Basic Hydra Head
🛠️ This document is a work in progress
This document explains the deployment architecture of a basic Hydra Head. It serves as a reference to other topologies discussed in this chapter and is schematically depicted below:
The basic setup of a Hydra Head consists of several hydra-node
s, each connected to the Cardano network through a (not pictured) cardano-node
. A Hydra client (like the hydra-tui
) would connect, usually via a local connection, to a hydra-node
to open a Hydra Head using an off-chain network. The picture shows two Hydra Heads (blue and green) opened between two distinct sets of hydra-node
s, where the lines indicate Hydra network connections and circles represent a Hydra Head state and credentials - summarized by a socalled Hydra Head Party.
Not shown in the picture are multiple, logical Hydra Heads being open in the same hydra-node
, which is very likely something we will support eventually and allow for re-using network connections between hydra-node
processes.
Each head, the blue or green one, can progress independently and requires a signature of all the respective Hydra Parties of each head. That is, 2 signatures in the green Head and 4 signatures in the blue Head.