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Public preview: What to expect

BOLD, Arbitrum's new dispute protocol, is currently tagged as an alpha release supported by public preview documentation. This concept document explains what "public preview" means, what to expect from public preview capabilities, and how to engage with our team as you tinker.

How products are developed at Offchain Labs​

Offchain Labs builds products in a way that aligns loosely with the spirit of "building in public". We like to release things early and often so that we can capture feedback and iterate in service of your needs, as empirically as possible.

To do this, some of our product offerings are documented with public preview disclaimers that look like this:

ALPHA RELEASE, PUBLIC PREVIEW DOCS

The BOLD dispute protocol is currently deployed on a public testnet (that posts assertions to Ethereum Sepolia) and is tagged as an alpha release. The code has been audited by Trail of Bits and in a public audit competition with Code4rena, but should not be used in production scenarios. Please note that the public testnet is intended for Arbitrum users and researchers to test and experiment with the BOLD dispute protocol for the purposes of education and hardening the protocol via the surfacing of bugs. The public testnet may be paused, and its parameters may be updated at any time in response to scenarios that impact the network and its ability to fulfill its function as a working, reliable test environment. This documentation is currently in public preview.

To provide feedback, click the Request an update button at the top of this document, join the Arbitrum Discord, or reach out to our team directly by completing this form.

This banner's purpose is to set expectations while inviting readers like you to express your needs so that we can incorporate them into the way that we iterate on product.

What to expect when using public preview offerings​

As you tinker and provide feedback, we'll be listening. Sometimes, we'll learn something non-obvious that will result in a significant change. More commonly, you'll experience incremental improvements to the developer experience as the offering grows out of its public preview status, towards stable status.

Public preview offerings are evolving rapidly, so don't expect the degree of release notes discipline that you'd expect from a stable offering. Keep your eyes open for notifications regarding patch, minor, and major changes, along with corresponding relnotes that highlight breaking changes and new capabilities.

How to provide feedback​

Our product team primarily uses three feedback channels while iterating on public preview capabilities:

  1. Docs: Click on the Request an update button located in the top-right corner of any document to provide feedback on the docs and/or developer experience. This will lead you to a prefilled Github issue that members of our product team periodically review.
  2. Discord: Join the Arbitrum Discord to engage with members of the Arbitrum community and product team.
  3. Google form: Complete this form to ask for support.

What to expect when providing feedback​

Our ability to respond to feedback is determined by our ever-evolving capacity and priorities. We can't guarantee responses to all feedback submissions, but our small-but-mighty team is listening, and we'll try our best to acknowledge and respond to your feedback. No guarantees though!

PS, our small-but-mighty team is hiring.

Thank you!​

Thanks for helping us build things that meet your needs! We're excited to engage with OGs and newcomers alike; please don't hesitate to reach out.