> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.monad.xyz/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> Monad is a Layer-1 blockchain delivering high performance, true decentralization, and EVM compatibility.

<Note>
  **Quick hits**

  * [Network Information](/developer-essentials/network-information)
  * [Deployment Summary for Developers](/developer-essentials/summary)
</Note>

Monad is a Layer-1 blockchain delivering high performance, true decentralization, and EVM
compatibility.

Monad's north star is making decentralization more powerful, and eliminating the perceived
tradeoff between decentralization and performance.

Monad supports a large globally distributed network
(see the [validator map](https://www.gmonads.com/)), with intentionally minimal
[hardware requirements](/node-ops/hardware-requirements) so that anyone may run a node.
Performance comes from software architecture improvements rather than reliance on heavy hardware
or node colocation.

Monad's codebase is fully open source ([consensus](https://github.com/category-labs/monad-bft),
[execution](https://github.com/category-labs/monad)) and is built for extreme performance in
C++ and rust.

Monad introduces novel architectures in five major areas:

* [MonadBFT](/monad-arch/consensus/monad-bft), a frontier BFT consensus mechanism solving the
  [tail-forking](https://www.category.xyz/blogs/monadbft-fast-responsive-fork-resistant-streamlined-consensus) problem
* [RaptorCast](/monad-arch/consensus/raptorcast) for efficient block transmission
* [Asynchronous Execution](/monad-arch/consensus/asynchronous-execution) for pipelining
  consensus and execution to raise the time budget for execution
* [Parallel Execution](/monad-arch/execution/parallel-execution) and [JIT Compilation](/monad-arch/execution/native-compilation) for efficient transaction
  execution
* [MonadDb](/monad-arch/execution/monaddb) for efficient storage of Ethereum state

Monad's improvements address existing bottlenecks while preserving seamless compatibility for
application developers (full EVM bytecode compatibility) and users (Ethereum
[RPC API](/reference/json-rpc) compatibility).

The result is an Ethereum-compatible Layer-1 blockchain with 10,000 tps of throughput,
400ms block frequency, and 800ms finality.

Select a level of detail by visiting either [Monad for Users](/introduction/monad-for-users) or
[Monad for Developers](/introduction/monad-for-developers).

## Deploying on Monad

See [Deployment Summary for Developers](/developer-essentials/summary) for everything you need to
know as a developer deploying on Monad.

Monad features first-class support for many leading Ethereum developer tools and infra providers.
See [Tooling and Infrastructure](/tooling-and-infra) for a summary.

## Architecture

Monad is designed with a focus on performance and scalability with commodity hardware.
The subsequent pages survey the major [architectural changes](/monad-arch) in Monad as well as the
interface for users.

The first Monad client is built by
[Category Labs](https://www.category.xyz) and is written from scratch in C++ and Rust.

[`monad-bft`](https://github.com/category-labs/monad-bft), Category Labs's implementation of
a Monad consensus client, and
[`monad`](https://github.com/category-labs/monad), Category Labs's implementation of a Monad
execution client, are both open-source under `GPL-3.0`.

## Mainnet

Public mainnet launched on Nov 24, 2025.

See [Network Information](/developer-essentials/network-information) for access, or check out the
[MonadVision](https://monadvision.com/) block explorer, the [gmonads.com](https://gmonads.com)
network visualization, or [app.monad.xyz](https://app.monad.xyz).