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Nemo: Lean Ethereum Beacon Explorer

A lightweight slot/block explorer for the Lean Ethereum consensus chain, inspired by Dora the Explorer (ethpandaops/dora).

Goals

  • Explore consensus data: slots, blocks, fork choice tree, checkpoints, validators—no execution layer.
  • Lightweight: no mandatory external DB; can run against a single leanSpec node API.
  • Zig backend: single binary, low footprint, good fit for tooling alongside the Zig ecosystem (zeam, leanpoint, etc.).

Relationship to leanSpec

  • leanSpec (Python) is the source of truth: it runs the consensus node, maintains the fork choice store, and exposes a minimal HTTP API on port 5052.
  • Nemo is a separate service that consumes that API and presents a human-friendly explorer UI (and optionally caches or enriches data).

We do not reimplement consensus in Zig; we talk to the existing leanSpec API.

Inspiration: Dora

Dora is a lightweight beacon explorer that:

  • Loads most data directly from a standard beacon node API (no Bigtable-style DB required).
  • Can run in-memory only; PostgreSQL is optional for performance.
  • Focuses on beacon/slot/validator exploration rather than execution transactions.

Nemo follows the same idea for the Lean chain: one config (the leanSpec API base URL), minimal dependencies, and an optional cache/DB layer for speed.

Why Zig for the Backend?

  • Single binary: easy deploy alongside lean-quickstart devnets (e.g. next to zeam/leanspec containers).
  • No runtime: no Python/Node on the explorer host if we want to ship only the explorer binary.
  • Ecosystem fit: same language as zeam, leanpoint, and other Zig tooling in the Lean stack.
  • Performance: efficient HTTP client and JSON handling for proxying and optional aggregation.

The frontend can remain HTML/CSS/JS (static or with minimal templating) served by the Zig server—same as Dora’s approach with Go + templates + static assets.

Out of Scope (for now)

  • Execution layer blocks/transactions (Lean consensus only).
  • Validator key management or signing.
  • Running the consensus node itself (that stays in leanSpec).

Next Steps