---
SWIP: <to be assigned>
title: <SWIP title>
author: <a list of the author's or authors' name(s) and/or username(s), or name(s) and email(s), e.g. (use with the parentheses or triangular brackets): FirstName LastName (@GitHubUsername), FirstName LastName <foo@bar.com>, FirstName (@GitHubUsername) and GitHubUsername (@GitHubUsername)>
discussions-to: <URL>
status: Draft
type: <Standards Track (Core, Networking, Interface) | Meta | Informational>
category (*only required for Standard Track): <Core | Networking | Interface | ERC>
created: <date created on, in ISO 8601 (yyyy-mm-dd) format>
requires (*optional): <SWIP number(s)>
replaces (*optional): <SWIP number(s)>
---
This is the suggested template for new SWIPs.
Note that a SWIP number will be assigned by an editor. When opening a pull request to submit your SWIP, please use an abbreviated title in the filename, SWIP-draft_title_abbrev.md.
The title should be 44 characters or less.
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Provide a simplified and layman-accessible explanation of the SWIP.
A short (~200 word) description of the technical issue being addressed.
The motivation is critical for SWIPs that want to change the Swarm protocol. It should clearly explain why the existing protocol specification is inadequate to address the problem that the SWIP solves. SWIP submissions without sufficient motivation may be rejected outright.
The technical specification should describe the syntax and semantics of any new feature. The specification should be detailed enough to allow competing, interoperable implementations for the current Swarm platform and future client implementations.
The rationale fleshes out the specification by describing what motivated the design and why particular design decisions were made. It should describe alternate designs that were considered and related work, e.g. how the feature is supported in other languages. The rationale may also provide evidence of consensus within the community, and should discuss important objections or concerns raised during discussion.
All SWIPs that introduce backwards incompatibilities must include a section describing these incompatibilities and their severity. The SWIP must explain how the author proposes to deal with these incompatibilities. SWIP submissions without a sufficient backwards compatibility treatise may be rejected outright.
Test cases for an implementation are mandatory for SWIPs that are affecting changes to data and message formats. Other SWIPs can choose to include links to test cases if applicable.
The implementations must be completed before any SWIP is given status "Final", but it need not be completed before the SWIP is accepted. While there is merit to the approach of reaching consensus on the specification and rationale before writing code, the principle of "rough consensus and running code" is still useful when it comes to resolving many discussions of API details.
Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.