked
         consensus_result set

Create Proposal

A validator with enough stake to satisfy min_proposal_stake_lamports calls create_proposal. They provide a title and a GitHub URL as the description, both bounded by GlobalConfig. The proposal receives a unique sequential index.

Support Phase

Other validators call support_proposal. Each supporter’s stake is added to cluster_support_lamports. Once the total crosses cluster_support_pct_min_bps (default: 1500 bps = 15%) of total cluster stake:

proposal.voting = true
snapshot_slot is computed from the target epoch’s start slot plus the configured snapshot_slot_offset
consensus_result PDA is derived
A CPI calls ncn-snapshot::init_ballot_box to open voting for operators

Operators Reach Consensus

While the proposal is in the support phase (or shortly after), NCN operators generate snapshots and vote on the BallotBox. Once consensus is reached, anyone calls finalize_ballot to publish the ConsensusResult.

Voting Phase

Validators call cast_vote with their vote allocation in basis points (for/against/abstain, must sum to 10,000). The program:

Reads the validator’s MetaMerkleProof PDA
CPIs to ncn-snapshot::verify_merkle_proof
Records the weighted vote on the Proposal account

Delegator Overrides (Optional)

Delegators who disagree with their validator’s vote call cast_vote_override. They provide a stake account Merkle proof. The override adjusts the validator’s effective vote weight.

Finalization

After end_epoch, anyone calls finalize_proposal. The proposal’s finalized = true and vote tallies are locked permanently.

Key Features

Feature	Description
Stake-weighted voting	Each vote weighted by active stake from NCN snapshot
Merkle proof verification	Stake weights verified on-chain, no trusted oracle
Delegator sovereignty	Stakers can override validators using stake account proofs
Two-step proposals	Support phase prevents spam; only sufficiently backed proposals reach voting
Permissionless finalization	Anyone can finalize after voting ends
GitHub-linked descriptions	Full proposal text lives off-chain (GitHub), on-chain stores the link

Core Concepts Map

Concept	Where to read	Why it matters
Lifecycle and governance flow	This page	Understand state transitions and responsibilities
Terms and glossary	`/svmgov/terminology`	Build shared vocabulary before reading instruction docs
Accounts/instructions/errors	`/svmgov/program`	Deep technical source of truth for integrators
Validator actions	`/svmgov/validators`	Operational guide for proposal creation/support/voting
Delegator actions	`/svmgov/stakers`	Override flow and stake-account-level participation

Program Constants

Constant	Value	Description
`BASIS_POINTS_MAX`	`10,000`	Total basis points = 100%
`MAX_TITLE_ACCOUNT_SIZE`	`200 bytes`	Maximum bytes allocated for title
`MAX_DESC_ACCOUNT_SIZE`	`500 bytes`	Maximum bytes allocated for description

Explore

Terminology Program Reference For Validators For Stakers