Cowrie Research

proof-of-sql

3 min read

Proof of SQL

  • Name: Proof of SQL
  • URL: https://github.com/spaceandtimefdn/sxt-proof-of-sql
  • Category: zk-SQL proving system / verifiable data coprocessor / query-proof infrastructure
  • Summary: Proof of SQL is the domain-specific proving engine inside Space and Time, not a standalone category center. Its useful mechanism is simple: prove SQL queries against committed tables without making the verifier rerun the query. That makes it a sharp contrast to general-purpose zkVM stacks such as RISC Zero, SP1, or OpenVM — narrower, but better tuned for structured analytics and contract-facing query proofs.
  • What it does:
    • Proves that SQL queries were executed correctly against committed data rather than asking contracts or clients to recompute the whole query
    • Targets both onchain and offchain verification paths, including smart-contract callbacks that consume proven query results
    • Uses a domain-specific proving flow with query parsing, witness generation, commitment opening, and multilinear sum-check style verification over SQL execution traces
    • Supports proofs over indexed blockchain data and custom offchain datasets that have been committed into the Space and Time stack
    • Ships as open-source Rust infrastructure with GPU-oriented proving paths and explicit benchmarks around analytic-query performance
  • Key claims:
    • The official README describes Proof of SQL as a high-performance ZK prover that can cryptographically guarantee SQL queries were computed accurately against untampered data and claims sub-second proving for some 1M+ row workloads
    • The technical docs say a single proof simultaneously attests both that the underlying table data were not manipulated and that the SQL computation itself was executed correctly
    • The technical docs claim verifier-contract costs under roughly 150k gas, which is materially different from proving stacks that optimize for arbitrary-program flexibility over query-specific verification cost
    • The smart-contract query flow shows a distinct application control plane: developers request a proof plan, submit it through a QueryRouter path with payment and callback parameters, and consume a proven table result in a contract callback
    • The repo README explicitly frames the system as faster than generic zkVM or coprocessor approaches for structured SQL workloads because it uses SQL-specific arithmetization, native commitments, and GPU acceleration rather than arbitrary-instruction proving
  • Whitepaper: No standalone Proof of SQL whitepaper was surfaced during this pass. The clearest primary-source packet is the repo README plus current Space and Time technical docs, alongside the broader Space and Time whitepaper; see ../whitepapers/proof-of-sql-primary-sources-2026-05-12.md.
  • Sources:

Internal linkages

  • Parent stack: space-and-time.

  • Best proving-stack contrasts: axiom and brevis.

  • Keep the comparison set tight. This is a specialized query-proof engine, not a general proving baseline.

  • Last reviewed: 2026-06-18 UTC

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