Welcome to the Bittensor Improvement Tenets (BITs) repository. This repository serves as the central location for submitting, discussing, and tracking proposals for changes and improvements to the Bittensor protocol.
A Bittensor Improvement Tenet (BIT) is a technical design document providing information to the Bittensor community or describing new features for the Bittensor protocol and surrounding ecosystem. A BIT should provide a convincing rationale for and a concise technical specification of any underlying features described in the BIT. BITs are intended to be the primary mechanism for proposing new features and changes, collecting community input on an issue, and documenting design decisions that impact the protocol.
BITs are classified into the following categories:
- Core: Proposals that impact the core Bittensor protocol and consensus rules.
- Subtensor: Proposals that relate to the Subtensor blockchain and related functionality.
- Networking: Proposals related to networking protocols, node interactions, or networking infrastructure.
- Interface: Proposals related to API, CLI, or user interface improvements.
- Meta: Proposals about processes or changes to the BITs system itself.
- Informational: Proposals that provide general guidelines or information to the Bittensor community but do not propose a new feature.
BITs pass through several stages before it becomes final:
- Draft: The initial state of a BIT when submitted as a pull request. In this stage, the BIT is open for discussion and feedback.
- Review: The BIT has passed the initial review and is now under formal review by the BIT editors and the community.
- Last Call: The BIT is nearing finalization and has a set period for final comments and objections.
- Final: The BIT is considered complete and implemented (or ready for implementation).
- Stagnant: The BIT has not been updated for a significant period or lacks consensus, so it is no longer considered active.
- Withdrawn: The author of the BIT has decided to withdraw the proposal.
- Living: The BIT is a living document that is continually updated with new information (e.g., coding standards or best practices).
- Fork this repository.
- Create a new file in the
bits/directory namedBIT-XXXX.md, whereXXXXis the next available BIT number. You can use the BIT tenet as a starting point. - Fill in the tenet with your proposal details.
- Submit a pull request with your new BIT. The title should be "BIT-XXXX: [Title]" where
XXXXis your BIT number. - Engage in the discussion: Address any feedback from the community and BIT editors during the review process.
BITs are assigned numbers in the order they are proposed. The number 0000 is reserved for the
BIT tenet. Once a BIT is accepted and merged, its number is locked and cannot be changed.
- Author: The person who wrote and is responsible for the BIT.
- Editor: A member of the community who is responsible for ensuring that BITs are clear, concise, and meet the repository's standards. Editors do not make decisions about BIT approval but facilitate the process.
- Reviewer: Any community member who reviews and provides feedback on BITs during the Draft and Review stages.
A discussion forum is provided at https://github.com/opentensor/bits/discussions for discussing preliminary ideas and collecting informal feedback before submitting a BIT.
BITs serve as the primary mechanism for proposing new features or changes to the Bittensor protocol, fostering open-source development, transparency, and structured decision-making.
BITs are approved through community consensus during the Review and Last Call stages. Editors facilitate the process but do not unilaterally approve BITs.
Once BITs are finalized, they are generally considered complete. However, living BITs are an exception and can be updated regularly.
This repository and all BITs are licensed under The Unlicense.
This repository is a work in progress, and we welcome your contributions and feedback to improve the BITs process.