canton-core-concepts
Installation
SKILL.md
Canton Core Concepts
Overview
Understanding Canton means grasping four concepts and how they interact: parties, validators (participant nodes), synchronizers, and templates (smart contracts).
1. Parties — on-ledger identities
A party is an on-ledger identity, analogous to an address/EOA but with explicit authorization semantics. The identifier is name::fingerprint:
alice::1220f2fe29866fd6a0009ecc8a64ccdc09f1958bd0f801166baaee469d1251b2eb72
└─┬─┘ └──────────────────── fingerprint (hash of public key) ────────────────┘
name
Roles a party plays on a contract:
| Role | Authorizes create/archive | Sees contract | Can exercise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signatory | Yes (required) | Always | If also controller |
| Observer | No | Yes | If also controller |
| Controller | No | When exercising | Yes (that choice) |