# Symbiotic

> Symbiotic is a generalized shared security system enabling decentralized networks to bootstrap powerful, fully sovereign ecosystems.

## Docs

- [Relay Quickstart](/learn/relay/dev-workflow): This quickstart walks through the developer workflow that the repo enables: spinning up Symbiotic Core locally, preparing vaults and operators, wiring middleware, and bringing a relay-powered network online.
- [Introduction](/integrate): Symbiotic is a shared security protocol that enables networks to access economic security from stakers. The protocol supports multiple participant roles, each with different integration paths.
- [Helpful Core Contracts' Endpoints](/integrate/operators/helpful-core-contracts-endpoints): This page lists useful functions for operators across Symbiotic Core contracts.
- [Get Started](/integrate/operators): Operators run network infrastructure and process logic provided by networks. This guide walks you through the operator lifecycle in Symbiotic.
- [Opt Into Networks and Vaults](/integrate/operators/opt-ins): Before you can start receiving delegations, complete two opt-in steps:
- [Register Operator](/integrate/operators/register-operator): Register your operator using the `OperatorRegistry` smart contract. The registered address serves as your management address for opting into vaults and networks to receive allocations.
- [Submit Metadata](/integrate/operators/submit-metadata): The [Symbiotic UI](https://app.symbiotic.fi/deposit) displays TVL, allocations, and relationships between curators, vaults, operators, and networks. To make your entity visible on the UI, submit its metadata to the corresponding repository.
- [Helpful Core Contracts' Endpoints](/integrate/networks/helpful-core-contracts-endpoints): This page lists useful functions for networks across Symbiotic Core contracts.
- [Get Started](/integrate/networks): This guide walks you through integrating your network with Symbiotic. Follow these steps to register your network, set up security, and start receiving stake allocations.
- [Deploy Pre-deposit Vault](/integrate/networks/pre-deposit): You may want to curate or deploy vaults yourself in these cases:
- [Register Network](/integrate/networks/register-network): Register your network using the `NetworkRegistry` smart contract. The registered address serves as your management address for interacting with Symbiotic vaults to accept stake allocations.
- [Relay Off-Chain](/integrate/networks/relay-offchain): The code is a work in progress and not production ready yet. Breaking changes may occur in code updates, and backward compatibility is not guaranteed. Use with caution.
- [Relay On-Chain](/integrate/networks/relay-onchain): The Symbiotic Relay system implements a complete signature aggregation workflow from validator set derivation through on-chain commitment of the ValSetHeader data structure. This enables provable attestation checks on any chain for arbitrary data signed by the validator set quorum.
- [Rewards](/integrate/networks/rewards): [Read Learn first](/learn/core-concepts/rewards)
- [Slashing](/integrate/networks/slashing): [Read Learn first](/learn/core-concepts/slashing)
- [Submit Metadata](/integrate/networks/submit-metadata): The [Symbiotic UI](https://app.symbiotic.fi/deposit) displays TVL, allocations, and relationships between curators, vaults, operators, and networks. To make your entity visible on the UI, submit its metadata to the corresponding repository.
- [Mainnet](/integrate/deployments/mainnet): Core commit: [3b6add23921d89dc364458b94e1c35bfb6736e27](https://github.com/symbioticfi/core/tree/3b6add23921d89dc364458b94e1c35bfb6736e27)
- [Testnet](/integrate/deployments/testnet): Core commit: [3b6add23921d89dc364458b94e1c35bfb6736e27](https://github.com/symbioticfi/core/tree/3b6add23921d89dc364458b94e1c35bfb6736e27)
- [Deploy Vault](/integrate/curators/deploy-vault): Symbiotic is a highly modular protocol with many separate parts and more coming in the future. This guide describes possible vault deployment configurations.
- [Helpful Core Contracts' Endpoints](/integrate/curators/helpful-core-contracts-endpoints): This page lists useful functions for curators across Symbiotic Core contracts.
- [Get Started](/integrate/curators): This guide walks you through the curator lifecycle in Symbiotic. You'll deploy a vault, manage allocations, and earn fees from managing depositors' funds.
- [Manage Allocations](/integrate/curators/manage-allocations): As a curator, you perform two actions:
- [Submit Metadata](/integrate/curators/submit-metadata): The [Symbiotic UI](https://app.symbiotic.fi/deposit) displays TVL, allocations, and relationships between curators, vaults, operators, and networks. To make your entity visible on the UI, submit its metadata to the corresponding repository.
- [Vault Wrapping](/integrate/curators/vault-wrapping): Sometimes, due to design choices for security guarantees or interaction flow optimization, you can't implement your ideas in a standard way. In these cases, you can wrap the Symbiotic Vault for deposits, slashing, opt-ins, etc. This page presents example cases:
- [ABIs And Bindings](/integrate/builders-researchers/abis-and-bindings)
- [AI Resources](/integrate/builders-researchers/ai-resources)
- [APIs](/integrate/builders-researchers/apis)
- [Events](/integrate/builders-researchers/events): This page provides a complete overview of event handling and math across the Symbiotic system.
- [Hints](/integrate/builders-researchers/hints): Symbiotic core contracts simplify integration for networks and products with different stake utilization goals. One key simplification is flexibility to operate in a time flow independent of Symbiotic contract mechanics. This is achieved by enabling retrieval of any stake calculation data at any point.
- [Get Started](/integrate/builders-researchers): Build applications on top of Symbiotic and access protocol data. Use these resources to integrate Symbiotic into your project.
- [Shared security for Proof of Stake Networks](/get-started): Symbiotic is a modular shared security protocol that turns stake into a flexible marketplace for economic security, while Relay extends it into a universal verification layer so any protocol can inherit stake-backed security, define custom slashing and rewards, and verify outcomes across chains without bootstrapping its own validator set.
- [Relay SDK](/get-started/what/relay): The Symbiotic Relay SDK is the trust layer for data and computation.
- [Bridges and Cross-chain Messaging](/get-started/use-cases/bridges-cross-chain-messaging): Cross chain protocols typically run isolated validator sets or oracle committees per route, which is expensive, slow, and does not scale. Costs grow with validator count, so verifying hundreds of operators on the EVM becomes prohibitive, while committee signatures and relayer hops add latency.
- [Chain Agnostic Applications](/get-started/use-cases/chain-agnostic-applications): Appchains often spin up bespoke validator sets, multisigs or custom messaging paths per use case (governance messages, bridges, feeds). Each new route brings another committee, relayer and audit. Latency creeps in through off chain hops, costs grow with validator counts, and security fragments across custom trust assumptions. Native finality and slashing exist, but slashing paths for cross chain outcomes are typically indirect or out of band, and every extra chain or pairing demands new glue code and operations.
- [Decentralized Compute and AI Verification](/get-started/use-cases/decentralized-compute-ai-verification): Decentralized compute today is **costly, brittle, and easy to game**. Most systems rely on ad-hoc coordinators, TEEs, or multisig committees that don’t provide chain-agnostic, slashing-enforced guarantees. Notable shortcomings include:
- [General Attestation Layers](/get-started/use-cases/general-attestation-layers): Off-chain agents and many L2 systems do not have a native trust layer. You cannot easily prove that a check was performed, a condition held true, or a message is safe to act on. Current approaches are permissioned, costly to extend, and lack clear economic guarantees or dispute paths.
- [Use Cases](/get-started/use-cases): Symbiotic's shared security and Relay attestation layer enable a wide range of protocols. Explore a few high-impact patterns below.
- [Insurance and Guarantees](/get-started/use-cases/insurance-and-guarantees): Insurance is one of the oldest and most powerful financial primitives, yet in crypto it remains fragmented, capital inefficient, and difficult to scale.
- [Liquidity Management](/get-started/use-cases/liquidity-management): Overcollateralized designs trap capital and do not scale. Many eligible assets, especially RWAs, are illiquid or settle slowly, so redemptions either take a haircut through discounts and slippage or require waiting through withdrawal periods.
- [Oracle Networks and Data Feeds](/get-started/use-cases/oracle-networks-data-feeds): Most oracle systems are rigid and permissioned, with fixed committees and bespoke integrations per chain. Expanding coverage is expensive, updates can be slow or stale, and manipulation risk remains due to weak incentives, limited slashing, MEV at publication time, and unclear dispute processes. Portability across chains is poor and auditability is fragmented.
- [Addresses](/get-started/resources/addresses): A comprehensive list of Symbiotic official smart contract deployments.
- [Audits - Security Reviews](/get-started/resources/audits)
- [Risks](/get-started/resources/risks): The following document contains a list of notes how to make the overall operation process safer for everyone.
- [Developers Hub](/get-started/developers/developers-hub)
- [Relay Quickstart](/get-started/developers/relay-quickstart): Symbiotic Super Sum spins up a relay network that runs simple sum computations. Schedule a job
on any supported chain and the result is posted to every supported destination chain.