The ability of blockchain protocols to interact with and build upon each other like building blocks ('money legos'). A lending protocol can accept LP tokens as collateral, which were minted by a DEX, which uses an oracle for pricing—all in a single transaction. Solana's CPI mechanism and shared account model make composability a core design principle.
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The ability of blockchain protocols to interact with and build upon each other like building blocks ('money legos'). A lending protocol can accept LP tokens as collateral, which were minted by a DEX, which uses an oracle for pricing—all in a single transaction. Solana's CPI mechanism and shared account model make composability a core design principle.
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Wallets, signing flows, dApps, and key management concepts.
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Composability (composability)
Category: Web3
Definition: The ability of blockchain protocols to interact with and build upon each other like building blocks ('money legos'). A lending protocol can accept LP tokens as collateral, which were minted by a DEX, which uses an oracle for pricing—all in a single transaction. Solana's CPI mechanism and shared account model make composability a core design principle.
Related: Cross-Program Invocation (CPI), DeFi (Decentralized Finance)Use glossary context, relationships, mental models, and builder paths to get structured answers instead of generic chat output.
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A mechanism for one program to call another program's instructions during execution. CPIs enable composability—e.g., a DeFi program can call the Token Program to transfer tokens. CPI depth is limited to 4 levels. The caller passes accounts and instruction data, and the callee runs with the same transaction context.
Financial services built on blockchain smart contracts that operate without traditional intermediaries (banks, brokers). DeFi includes lending, borrowing, trading, insurance, and derivatives. Key properties: permissionless (anyone can participate), composable (protocols can be combined), transparent (open-source, auditable). Solana DeFi TVL has exceeded $5B, led by Jupiter, Raydium, Marinade, and Kamino.
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A mechanism for one program to call another program's instructions during execution. CPIs enable composability—e.g., a DeFi program can call the Token Program to transfer tokens. CPI depth is limited to 4 levels. The caller passes accounts and instruction data, and the callee runs with the same transaction context.
Financial services built on blockchain smart contracts that operate without traditional intermediaries (banks, brokers). DeFi includes lending, borrowing, trading, insurance, and derivatives. Key properties: permissionless (anyone can participate), composable (protocols can be combined), transparent (open-source, auditable). Solana DeFi TVL has exceeded $5B, led by Jupiter, Raydium, Marinade, and Kamino.
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The vision of a decentralized internet built on blockchain technology, where users own their data, identity, and digital assets. Web1 was read-only (static pages), Web2 is read-write (platforms like social media), Web3 is read-write-own (permissionless, user-sovereign). Web3 applications use wallets instead of logins and smart contracts instead of centralized servers.
An application with its backend logic running on a blockchain as smart contracts rather than centralized servers. dApps typically have a traditional web frontend that interacts with on-chain programs via RPC. Users authenticate with wallets instead of username/password. Examples: Uniswap (Ethereum DEX), Jupiter (Solana DEX), Magic Eden (NFT marketplace).
Software or hardware that manages cryptographic keys and enables users to sign transactions, view balances, and interact with dApps. Hot wallets (Phantom, Solflare, Backpack) are internet-connected for convenience. Cold wallets (Ledger, Trezor) store keys offline for security. Wallets don't actually 'hold' tokens—they hold the private keys that control on-chain accounts.
A 12 or 24-word human-readable backup of a wallet's master private key, generated using BIP-39 standard. The seed phrase can deterministically regenerate all derived keypairs (BIP-44 derivation paths). Losing the seed phrase means permanently losing access to all associated accounts. Never share, photograph, or store seed phrases digitally in plain text.