Chapter 3

The data protocols, explained simply

The Flare networks include a set of built-in systems for delivering and verifying information. You'll meet these names often — here's what they actually mean.

FTSO — Flare Time Series Oracle

A decentralised system for delivering regularly-updated data series to applications. Many independent contributors submit information, and the system combines their inputs into a single, resilient result — without depending on one central source. The word "time series" simply means data that updates over time.

FDC — Flare Data Connector

A mechanism that lets applications confirm that a specific event happened on another system. It's the networks' way of answering "can we prove this is true?" in a decentralised manner, so an application can react to outside events with confidence.

State & attestation

Techniques for reliably recreating the state of one system inside another, verified by many participants rather than trusted blindly. An "attestation" is simply a statement, backed by many, that something is true — a cornerstone of interoperability.

Enshrined data protocols

These data services are built directly into the base layer of the networks, rather than added on afterwards. "Enshrined" means part of the foundations — a design choice intended to make the services more secure and dependable.

How they fit together

Think of these protocols as a toolkit for a single goal: getting trustworthy information to the applications that need it. The FTSO handles data that changes continuously. The FDC handles one-off confirmations that a particular event occurred. Attestation is the underlying idea of "many participants vouch for this" that makes both trustworthy. And "enshrined" describes where they live — woven into the platform itself.

A worked example (conceptual)

Imagine an application that needs to know a regularly-changing figure from the outside world. Rather than asking one website (which could be wrong or offline), it relies on the FTSO: dozens of independent participants each report the figure, and the protocol blends their reports into one number that's hard to manipulate. If instead the application needs a yes/no confirmation that a specific event happened elsewhere, the FDC provides that — again backed by many independent checks.

You don't have to memorise the acronyms. Just remember the pattern: continuous data → FTSO; one-off proof of an event → FDC; both made trustworthy by attestation.

Next: the developer's view

Curious how engineers actually build on all this — and how you could start studying it? That's next.

Continue to "For developers"