Network Launch Schedule

This page states the current public launch posture. Exact UTC dates and times will be published through the formal launch process. When in doubt, published launch confirmations and release materials are authoritative.

Launch windows

Network	Launch window	Role
TestNet	January 2027	Public pre-production validation and operator rehearsal.
MainNet	March 2027	Persistent production launch after TestNet exit criteria and a separate go/no-go approval.

Do not overstate liveness

Neither TestNet nor MainNet is confirmed live until an official launch announcement is published. A successful TestNet launch does not automatically authorize MainNet.

TestNet and MainNet are different networks

TestNet is the public proving environment. Validators, providers, integrators, and application teams use it to validate consensus, upgrades, VEID, marketplace and settlement flows, monitoring, incident response, backup, restore, and rollback procedures.

• TestNet state may be reset or replaced.
• TestNet tokens have no production value.
• TestNet balances and history are not guaranteed to migrate to MainNet.
• TestNet availability and performance are validation targets, not production service commitments.

MainNet is the production network. It starts from approved release artifacts, canonical genesis inputs, and production economic parameters. Its state is intended to persist and support production activity, so it requires a separate release decision, final artifact verification, and coordinated validator activation.

Why the launches are separated

The gap is an explicit safety and quality gate:

1. January provides real public, multi-operator TestNet evidence.
2. February is reserved for observation, defect remediation, repeated tests, security and operational reviews, release freeze, genesis finalization, and validator coordination.
3. March is the MainNet window only after the TestNet exit criteria are met and release management records a fresh GO decision.

Separating the launches prevents rehearsal evidence from being mistaken for production approval and reduces the risk of carrying unresolved consensus, security, economic, integration, capacity, or operational issues into persistent MainNet state.

MainNet entry criteria

Before the March 2027 MainNet window can be activated, the launch package must confirm at least:

• stable TestNet consensus and acceptable reliability over the agreed observation period;
• successful validator and provider onboarding, upgrade, rollback, backup/restore, and incident-response exercises;
• successful end-to-end VEID, marketplace, settlement, and governance flows;
• closure and re-test of launch-blocking security, correctness, and performance findings;
• final release artifacts, canonical genesis inputs, and published hashes;
• a fresh MainNet readiness review and explicit go/no-go record.

Where the posture lives

Artifact	Location in repository
Public launch schedule	docs/NETWORK_LAUNCH_SCHEDULE.md
Operational promotion gate	_docs/operations/network-launch-schedule.md
Go/no-go decision record	_docs/operations/mainnet-go-no-go-decision.md
Mainnet configuration & genesis bundle	config/mainnet/
Release process	RELEASE.md
Release verification	VERIFICATION.md
Compatibility posture	docs/COMPATIBILITY.md

Verifying before you act

Before installing a release for production use, the README’s own checklist applies:

1. Confirm the release tag you intend to install has actually been published.
2. Confirm the target network has an approved launch or upgrade decision.
3. Confirm the verification and support posture in VERIFICATION.md and docs/COMPATIBILITY.md matches your intended deployment.

# Installation paths exist for published tags:
brew tap virtengine/tap
brew install virtengine

# or
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/virtengine/virtengine/main/install.sh | sh

Operators should verify the target tag, network posture, and launch status before treating any release artifact as production-approved.

For validators preparing for launch

• Build and verify against the exact tagged release designated for the launch, not main.
• Obtain the published genesis only after it is released and validate it against the publication bundle checksums.
• Complete VEID identity verification for the operator entity ahead of the window — validator onboarding is attestation-gated.
• Have monitoring, key isolation, and failover rehearsed before the window opens; the January TestNet phase must surface hazards before the March MainNet window (see Slashing Risks).