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What is fuel-specs?

fuellabs/fuel-specs — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

1,785Audience · researcherComplexity · 3/5Setup · easy

In one sentence

A documentation repository specifying the rules of the Fuel blockchain protocol and its FuelVM virtual machine, not runnable software.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((fuel-specs))
    What it does
      Protocol rules
      FuelVM behavior
      Not runnable code
    Tech stack
      mdbook
      Rust
      Markdown
    Use cases
      Implement Fuel client
      Audit compliance
      Read spec as book
    Audience
      Protocol developers
      Researchers
      Blockchain engineers

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Look up exactly how the FuelVM is supposed to execute transactions and instructions.

USE CASE 2

Reference the spec when implementing or auditing a Fuel protocol client.

USE CASE 3

Build and browse the specifications locally as a readable mdbook website.

What is it built with?

mdbookRustMarkdown

How does it compare?

fuellabs/fuel-specsoctoday-hub/embodied-aitrekhleb/machine-learning-experiments
Stars1,7851,8031,810
LanguageJupyter Notebook
Last pushed2026-06-25
MaintenanceActive
Setup difficultyeasyeasymoderate
Complexity3/51/53/5
Audienceresearchergeneralresearcher

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Requires installing mdbook via cargo to build or serve the docs locally.

So what is it?

This repository contains the technical specifications for the Fuel protocol and the FuelVM, which is a virtual machine designed for blockchain use. A blockchain virtual machine is a computing environment that processes transactions and runs programs in a way that can be verified by many independent parties. Fuel positions itself as a fast and scalable version of this kind of system. The specifications here are written documentation, not runnable software. They describe the rules and behaviors that any correct implementation of Fuel must follow: how transactions are structured, how the virtual machine executes instructions, and how the protocol fits together. Developers building on top of Fuel or implementing parts of it would refer to these specs to understand exactly what is required. The documentation is organized as a book using a tool called mdbook, which turns Markdown files into a readable website. You can build and browse the book locally by installing mdbook and running a single command. The README is short and does not go into the content of the specifications themselves.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Explain what the Fuel protocol and FuelVM are based on these specifications.
Prompt 2
Walk me through installing mdbook and building the Fuel specs book locally.
Prompt 3
Summarize how the FuelVM is supposed to structure and execute transactions.
Prompt 4
What would I need to check to make sure my code follows this Fuel specification?

Frequently asked questions

What is fuel-specs?

A documentation repository specifying the rules of the Fuel blockchain protocol and its FuelVM virtual machine, not runnable software.

How hard is fuel-specs to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is fuel-specs for?

Mainly researcher.

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