> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.reiy.finance/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Epoch and Auction Lifecycle

> How Reiy separates contract epochs from Fisherman auction-round statuses.

# Epoch and Auction Lifecycle

Reiy has two timing layers:

* **Contract epoch**: a simple counter on-chain.
* **Fisherman auction round**: the off-chain coordination loop that moves from collecting intents to settling a winner.

The contracts have no on-chain bidding or selection phases. The epoch is only a safety boundary, not an auction clock.

## Contract epoch

An intent is created for the current epoch. A <Tooltip tip="The signed authorization that lets the winning solver settle on-chain.">certificate</Tooltip> is signed for that same epoch, and <Tooltip tip="The on-chain step where the winning solver delivers your tokens and fees are split.">settlement</Tooltip> rejects any intent whose epoch does not match. The epoch advances once a minimum collection time has passed, and a partially filled intent rolls its remainder into the next epoch.

## Fisherman auction round

Off-chain, Fisherman runs each round through a short lifecycle:

| Status | Purpose |
| - | - |
| collecting | Group open intents by pair and target epoch. |
| solving | Ask enabled solvers to solve the round. |
| solved | Store the winning solution and signed certificate. |
| settling | Ask the winning solver to settle on-chain. |
| settled | Mark the round complete once settlement is recorded. |
| expired | Mark a stale round or certificate unusable. |
| failed | Stop a bad round so automation does not keep re-solving it. |

See the [round lifecycle diagram](/reiy-protocol/reference/architecture) for the full state machine.

## Round timing

Because there are no on-chain phases, the timeline of a round is set entirely by Fisherman. These are the current testnet windows (each is configurable per deployment):

| Window | Testnet | What it bounds |
| - | - | - |
| Collection window | 6s | How long a round gathers intents before solving. |
| Quote response window | 5s | How long pre-trade quotes are collected from solvers. |
| Solver timeout | 4s | How long each solver has to answer a solve request. |
| Certificate validity | 45s | How long the winner has to settle before the certificate expires. |
| Batch size | 4 (max 10) | How many intents a round can hold. |

On-chain, the only timing rule is that the epoch advances after a minimum collection time (10s by default). Exact configuration keys are listed in [Definitions](/reiy-protocol/reference/core/definitions).

## Why this matters

Settlement can happen immediately after Fisherman issues a valid current-epoch certificate. Timing controls such as quote response windows, collection windows, certificate validity, retry policy, and settlement watcher polling all belong to Fisherman, not the contracts.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Auction rounds and certificates" href="/reiy-protocol/concepts/how-it-works/auction-rounds-and-certificates">
    Learn how rounds become settlement authority.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Solution validation and ranking" href="/reiy-protocol/reference/core/scoring-and-ranking">
    Review the exact current validation rules.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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