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This guide is for changing the protocol’s on-chain rules — inflation parameters, a contract upgrade, or a protocol constant. Those changes are made through a Livepeer Improvement Proposal (LIP), Livepeer’s equivalent of an Ethereum EIP. It’s a specialized, technical task; for the concepts, see Governance & the treasury.
A protocol LIP changes how the protocol works. If instead you want to request funding from the treasury, that’s the other track — see Submit a treasury proposal. The on-chain vote is the same for both; the preparation is not.

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Before you start

  • A change to the protocol you can specify precisely — the affected contract/parameter and the intended effect.
  • Enough technical detail for a full specification (and, for a contract change, an implementation plan).
  • 100 LPT to submit on-chain — locked during the vote, returned if the proposal passes.
  • A little ETH on Arbitrum One for gas.

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Propose a LIP

1

Raise the idea

Post the idea on the Livepeer Forum or Discord. Most ideas are refined or dropped here — the forum is where the early technical feedback happens.
2

Draft the LIP

Write a structured LIP: a header preamble (number, title, author, type, status) and a full specification. Open it as a pull request against the LIPs repository for editorial review.
3

Last Call

Once editors approve the draft, it enters a 10-day Last Call — the community’s final window to surface objections before it moves to a vote.
4

Submit on-chain

Anyone with 100 LPT can submit the LIP on-chain to the Governor contract. The 100 LPT is locked during voting and returned if it passes — a threshold high enough to filter serious proposals from frivolous ones.
5

Voting period

An on-chain voting window opens — 10 rounds (~9 days) as verified on-chain (see Protocol parameters for the current length). Anyone with bonded LPT can vote; this is the same vote used for every proposal.
6

Quorum & approval

It passes only if ≥33% of all bonded LPT participates (quorum) and >50% of votes cast are For. Both are required — either alone isn’t enough.
7

Execution

On success, the Governor contract executes the change automatically — a parameter update or a contract upgrade. No separate signer, no multisig.

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What a strong LIP has

The 100 LPT threshold filters noise, but passing quorum takes substance:
  • A precise specification — exactly which contract/parameter changes, and to what.
  • An implementation plan for any contract change — reviewers need to see it’s buildable and safe.
  • Economic and security analysis — what the change does to incentives and to the protocol’s safety.
  • Community buy-in — a LIP that skipped forum discussion and Last Call rarely clears quorum.

Governance & the treasury

Why governance is on-chain, what it can change, and how the two tracks differ.

Vote on a proposal

The vote step — identical for protocol and treasury proposals.

Submit a treasury proposal

The other track: requesting funds instead of changing the rules.

LIPs repository

Every LIP, draft and final, with full specifications.