Concepts Overview

This section introduces the mental model behind aztec-rs. Read it before the Architecture chapters if you are new to Aztec.

Context

Aztec is a privacy-first L2 with a client-side prover model. Private state lives in notes, held by users, and is consumed inside a PXE (Private Execution Environment) that runs locally. Public state lives on the rollup and is accessed via the node.

aztec-rs packages the client-side runtime — PXE, wallet, accounts, contract tooling — as a Rust workspace.

Design

aztec-rs is organized around three boundaries:

1. Client runtime — the PXE runs in-process and owns private state.
2. Wallet/account layer — builds authenticated transactions on top of PXE and an account provider.
3. Node / L1 clients — thin transport crates that speak JSON-RPC to an Aztec node and HTTP/RPC to Ethereum.

Key Topics

• Terminology — shared vocabulary.
• PXE — how private execution happens locally.
• Accounts & Wallets — account abstraction flavors and entrypoints.
• Contracts — artifacts, private/public/utility functions.
• Fees — payment methods and fee juice.
• Cross-Chain Messaging — L1 ↔ L2 messaging.

References

• Aztec protocol docs
• Aztec Packages monorepo