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what is mcircuit fr?

trailofbits/mcircuit — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-25 · repo last pushed 2023-09-11

9RustAudience · researcherComplexity · 3/5DormantSetup · moderate

tl;dr

A Rust library for representing, manipulating, and evaluating boolean and arithmetic circuits, the math structures behind advanced cryptography and secure computation.

vibe map

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Boolean circuits
      Arithmetic circuits
      Plaintext evaluation
      Import and export
    Tech stack
      Rust library
      No CLI or UI
      Embedded in code
    Use cases
      Secure multi-party computation
      Zero-knowledge proofs
      Circuit translation
    Audience
      Crypto researchers
      Security engineers
      DARPA funded research

Code map

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filefunction / class

what do people make with this?

VIBE 1

Build systems for secure multi-party computation by expressing calculations as circuits.

VIBE 2

Translate and evaluate circuits for zero-knowledge proof systems.

VIBE 3

Import and export circuit representations between different cryptography tools.

VIBE 4

Run plaintext evaluations of circuits on real values for testing and verification.

what's the stack?

Rust

how it stacks up fr

trailofbits/mcircuitarchledger/irlumecodeitlikemiley/waz
Stars999
LanguageRustRustRust
Last pushed2023-09-112026-07-09
MaintenanceDormantActive
Setup difficultymoderatemoderatemoderate
Complexity3/53/54/5
Audienceresearcherdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

how do i run it?

Difficulty · moderate time til it works · 30min

Rust library requiring familiarity with Cargo and circuit concepts, limited README detail means you'll need to consult docs.rs for API specifics.

in plain english

mcircuit is a building-block library for programmers working with boolean and arithmetic circuits, the mathematical structures that underpin advanced cryptography and secure computation. Think of it as a set of tools that lets you represent, manipulate, and evaluate circuits as data, rather than having to build that infrastructure from scratch. At a high level, a "circuit" here is a way to break down a computation into simple steps, similar to how a physical circuit processes electrical signals. Boolean circuits work with true/false logic, while arithmetic circuits handle addition and multiplication. The library gives you a way to define these circuits as structured data, extract their inputs and outputs, translate them between different representations, and run "plaintext evaluation", meaning you can actually execute the circuit on real values to see what it produces. It also supports importing and exporting circuits, so you can move them in and out of different tools or storage formats. The people who would use this are typically cryptography researchers or engineers working on secure multi-party computation, zero-knowledge proofs, or related fields. For example, if a team is building a system where multiple parties want to jointly compute something without revealing their individual inputs, they need to express that computation as a circuit. This library handles the plumbing, storing the circuit, transforming it, and running test evaluations, so the team can focus on the higher-level protocol. The project was developed with DARPA funding, which signals that it's oriented toward serious research and government-relevant applications. It's worth noting that this is a Rust library, meaning it's meant to be embedded inside other software rather than used as a standalone app. There's no user interface or command-line tool here, it's purely for developers who need these circuit operations in their own code. The README doesn't go into much detail on supported file formats or specific translation modes, so anyone evaluating it for production use would want to check the API documentation on docs.rs for the finer points.

prompts (copy fr)

prompt 1
Show me how to use the mcircuit Rust library to define a simple boolean circuit and evaluate it on real input values.
prompt 2
How do I import a circuit from a file using mcircuit and extract its inputs and outputs?
prompt 3
Write Rust code using mcircuit to translate a boolean circuit into an arithmetic circuit representation.
prompt 4
Help me set up a Cargo project that depends on mcircuit and runs plaintext evaluation on a sample arithmetic circuit.

Frequently asked questions

what is mcircuit fr?

A Rust library for representing, manipulating, and evaluating boolean and arithmetic circuits, the math structures behind advanced cryptography and secure computation.

What language is mcircuit written in?

Mainly Rust. The stack also includes Rust.

Is mcircuit actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2023-09-11).

How hard is mcircuit to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is mcircuit for?

Mainly researcher.

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