Release Notes - v0.194.0

v0.194.0 (August 21, 2026)

Title: Improve fork selection and transaction script validation

Date: August 21, 2026

Version: v0.194.0

This release improves chain selection across deep forks, limits Plutus V1 inline datum checks to scripts that transaction purposes require, and refreshes dependencies and formatting.

💪 Improvements

• Improved deep fork selection: Deep forks that roll back more than k blocks now use integer block counts within the configured genesis window to select the denser chain, while shallow forks continue to use longest chain selection with VRF tiebreaking. The updated ChainTip and selector interfaces expose the fork point and the number of blocks in the window through ForkPoint and BlocksInWindow, while WindowedChainTip provides exact block counts within the window. ComputeGenesisWindow now rounds up through ceiling division. Implementations that provide ChainTip or call selector APIs must adopt the updated interfaces. When window support is unavailable, selection falls back to legacy density and emits a one time warning.

• Fixed Plutus V1 inline datum validation: Transaction validation now examines resolved consumed inputs, reference inputs, and produced outputs only when transaction purposes require their scripts. Unrelated Plutus V1 reference scripts can coexist with inline datums, while validation rejects inline datums when a required Plutus V1 script is present and leaves unresolved input errors to the existing input validation rule without duplicating them.

• Updated protobuf dependencies: The root module and eight example modules now use google.golang.org/protobuf v1.36.12; the corresponding go.sum files now contain refreshed checksums. Examples that use ../.. replacements resolve dependencies consistently, with no change to the public API or runtime behavior.

• Standardized Go formatting: Three Go files now match the gofumpt formatting that golangci-lint v2.13.0 requires, with no change to runtime behavior.

🙏 Thank You

Thank you to @adarshpuri20 for the first contribution to this release.

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Docs authored by Doc Holiday