{% hint style="info" %} Note that these docs describe how Stacks currently works pre-Nakamoto. There is a significant undertaking to improve the functionality of the chain that will change some of this called the Nakamoto Release. To learn more about how Stacks will work after Nakamoto, check out the Nakamoto Upgrade section. {% endhint %}
Stacks is a Bitcoin L2 that brings smart contract functionality to Bitcoin, without modifying Bitcoin itself.
These docs serve as:
- An introduction to Stacks (what it is, why you should care, how to build Bitcoin apps with it),
- A reference guide to various aspects of the Stacks ecosystem
- A collection of tutorials and code samples to help you learn and build
They are divided up into several sections:
There is currently a major upgrade to Stacks underway called the Nakamoto Release. This will bring significant improvements to both security and speed. Since this work is still in-progress, there is a dedicated section describing how it works. Once the release is live on mainnet, these docs will be adjusted to reflect the way the chain works.
If you are interested in the basics of how Stacks works, the Stacks 101 section contains the essential information to understand how everything works. Note that this section explains how Stacks operates pre-Nakamoto, and will be updated in conjunction with the release.
For all you developers, we have a collection of tutorials here for you to explore, both hosted here on the docs site and some others from the community.
Clarity is the smart contract programming language used on the Stacks chain. This section is a reference for Clarity keywords and functions, as well as a quick tutorial for wrapping your head around the language.
sBTC is the upcoming trust-minimized Bitcoin peg system build on top of Stacks. This section will give you all the information you need to understand how it works. For tutorials on building with it, be sure to check out the tutorials section.
Finally, for those of you interested in diving deep into how Stacks works, the in-depth technical explanations are drawn from the SIPs, the documents formally outlining the technical functionality of Stacks. This will get you as much information on how things work outside of reading the source code yourself.
Looking for something specific? These docs are integrated with AI-powered semantic search, hit Cmd/Ctrl + K to open up the search box and ask the docs whatever you like.