--- eip: 7718 title: Portal Wire Protocol a framework for discv5 description: A generic framework over discv5 which allows new overlay protocols to be built without reimplementing DHT primitives author: Kolby ML (@KolbyML) discussions-to: https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/eip-7718-portal-wire-protocol-a-framework-for-discv5/20230 status: Draft type: Standards Track category: Networking created: 2024-06-06 --- ## Abstract Discv5 is an extensible protocol which allows building new protocols on top of it. We propose a generic framework for building new distributed hash table (DHT) networks on top of Discv5 referred to as the _Portal Wire Protocol_ ## Motivation Discv5 is implemented in many languages, has built in packet encryption, used by consensus clients, and allows building sub-protocols using its _TalkRequest_ message type. With the ubiquity of Discv5 in Ethereum and it being implemented in many languages, building new protocols using Discv5 as a base is beneficial as it enables quicker implementation times, stability as Discv5 is already used in production, as well as inheriting improvements and optimizations discovered by Discv5. When building new DHT sub-protocols on Discv5, new sub-protocols often share the same primitive message types. By defining the framework _Portal Wire Protocol_, new networks can be built without re-implementing the DHT primitives reducing the development time and inheriting the performance optimizations of the base _Portal Wire Protocol_ implementation. ## Specification Specification of the _Portal Wire Protocol_ are on [/ethereum/portal-network-specs](https://github.com/ethereum/portal-network-specs/blob/4ce803e90a24becc9f76e7c18dc188ccf84e9f8e/portal-wire-protocol.md). ## Rationale Reducing the amount of duplicate code for primitive DHT functions, to enable cleaner and quicker development of sub-protocols over Discv5 TBD ## Security Considerations Needs discussion. ## Copyright Copyright and related rights waived via [CC0](../LICENSE.md).