Overview
Midnight Documentation is the official developer manual that shows you how to build apps that keep sensitive data private. It takes you from installing a wallet and toolchain to deploying a first working app, with reference pages for every tool along the way1. An "Ask AI" assistant is built into the site to answer questions as you read2.
The site documents Midnight, a privacy-focused partner chain of Cardano, and is maintained by the Midnight Foundation. Every page is published from an open-source repository, so developers can report gaps or contribute fixes the same way they would on any code project3.
Key Features
- A guided first app. The getting-started path installs the Lace wallet and the Midnight toolchain, then walks you through writing a small app in Compact and running it on a test network on your own machine1.
- Learn to write private smart contracts. Guides, security tips, and a full reference cover Compact, Midnight's own contract language, whose compiler turns each contract into a proof the network can check without seeing anyone's private data4.
- Plain-language token explanations. Dedicated pages untangle NIGHT, the network's tradable token, and DUST, the private resource that pays transaction fees, and explain how holding the first generates the second5.
- Reference depth when you need it. Detailed technical references document each building block of the network, from the proof server that generates privacy proofs to the connector that links apps with wallets6.
- Readable by AI tools as well as people. Midnight Documentation publishes machine-readable copies of its pages for AI assistants7, and the site connects to AI coding tools so agents can pull answers from the same pages developers read8.
What to Expect
The homepage sorts visitors by what they came to do: complete beginners are pointed to a separate learning site, developers head into the quickstart, node operators (the people who run the network's machines) get setup guides, and research or compliance teams can read how the privacy design works2.
Once inside, the experience is what you'd expect from a modern documentation site: site-wide search, a glossary for unfamiliar terms, versioned release notes, and a troubleshooting section for common errors. An examples section collects open-source sample apps to clone and adapt, and if you get stuck, the homepage links to the project's Discord server and community forum2. A running Dev Diaries blog, written by the engineers building the network, records how the tooling evolves and is worth skimming to gauge the pace of development.
Midnight Documentation assumes you can work in a code editor and a terminal, but it explains blockchain and privacy concepts as it goes, so you don't need prior experience with either to follow the main path. For the deeper design reasoning behind the network, pair the docs with the Nightpaper, the project's whitepaper.