Governance API

The Governance API provides comprehensive functionality for participating in Cardano’s on-chain governance system. It supports DRep registration and management, governance proposal creation, voting, and delegation operations through the QuickTx framework.

Key Features

DRep Management: Register, update, and deregister as a Delegated Representative
Proposal Creation: Create various types of governance proposals (Info, Constitution, Parameter Changes, etc.)
Voting System: Vote on governance proposals with different voter types
Delegation: Delegate voting power to DReps
Anchor Support: Attach metadata anchors to proposals and votes
Multi-Signature Support: Support for committee and stake pool voting

Core Classes

Tx Class

The main class for building governance transactions, extending QuickTx functionality.

Governance Actions

InfoAction - Information proposals
NewConstitution - Constitution update proposals
NoConfidence - No confidence proposals
ParameterChangeAction - Protocol parameter changes
HardForkInitiationAction - Hard fork initiation
TreasuryWithdrawalsAction - Treasury withdrawal proposals
UpdateCommittee - Committee update proposals

Supporting Classes

Voter - Represents different voter types (DRep, SPO, Committee)
Vote - Vote options (Yes, No, Abstain)
Anchor - Metadata anchor for proposals
GovActionId - References to governance actions

Usage Examples

Setup

Create QuickTxBuilder and Account instances for governance operations:


QuickTxBuilder quickTxBuilder = new QuickTxBuilder(backendService);
 
Account account = new Account(Networks.preprod(), "your mnemonic words");
String address = account.baseAddress();

DRep Management

Manage Delegated Representative (DRep) registration and operations:

Register DRep


var anchor = new Anchor("<anchor_url>", <anchor_datahash>);
 
Tx drepRegTx = new Tx()
        .registerDRep(account, anchor)
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(drepRegTx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account.drepHdKeyPair()))
        .completeAndWait(System.out::println);

Deregister DRep

Deregister an account as a DRep:


Tx tx = new Tx()
        .unregisterDRep(account.drepCredential())
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(tx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.drepKeySignerFrom(account))
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(System.out::println);

Update DRep

Update DRep information (remove anchor):


 Tx drepRegTx = new Tx()
        .updateDRep(account.drepCredential())
        .from(senderAddr);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(drepRegTx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.drepKeySignerFrom(account))
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(s -> System.out.println(s));

Update DRep information with a new anchor:


var newAnchor = new Anchor("<anchor_url>", "<anchor_datahash>");
 
Tx drepRegTx = new Tx()
        .updateDRep(account.drepCredential(), newAnchor)
        .from(senderAddr);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(drepRegTx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.drepKeySignerFrom(account))
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(s -> System.out.println(s));

Governance Proposals

Create various types of governance proposals using the createProposal() method. Any account can create a proposal — a DRep key signature is not required.

Info Proposal

Create an information proposal:


var govAction = new InfoAction();
var anchor = new Anchor("<anchor_url>", <anchor_datahash>);
 
Tx tx = new Tx()
        .createProposal(govAction, account.stakeAddress(), anchor)
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(tx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(s -> System.out.println(s));

Constitution Proposal

Create a new constitution proposal:


var anchor = new Anchor("<anchor_url>", <anchor_datahash>);
 
var govAction = new NewConstitution();
govAction.setPrevGovActionId(new GovActionId("<prevGovActionTxHash>", prevGovActionIndex));
govAction.setConstitution(Constitution.builder()
        .anchor(anchor)
        .build());
 
Tx tx = new Tx()
        .createProposal(govAction, account.stakeAddress(), anchor)
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(tx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(s -> System.out.println(s));

No Confidence Proposal

Create a no confidence proposal:


var noConfidence = new NoConfidence();
noConfidence.setPrevGovActionId(new GovActionId("<prevGovActionTxHash>", prevGovActionIndex));
var anchor = new Anchor("<anchor_url>", <anchor_datahash>);
 
Tx tx = new Tx()
        .createProposal(noConfidence, account.stakeAddress(), anchor)
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(tx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(s -> System.out.println(s));

Parameter Change Proposal

Create a protocol parameter change proposal:


var parameterChange = new ParameterChangeAction();
parameterChange.setPrevGovActionId(new GovActionId("529736be1fac33431667f2b66231b7b66d4c7a3975319ddac7cfb17dcb5c4145", 0));
parameterChange.setProtocolParamUpdate(ProtocolParamUpdate.builder()
        .minPoolCost(ADAConversionUtil.adaToLovelace(100))
        .build());
 
var anchor = new Anchor("<anchor_url>", <anchor_datahash>);
 
Tx tx = new Tx()
        .createProposal(parameterChange, account.stakeAddress(), anchor)
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(tx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(s -> System.out.println(s));

Hard Fork Initiation Proposal

Create a hard fork initiation proposal:


var hardforkInitiation = new HardForkInitiationAction();
hardforkInitiation.setPrevGovActionId(new GovActionId("416f7f01c548a85546aa5bbd155b34bb2802df68e08db4e843ef6da764cd8f7e", 0));
hardforkInitiation.setProtocolVersion(new ProtocolVersion(9, 0));
 
var anchor = new Anchor("<anchor_url>", <anchor_datahash>);
 
Tx tx = new Tx()
        .createProposal(hardforkInitiation, account.stakeAddress(), anchor)
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(tx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(s -> System.out.println(s));

Treasury Withdrawal Proposal

Create a treasury withdrawal proposal:


var treasuryWithdrawalsAction = new TreasuryWithdrawalsAction();
treasuryWithdrawalsAction.addWithdrawal(new Withdrawal("<stake_address>", adaToLovelace(20)));
 
var anchor = new Anchor("<anchor_url>", <anchor_datahash>);
 
Tx tx = new Tx()
        .createProposal(treasuryWithdrawalsAction, account.stakeAddress(), anchor)
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(tx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(s -> System.out.println(s));

Update Committee Proposal

Create a committee update proposal:


var updateCommittee = new UpdateCommittee();
updateCommittee.setPrevGovActionId(new GovActionId("b3ce0371310a07a797657d19453d953bb352b6841c2f5c5e0bd2557189ef5c3a", 0));
updateCommittee.setQuorumThreshold(new UnitInterval(BigInteger.valueOf(1), BigInteger.valueOf(3)));
 
var anchor = new Anchor("<anchor_url>", <anchor_datahash>);
 
Tx tx = new Tx()
        .createProposal(updateCommittee, account.stakeAddress(), anchor)
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(tx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(s -> System.out.println(s));

Voting

Vote on governance proposals:


var voter = new Voter(VoterType.DREP_KEY_HASH, account.drepCredential());
var govActionId = new GovActionId("5655fbb4ceafd34296fe58f6e3d28b8ff663a89e84aa0edd77bd02fe379cef4c", 0); //some gov action id
 
Tx tx = new Tx()
        .createVote(voter, govActionId, Vote.NO)
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(tx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.drepKeySignerFrom(account))
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(System.out::println);

Vote Delegation

Delegate voting power to a DRep:


DRep drep = DRepId.toDrep(drepId, DRepType.ADDR_KEYHASH);
 
Tx tx = new Tx()
        .delegateVotingPowerTo(account, drep)
        .from(address);
 
Result<String> result = quickTxBuilder.compose(tx)
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.stakeKeySignerFrom(account))
        .withSigner(SignerProviders.signerFrom(account))
        .completeAndWait(System.out::println);