New Release: Naga Dev and SDK v8

Today marks a significant milestone in Lit Protocol's journey toward mainnet: the Naga Devnet and v8 SDK are officially live. These releases represent months of development focused on performance optimization, developer experience improvements, critical bug fixes, and new features that will power the next generation of Web3 applications.

Whether you're a seasoned Lit developer or just getting started, now is the perfect time to explore what's new. Check out our new and improved developer documentation to dive in immediately. These updates don't just improve what's already possible, they lay the groundwork for Lit's upcoming mainnet launch and Token Generation Event (TGE) later in Q3.

Introducing the v8 SDK: A Complete Developer Experience Overhaul

The v8 SDK represents our most significant release to date. Built from the ground up with performance and ease of use in mind, v8 introduces fundamental improvements that make building with Lit more intuitive, efficient, and powerful than ever before.

Interactive Documentation That Instructs as You Build

Lit’s new interactive documentation lets you experiment with Lit's capabilities directly in your browser. Test functions, see real responses, and understand exactly how different features work before implementing them in your application. This hands-on approach dramatically reduces the learning curve for new developers while serving as a helpful reference for experienced builders.

New Features and Improvements

The v8 SDK introduces several new capabilities and improvements:

New Payments Model: We've completely redesigned how developers pay for Lit operations, radically simplifying the overall flow. The new model provides better visibility into usage costs, allows you to set custom spending limits, and makes paying for your users simple.

Expanded Signing Curve Support: v8 and the Naga networks expand the cryptographic primitives available to developers. Support for new signing curves (such as EdDSA) open up compatibility with additional blockchains and cryptographic systems and make Lit truly universal infrastructure for Web3 applications.

Intuitive User and Session Management: Managing user identities and sessions with Lit has historically been complex. The v8 SDK introduces streamlined APIs that handle the complexity behind the scenes while giving developers fine-grained control when needed. Create persistent user sessions, manage authentication states, and handle user lifecycle events with just a few lines of code.

Performance Optimizations: Under the hood, v8 delivers significant performance improvements. Faster key generation, reduced latency for signing operations, and optimized network communication mean your applications will be more responsive and efficient.

Enhanced Error Handling and Debugging: Clear error messages, comprehensive logging, and improved debugging tools make it easier to identify and resolve issues during development. The SDK now provides actionable feedback that helps developers quickly understand what went wrong and how to fix it.

Getting Started with v8

New developers can jump right in using our redesigned documentation and tutorials. The interactive examples will walk you through core concepts like:

• Spinning up your first Lit-powered application
• Integrating programmable signing with Programmable Key Pairs (PKPs)
• Managing encrypted data with decentralized access control
• Experimenting with Lit Actions

For developers currently using previous SDK versions, we understand that migration is a significant consideration. A comprehensive migration guide will be published in the coming days, providing step-by-step instructions, code examples, and best practices for upgrading existing applications to v8. This guide will ensure a smooth transition while helping you take advantage of all the new capabilities.

Introducing the “Naga” Networks

We're thrilled to announce the next phase of Lit Protocol with the launch of the "Naga" networks. The official successors to the Datil networks, the Naga launch includes:

• Naga Dev (successor to Datil Dev) - Centralized Devnet, designed for early-stage development and experimentation. [LIVE]
• Naga Test (successor to Datil Test) - Decentralized Testnet designed for comprehensive testing and pre-production deployment. [Coming Soon]
• Naga Mainnet - Coming in Q4, the Naga Mainnet will support builders launching in production.

Naga Dev is operational today, providing developers with a robust environment to build, test, and refine their applications before the mainnet launch.

What this means for the Datil Network

If your app is currently deployed on the Datil Mainnet Beta, migration is OPTIONAL and you DO NOT need to worry about migrating to the v8 SDK / Naga networks at this time. After the Naga Mainnet launches later this quarter, Lit Protocol’s recovery process will be utilized to import the Datil keys into the new network. All this will require is a simple SDK upgrade (to the latest Naga-compatible version), for which a migration guide will be provided. More information will be shared closer to the launch.  

Preparing for Naga Mainnet

The Naga Mainnet, slated for release later in Q4, represents the culmination of everything we've learned from previous network iterations. By building and testing on Naga Dev and Naga Test today, you're not just accessing improved infrastructure, you're preparing your application for a seamless transition to mainnet when it launches.

What This Means for the Ecosystem

For projects already building on Lit, these updates offer immediate benefits: better performance, new capabilities, and a clearer path to mainnet deployment. For developers considering Lit for their next project, there's never been a better time to get started.

The improvements in v8 address many of the friction points that developers have encountered, while the Naga networks provide a more stable and performant foundation for building production-ready applications. Together, they represent a significant step forward in making decentralized key management accessible to mainstream development teams.

Conclusion: Your Next Steps

The Naga Devnet and v8 SDK are live and ready for you to explore. Whether you're building your first Lit-powered application or upgrading an existing project, these releases provide the foundation for creating more secure, more capable, and more user-friendly decentralized applications.

Key Action Items:

• New developers: Start with our new developer docs or interactive SDK docs to understand Lit's capabilities and begin building
• Existing developers: For existing developers (using v7 and below) watch for the migration guide coming in the next few days to upgrade to v8 and access the Naga networks. As a reminder, migration is NOT REQUIRED at this stage.

The journey to mainnet continues, and with Naga Devnet and v8 SDK, we're closer than ever to realizing the full potential of decentralized key management and the User-Owned Web.