Tari Release Notes – v5.0.0-pre.5

Note: This release consolidates all changes introduced in v5.0.0-pre.2, pre.3, and pre.4, and changes specific to pre.5. If you are upgrading from any earlier pre-release, please refer to this note for the complete set of changes and required actions.

Breaking Changes

• Contact Service Removed
  Version 5.0.0-pre.5 removes the entire contacts service from the Tari codebase. All public APIs, gRPC methods, and configuration related to contacts (address book, contact liveness/status, invitations) have been deleted. This is a breaking change for any wallet, exchange, or integration relying on contact management features. Contacts-related configuration options (contacts_auto_ping_interval, contacts_online_ping_window) are now deprecated and non-functional.

Review your codebase for any usage of contact-related APIs or configuration. Remove or refactor integrations to avoid errors.
For full details, see PR 7423.

Features

• Extended Cuckaroo (C29) Implementation
  Added parser support for the recently implemented Cuckaroo PoW algorithm in the config files and command line tools. You can now select this algorithm using the identifiers “cuckaroo”, “cuckaroo29”, “c29”, or the numeric value 3 in configuration or CLI options. As an example, you can run the minotari_node command using ./minotari_node -p mining.pow_algo=cuckaroo

• Seed Peer Exclusion
  A new feature has been added to improve how Tari nodes maintain network liveness. When checking if peers are online, your node will now avoid using seed peers for liveness checks if other peers are available. This means that liveness checks are distributed more fairly across the network, reducing unnecessary load on seed nodes and improving overall network reliability.

• Payref Search via Node CLI
  This update introduces a new command-line interface (CLI) feature to the Minotari node, allowing users to search for transactions using a payref (payment reference). This enhancement improves the node's usability by enabling quick and direct lookups of transactions associated with a specific payment reference. e.g. ./minotari_node --payref-search <PAYMENT_REFERENCE>

Bug Fixes

• Esmeralda Version
  Aligned the accepted blockchain version on the Esmeralda test network with V2, eliminating version mismatch issues during node startup, syncing, and block validation.

• Network discovery stalling
  Previously, the network discovery process could become stuck in the "Waiting" state, unable to proceed even after the system was ready. This change ensures that when a "Ready" event is received, the network discovery will correctly transition out of "Waiting," improving reliability and responsiveness.

• Tari Address Serialization Fix
  TariAddress now supports base58 serialization in human-readable formats and retains internal byte-based representation where appropriate. Deserialization is backward-compatible with legacy structured formats used in older wallets. This change resolves issues where legacy wallet data (e.g. from Tari Universe) could not be loaded due to unrecognized fields like memo_field_payment_id, which previously triggered unnecessary wallet reinitialization.

Deployment

1. Back up your data — especially the Base Node and Console Wallet data directories.

2. Stop all running services — including Console Wallet, Base Node, and any FFI integrations.

3. Remove or refactor contact-related code and configuration — the Contact Service has been completely removed. Any usage of contact APIs, invitations, or liveness/status checks will now fail. Delete or disable deprecated configuration options:

   • contacts_auto_ping_interval
   • contacts_online_ping_window
     Review and update any integrations (e.g. exchanges or external wallets) that rely on contact features.

4. Update node configuration and CLI usage:

   • You can now configure the mining algorithm using cuckaroo, cuckaroo29, c29, or 3. Example:
     ./minotari_node -p mining.pow_algo=cuckaroo
   • Use the new --payref-search flag to search transactions by payment reference. Example:
     ./minotari_node --payref-search <PAYMENT_REFERENCE>

5. Install the latest binaries for both the Base Node and Console Wallet.

6. Restart all services and verify that your node syncs correctly and CLI operations function as expected.