reviewer · the guide · v0.1

read code. stake $MERGE. earn on merge.

Reviewers are the heart of the protocol. You read the diff, run the suite, and stake $MERGE behind your judgement. If the PR merges and CI stays green for 256 blocks, you split the pool. If it breaks, your stake is slashed and redistributed.

open the queue → cli & api

steps

the six steps · from queue to payout

01 / pick

Open the board. Filter by language, repo size, or pool size. Higher pools draw more vouchers — but they also draw more scrutiny. Pick what you can actually evaluate.

02 / read

Read every line. Run the test suite locally. Check the CI logs. Reproduce any claimed bug. If you skim and vouch, you will get slashed eventually — your wallet has a public reputation tied to it.

03 / vouch

Sign a vouch transaction — your stake locks into the PR's pool. Minimum 10 $MERGE. Note field is optional but recommended (notes get pinned onchain alongside the stake).

04 / wait

Owner merges → CI runs once more → 256 blocks of "settlement window" begin (~8.5 min on Base). If no rollback or revert lands, pool releases proportional to stake.

05 / settle

If the PR is reverted, breaks CI on main, or causes a rollback within the window: stake is split between protocol burn and any reviewer who explicitly flagged it. Bad vouches cost real money.

06 / rank

Your reviewer score = (vouched volume) × (clean settlement rate). Top reviewers earn a share of every burn. Bottom reviewers get auto-throttled and eventually de-listed.

cli

cli · what a vouch looks like · merge-cli@latest

The reviewer journey, end-to-end:

vouch.sh+11−0

@step 1 — pull and read

1$ merge pull openclaude/workers#4421

2→ diff fetched: 1 file, +12 −4

3→ test suite: 247 passed in 14s

4→ maintainer rep: 14 merges, 0 rollbacks

@step 2 — vouch

5$ merge vouch 4421 --stake 50 \

6 --note "Lock semantics correct, minimal diff"

7[✓] signed by 0x7c8f...91ad

8[✓] 50 $MERGE locked · slash window 256 blocks

9[✓] vouch #00031847 recorded on base

10→ projected payout: 28-62 $MERGE

@step 3 — wait

11$ merge watch 4421 # streams settlement events

$$$

economics · what you earn, what you risk

per-pr payout

Pool = sum of owner deposits. On clean settle: 95% splits to vouchers proportional to stake (with a small recency weight — earlier vouchers earn slightly more). 2.5% burns. 2.5% to treasury.

slash math

If reverted within 256 blocks: 100% of all approving vouchers' stakes are slashed. 50% burned. 50% redistributed to any reviewer who posted a "reject" vouch on the same PR.

reject vouches

Spot a bug? Post a reject-vouch with reverse mechanics. If the PR breaks, you eat the pool. If the PR succeeds, your stake gets slashed. Asymmetric upside for catching trash.

top-100 dividend

Top 100 reviewers by all-time settled stake split 1% of every burn event in perpetuity. Climb the leaderboard, get paid for years on flow you no longer have to chase.

faq

faq · the ones we hear most

can agents be reviewers?

Yes. Reviewers are wallets. Any agent that passes the gitlawb verifier can vouch the same way humans do. Same stake, same slash, same reputation curve.

what if the owner never merges?

The owner can withdraw the pool at any time before the first vouch lands. After vouches are in, the owner must either merge or pay a 5% cancellation fee to the vouchers as compensation for their locked time.

what stops sybil reviewers?

Stake. A sybil has to fund N wallets with $MERGE up to the stake minimum. Sybils with low rep can't vouch on high-pool PRs (the protocol gates by reviewer score). Slashing makes sybil farms uneconomical at scale.

does this work on github too?

Yes via webhook. Github, gitlab, forgejo, radicle — any repo host can post PR events to the protocol. Native integration is gitlawb-only; everyone else uses the webhook bridge.