stVaults Documentation Center
stVaults is the core innovation of Lido V3 — isolated, non-custodial staking primitives that let stakers and builders choose their own node operator while retaining optional access to stETH liquidity.
New to stVaults? Start with the product materials below. Already building or managing one? Jump straight into the docs by role.
Get Familiar with stVaults
| Resource | What it's for |
|---|---|
| 🧭 stVaults 101 — How Lido Works | How stVaults work, in plain language — a good starting point before the technical docs. |
| 🌐 stVaults — Product Page | What stVaults is and why it matters. Best link to share with someone who isn't technical. |
| 🏗️ stVaults Showcase | Live products already built on top of stVaults. |
| 📰 stVaults News & Deep Dives | Blog posts on stVaults product updates and on what's being built on top of it. |
| ⚙️ stVaults Architecture Overview | High-level overview of the stVaults and DeFi Wrapper architecture, including smart contract addresses and interfaces. |
| 🧮 Lido stVault Economics Model | Illustrates the economics of liquid staking through Lido stVaults, including Node Operator fees, Lido fees, and potential additional yield from utilizing stETH in DeFi. |
Explore the Docs by Role
| Section | Who it's for |
|---|---|
| 🛠️ Builders | Teams building a product on top of stVaults — DeFi integrations, wrappers, L2s, custom staking products. |
| 🏦 Vault Owners, Curators & Stakers | Anyone operating or managing an stVault: funding, minting, health monitoring, roles and permissions. |
| ⚙️ Node Operators | Node operators running validators for stVaults — onboarding, tiers, requirements. |
Concepts & Reference
| Resource | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 📚 Concepts & Reference | Architecture, roles & permissions, parameters & metrics, and other cross-cutting mechanics. |
| 📘 Lido V3 Technical Paper | The complete Technical Paper covers architecture, mechanisms, risks, and implementation details. |
| 🔍 V3 Audits | Security audit reports for stVaults and DeFi Wrapper. |
| 👁️ [Forum post] Risk assessment framework | Explains stVaults' risk assessment framework — global stake limits relative to Lido Core, tiered Reserve Ratios that discretize concentration risk per Node Operator, and how risk from stake concentration is attributed and governed. |
| 🧾 [Forum post] Fees structure and charging logic | Defines tiers of Reserve Ratio, Force Rebalance Threshold, minting caps, and fee parameters for stVaults across identified, DVT, and non-identified Node Operators. |
Qualified Custodians
| Resource | What it's for |
|---|---|
| 🏛️ Qualified Custodians Supporting stVaults | For institutional clients checking whether their custodian supports stVaults, and how to connect and use stVaults through it. |
Tools
| Tool | Link |
|---|---|
| Web UI — Mainnet | stvaults.lido.fi |
| Web UI — Hoodi Testnet | stvaults-hoodi.testnet.fi |
| Command-line interface (CLI) | CLI Docs |