Introduction
0x Mesh
0x Mesh is a peer-to-peer network for sharing orders that adhere to the 0x order message format.
Project status
We have reached the point where Mesh is being used by some teams in production. We feel that for many use cases, Mesh is stable enough for production. However, we caution that there are some issues and shortcomings in its current state, which generally fall into two categories:
Order sharing: Mesh uses a significant amount of bandwidth for it's current order sharing algorithm and we intend on improving its efficiency by an order of magnitude. Until then, we advise you host your node on Digital Ocean where it's hosting costs are cheaper (~$25 mo). We also know that orders are not propagating through the network as quickly as we would like. We have a lot of ideas for how to optimize order propagation speed in the future and there should be major improvements coming soon. See #594, #551, and #638.
Browser usage: Mesh can run directly in the browser via the @0x/mesh-browser package. We have supported this for a while and have examples and integration tests in this repository. While the basic functionality is working, there are still some important missing features and issues to address before
@0x/mesh-browser
is feasible for most production use cases.
Overview
0x Mesh has a lot of different use cases for different categories of users:
Relayers can use Mesh to share orders with one another and to receive orders
from market makers. This allows them to increase the depth of their order
books and provide a better user experience.
Market makers can use Mesh to reach a broader audience. Their orders will be
sent throughout the network and picked up by many trading venues and are therefore more likely to be filled.
Mesh allows for a new type of relayer called a "serverless relayer". In the
serverless relayer model, each user runs Mesh in their browser and there is
no backend server or database. Instead, peers share orders directly with one
another. (There are pros and cons to this approach and it is probably not
suitable for all markets).
Both Relayers and Market makers can use Mesh to watch a set of 0x orders for changes in fillability (e.g., cancellations, fills, expirations, etc...).
0x Mesh is intended to be entirely automatic. It takes care of all the work of receiving, sharing, and validating orders so that you can focus on building your application. When you run a 0x Mesh node, it will automatically discover peers in the network and begin receiving orders from and sending orders to them. You do not need to know the identities (e.g., IP address or domain name) of any peers in the network ahead of time and they do not need to know about you.
Developers can use the JSON-RPC API to interact with a Mesh node that they control. The API allows you to send orders into the network, receive any new orders, and get notified when the status of an existing order changes (e.g. when it is filled, canceled, or expired). Under the hood, Mesh performs efficient order validation and order book pruning, which takes out a lot of the hard work for developers.
Documentation
You can find documentation and guides for 0x Mesh at https://0x-org.gitbook.io/mesh.
Development
We love receiving contributions from the community :smile: If you are interested in helping develop 0x Mesh, please read the Development Guide. If you are looking for a place to start, take a look at the issues page and don't hesitate to reach out to us on Discord.
Additional Background
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