Nethermind’s starknet.go Go library reaches end‑of‑life

The Nethermind starknet.go repository, a Go library for interacting with StarkNet, is no longer under active maintenance and will be archived soon, leaving the code in read‑only mode for reference [1]. The project, licensed under MIT, offered abstractions for RPC calls, account management, and a range of example utilities, but its future development has halted.

Key takeaways

• The repository will be archived and remain read‑only for reference [1].
• Recent beta releases (v0.18.0‑beta.2) implement StarkNet RPC v0.10.1‑rc.2 [3].
• Features include paymaster support, automatic tip estimation, and Blake2s hash handling for DECLARE transactions [3].
• Documentation is hosted on pkg.go.dev and includes extensive examples for contract calls, account deployment, and WebSocket subscriptions [1].
• A separate Go package, Caigo, continues active development under the name “starknet.go” on GitHub, but it is a distinct project [2].

Library evolution and recent releases

The starknet.go codebase progressed through a series of beta and stable releases, each aligning with newer StarkNet RPC specifications. Version 0.17.0 introduced RPC v0.9.0 support, paymaster integration, and automatic tip estimation [3]. Subsequent updates added Blake2s hash support for DECLARE transactions in v0.17.1 and refined fee calculations [3]. The latest beta, v0.18.0‑beta.2, targets the RPC v0.10.1‑rc.2 spec, indicating the library kept pace with protocol changes up to that point [3]. Throughout these releases, the project added utilities such as curve.SignFelts, typed‑data handling improvements, and mock client support for testing [3].

Distinguishing from the Caigo “starknet.go” package

While the Nethermind repository is being retired, another Go package named “starknet.go” is maintained by the Caigo team. This separate project also implements the StarkNet RPC spec, though some methods remain unavailable due to external dependencies [2]. It is under active development and subject to breaking changes until a stable v1.0.0 release, with examples for curves, contracts, and accounts [2]. The coexistence of two similarly named packages can cause confusion, but the sources make clear that the Nethermind library is the one being archived, whereas Caigo’s version continues to evolve.

Why it matters

Archiving starknet.go signals the end of official support from Nethermind for a Go‑based StarkNet client, prompting developers to rely on the read‑only code for legacy projects or migrate to alternative libraries such as Caigo’s implementation [2]. The library’s extensive documentation and examples remain valuable for understanding StarkNet interactions in Go, especially its handling of RPC versions, paymaster services, and fee estimation. As the StarkNet ecosystem advances, the transition underscores the importance of active maintenance for blockchain tooling and the need for clear naming to avoid duplication across open‑source projects.