Committee Operations

The Constitutional Committee is a group of members who verify that governance actions are consistent with the constitution. Committee operations use a cold/hot credential model to keep the primary signing key secure while allowing routine voting.

What Committee Members Do

Constitutional Committee members review governance proposals and vote on whether each one is constitutional. Their votes are required alongside DRep and SPO votes for most governance actions to pass. The committee does not propose actions itself — it acts as a constitutional check on proposals submitted by others.

Cold vs Hot Credentials

	Cold Credential	Hot Credential
Purpose	Identifies the committee member on-chain	Used for day-to-day voting
Storage	Kept offline or in secure hardware	Available on a signing machine
Usage	Authorize/revoke hot credentials, resign	Cast votes on governance actions
Exposure	Rarely used, minimal attack surface	Regularly used, higher exposure
If compromised	Committee seat is at risk	Revoke and authorize a new hot credential

warning

The cold credential controls the committee seat. If it is compromised, the only recourse is resignation. Keep it in cold storage or a hardware security module.

Authorize a Hot Credential

import { Credential, preprod, Client } from "@evolution-sdk/evolution"

const client = Client.make(preprod)
  .withBlockfrost({
    baseUrl: "https://cardano-preprod.blockfrost.io/api/v0",
    projectId: process.env.BLOCKFROST_API_KEY!
  })
  .withSeed({ mnemonic: process.env.WALLET_MNEMONIC!, accountIndex: 0 })

declare const coldCredential: Credential.Credential
declare const hotCredential: Credential.Credential

const tx = await client
  .newTx()
  .authCommitteeHot({ coldCredential, hotCredential })
  .build()

const signed = await tx.sign()
await signed.submit()

You can re-authorize a different hot credential at any time by submitting a new authCommitteeHot transaction. The previous hot credential is automatically revoked.

Resign from Committee

import { Anchor, Credential, preprod, Client } from "@evolution-sdk/evolution"

const client = Client.make(preprod)
  .withBlockfrost({
    baseUrl: "https://cardano-preprod.blockfrost.io/api/v0",
    projectId: process.env.BLOCKFROST_API_KEY!
  })
  .withSeed({ mnemonic: process.env.WALLET_MNEMONIC!, accountIndex: 0 })

declare const coldCredential: Credential.Credential
declare const anchor: Anchor.Anchor

const tx = await client
  .newTx()
  .resignCommitteeCold({ coldCredential, anchor })
  .build()

const signed = await tx.sign()
await signed.submit()

Resignation takes effect immediately. Once resigned, the cold credential can no longer authorize hot credentials or participate in governance.

Script-Controlled Committee

import { Credential, Data, preprod, Client } from "@evolution-sdk/evolution"

const client = Client.make(preprod)
  .withBlockfrost({
    baseUrl: "https://cardano-preprod.blockfrost.io/api/v0",
    projectId: process.env.BLOCKFROST_API_KEY!
  })
  .withSeed({ mnemonic: process.env.WALLET_MNEMONIC!, accountIndex: 0 })

declare const coldCredential: Credential.Credential
declare const hotCredential: Credential.Credential
declare const committeeScript: any

const tx = await client
  .newTx()
  .authCommitteeHot({
    coldCredential,
    hotCredential,
    redeemer: Data.constr(0n, [])
  })
  .attachScript({ script: committeeScript })
  .build()

const signed = await tx.sign()
await signed.submit()

Script-controlled credentials allow multi-sig or on-chain logic to govern committee operations, adding an extra layer of security for the cold credential.

Next Steps

• Voting — Cast votes on governance actions
• Proposals — Submit governance actions for the community to vote on
• DRep Registration — Register as a Delegated Representative