Where to go next

You’ve made it through the whole beginner guide. You now know what a ledger, a key, a transaction, a block and a mining certificate are, and how Pearl differs from Bitcoin at each step.

From here, pick the path that suits how you like to learn.

Want to see the actual bytes?

The codex explains every part of Pearl in detail, field by field and byte by byte, with real data from the chain. It’s split into twelve groups. Good places to start:

• Bytes and numbers: hexadecimal, byte order and the little length prefixes everything uses.
• Transactions: a real payment, read one field at a time.
• Blocks: the 108-byte header and the certificate that rides in front of it.
• Mining: the whole puzzle, step by step, with the exact rules.
• Keys and addresses: from a random number to a prl1 address, then to the 12 words.

Prefer to learn by doing?

The tools run entirely in your browser. A few to try first:

• The toy miner runs Pearl’s real mining steps on tiny matrices, so you can win a block in seconds.
• The transaction decoder colors every byte of a real transaction and explains it.
• The key forge turns a private key into an address, one step at a time.
• The WTEMA simulator lets you push mining power around and watch the difficulty respond.
• The emission chart shows how many PRL exist at any block height.

Like a challenge?

The arcade turns some of the trickiest ideas into short games, from reading raw bytes and hunting for winning tickets to steering the difficulty and catching mistyped addresses.

Already know Bitcoin?

Skip straight to Pearl vs Bitcoin, a one-page list of every difference that matters, each linked to the page that explains it.

Want to check the real chain?

Everything in this guide can be checked against the live network.

• Block explorers show blocks, transactions and addresses in readable form. Pearl Research Labs runs one at explorer.pearlresearch.ai, and PRLScan is an independent one.
• The code is open source at github.com/pearl-research-labs/pearl. This site was checked against version 1.5.2, and every technical page links to the files it describes.
• The research behind Pearl’s mining is in the INT whitepaper and the proof of useful work blog post.

Not sure where to start?

Here are three suggested routes through the codex:

• The miner’s path: matrix multiplication, rank and noise, the puzzle, tickets and the target, the certificate. Then play with the toy miner.
• The builder’s path: hexadecimal, bytes and byte order, the transaction hub, TXIDs, then the transaction decoder.
• The keeper’s path: private keys, public keys, the Taproot tweak, addresses and bech32m, then the 12 words and derivation paths.

Whichever you choose, the glossary is always one click away when a word looks unfamiliar. Enjoy the rabbit hole.