Building an Amendment I
Implementing and Testing Custom Amendments
This module explores the sophisticated amendment system that enables XRPL to evolve without hard forks: from proposal through distributed voting to coordinated activation, and the profound impact amendments have on protocol consensus, transaction validation, and network coordination.
Module overview
Building on the amendment fundamentals from Consensus II, you will dive deep into the complete architecture of the amendment system, understanding how XRPL achieves protocol evolution through democratic validator consensus while maintaining network integrity and backward compatibility.
In this module
These advanced amendment mechanisms enable XRPL to provide:
- Decentralized protocol governance through validator voting
- Safe, coordinated upgrades without network disruption
- Automatic activation after stability periods
- Amendment blocking for node protection
- Irreversible protocol changes once activated
- Network-wide synchronization during transitions
Learning objectives
Amendment Architecture
Understand AmendmentTable, AmendmentState, feature registry, and how the amendment system integrates with the consensus engine.
Amendment Lifecycle
Trace the complete journey from proposal through voting, majority, activation, to enablement using Subscriptions (XLS-0078) as a concrete example.
Voting and Activation
Learn validator voting mechanics, threshold calculations (>80%), TrustedVotes aggregation, and automatic EnableAmendment pseudo-transaction generation.
Core Protocol Impact
Explore how activated amendments modify consensus rules, transaction validation, ledger structures, and the critical distinction between supported vs unsupported amendments.
Network Coordination
Discover deployment strategies, validator communication, staged rollouts, emergency procedures, and how exchanges and developers coordinate during activation.
Monitoring and Tools
Master the feature RPC command, ETA calculations, ledger explorers, automated monitoring, and dashboard creation for tracking amendment progression.
