The Nexus zkVM

The Nexus zkVM is a modular, extensible, open-source, and highly-parallelized zkVM, designed to run at a trillion CPU cycles proved per second given enough machine power.

Folding schemes

If you're interested in our implementation of folding schemes, check the nexus-nova crate.

Quick Start

1. Install the Nexus zkVM

First, install Rust: https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install.

Also, make sure you have a working version of cmake.

Note: cmake is a required dependency.

Next, install the RISC-V target:

rustup target add riscv32i-unknown-none-elf

Then, install the Nexus zkVM:

cargo install --git https://github.com/nexus-xyz/nexus-zkvm cargo-nexus --tag 'v0.2.4'

Verify the installation:

cargo nexus --help

This should print the available CLI commands.

2. Create a new Nexus project

cargo nexus new nexus-project

And change directory to the new project:

cd nexus-project

This will create a new Rust project directory with the following structure:

./nexus-project
├── Cargo.lock
├── Cargo.toml
└── src
    └── main.rs

As an example, you can change the content of ./src/main.rs to:

#![cfg_attr(target_arch = "riscv32", no_std, no_main)]
 
use nexus_rt::write_log;
 
#[nexus_rt::main]
fn main() {
    write_log("Hello, World!\n");
}

3. Run your program

cargo nexus run

You should see the program print:

"Hello, World!"

This command should run successfully. To print the full step-by-step execution trace on the NVM, run:

cargo nexus run -v

4. Prove your program

Generate a proof for your Rust program using the Nexus zkVM.

cargo nexus prove

This command will save the proof to ./nexus-proof.

5. Verify your proof

Finally, load and verify the proof:

cargo nexus verify

You should see the program print "Verifying Proof..." and finally "Finished" when complete.

Learn More

Run cargo nexus --help to see all the available commands.

Also check out the documentation at docs.nexus.xyz, or join our Telegram chat to discuss!

Nexus is committed to open-source. All of our code is dual licensed under MIT and Apache licenses. We encourage and appreciate contributions.