Key concepts

Learn about the concepts and features that power Corda, so you can make the best of it. These articles provide an overview suitable for beginners and non-developers. The topics build on each other, so you should read them in order.

First, you’ll learn about the Corda ecosystem, and how people and businesses in it represent themselves and find each other.

• Networks, discovery, and identity tells you how Corda networks work, and how members identify themselves and find each other on networks.
• Nodes represent people and businesses on Corda.

Next, you’ll learn how nodes share and store information.

• The ledger is the record of transactions on Corda.
• Flows let nodes communicate with each other.
• States represent shared facts on the ledger.
• Vaults are where nodes store on-ledger shared facts.

Then, learn how nodes can exchange assets on Corda.

• Smart contracts digitize agreements between nodes.
• You can bring off-ledger data into a smart contract using oracles.
• Transactions update the ledger.
• The ledger is only updated if the nodes reach consensus.
• Notaries assure uniqueness consensus—meaning they prevent double-spends.
• You can use Merkle trees to add additional security to transactions that use oracles and non-validating notaries.
• Time windows let you validate that a transaction happened before, after, or during a specific time.

After you’re familiar with the key concepts of Corda, see them in action by running a sample CorDapp.