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Learn the OP Stack — stop 1 of 14. This is the start of the track; nothing is assumed beyond general familiarity with Ethereum. This page gives you the mental model: what the OP Stack is and what it powers. When you’re done, continue to OP Stack architecture.
The OP Stack is the standardized, shared, and open-source development stack that powers Optimism and makes it possible to run a production Layer 2 blockchain. It is not a single program. It is a set of components that together produce a chain whose entire history is published to Ethereum, so that anyone can reconstruct and check it.

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What the OP Stack gives you

An OP Stack chain is a rollup: it executes transactions on its own network and publishes the data for those transactions to a parent chain, usually Ethereum. Because the data is published, the chain can be rebuilt by anyone from the parent chain alone, and Ethereum can be convinced of the chain’s state well enough to release funds back out of it. That arrangement is what produces the properties chains are built on it for:
  • EVM equivalence. Existing Ethereum contracts and tooling work without modification. The small set of deliberate deviations is documented in Differences from Ethereum.
  • Costs far below Ethereum’s. Transactions are executed on L2 and only their compressed data reaches L1. See Transaction fees.
  • Fast confirmations, backed by Ethereum finality. Blocks arrive in seconds; irreversibility follows once the data is finalized on Ethereum. See Transaction finality.
  • Modularity. Data availability, sequencing, and settlement are separate layers, so a chain can change one without rebuilding the rest.

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What it powers

The OP Stack runs OP Mainnet and many other production chains, many of which adhere to a standard configuration, contracts, and upgrade process. This shared standard is what makes a common toolchain and native OP Stack cross-chain interoperability possible.

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Where to go next

If you are working through the learning track, continue in order. Otherwise, pick the path that matches what you are doing:

Understand how it works

The system view: the components, who runs each, and how a transaction moves through them

Build applications

Build on OP Mainnet or any other OP Stack chain

Deploy a chain

Launch and operate your own OP Stack chain

Run a node

Operate infrastructure by running your own OP Stack node
The OP Stack is continuously evolving. The OP Stack specifications are the normative definition of protocol behavior, and the Optimism Blog covers new work as it ships.

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Ready to build your chain?

Launching a chain for your organization?

Compare running the stack yourself with OP Enterprise’s managed and supported options. Either way, these docs are the reference for what your chain runs.