Protocol 20 Upgrade Guide

This guide is designed to help developers and businesses building on the Stellar network prepare for the network upgrade to Protocol 20, which introduces support for Soroban smart contracts.

It's by far the biggest, most complex protocol upgrade to date, and so while the basic instructions to prepare are the same as ever — install up-to-date versions of any Stellar-related software you use! — the process will take a few extra steps and play out a bit slower than usual.

The Testnet successfully upgraded Wednesday, September 20 at 1500 UTC to release candidate versions of Stellar Core and Horizon. Mainnet validators will likely schedule an upgrade vote date for 6 weeks after stable releases come out, and as soon as that happens, we will update this doc to include it.

Because the Protocol 20 upgrade introduces new network settings that validators control, it is also likely that the initial upgrade vote will be followed by a series of additional votes to adjust those settings, and when there is a timeline for those votes, we will also add them to this doc. In general, we will keep this doc up to date as new information comes in, and as new releases come out.

To stay informed, ask questions, make suggestions, or share intel, make sure to join the Stellar Developer Discord and check out the #protocol-20 channel, which is where the ecosystem is coordinating and sharing information about the upgrade.