Cardano's Dijkstra upgrade remains on its agreed technical scope and schedule, with developers targeting Linear Leios and Nested Transactions in Phase 1 by Q4 2026. According to Intersect's latest report, the current goal of the Haskell node team is to deliver Phase 1 (Nested Transactions and Linear Leios) to Cardano Mainnet by the end of 2026, which will offer an incremental rollout of key Dijkstra capabilities. Phase 2 activates Ouroboros Peras through an intra-era hard fork targeted for Q2 2027. The development community is holding firm on its roadmap, confirming that the scope and timing of the network's most significant protocol transition remain unchanged. Planning is now shifting toward ecosystem readiness, testnet reporting and support for alternative node implementations.
Linear Leios serves as the main scaling component of the first Dijkstra hard fork, introducing Endorser Blocks that can reference additional transactions and have them certified by stake-based committees. As reported by crypto.news, this design aims to increase throughput while retaining the existing base consensus guarantees. Phase 1 also includes Nested Transactions, new transaction and block serialization structures, PlutusV4 changes and several protocol parameter additions. Importantly, it will install the codec extensions and parameters required for Peras without activating Peras itself. The implementation will bring new updatable protocol parameters through Ouroboros Leios, marking a significant upgrade to Cardano's core protocol architecture.
Dijkstra is pushing Cardano toward greater node-client diversity through alternative implementations, with Amaru, an open-source Rust implementation, now relay-capable and validating network activity while synchronizing with the blockchain tip. According to Intersect's latest report, mainnet block production is targeted for November 2026, with the general block-producer release targeted for September 30, followed by a Dijkstra-compatible block producer milestone on October 29 and a Leios-compatible release on November 26. Amaru's design emphasizes modular architecture and lower hardware requirements, which could make participation more accessible for stake pool operators and developers. Node diversity could strengthen Cardano's infrastructure by reducing its dependence on one software implementation and giving operators greater flexibility when selecting infrastructure.
Dijkstra introduces protocol parameters that Cardano governance cannot change unless they appear explicitly within the Constitution's guardrails. Input Output therefore plans a single-proposal constitutional amendment adding the relevant parameters and permitted ranges, targeted for submission by September 11, 2026. The current target is to submit that governance action no later than Epoch 655, beginning September 11. Community discussion is being organized through Intersect's Constitutional Amendment Portal ($CAP), which had received four initial submissions by August 14. The Civics Committee will support the broader process, ensuring that community input is incorporated as the network approaches these technical milestones. This approach would establish governance coverage across Dijkstra's planned capabilities through a unified update instead of multiple separate proposals.
Ouroboros Peras is scheduled for Phase 2, adding a voting layer that allows committees of stake pool operators to vote on recent chain tips, giving Cardano a way to reach settlement faster than under standard Praos chain-depth rules. As reported by crypto.news, Intersect currently targets Q2 2027 for the Peras phase. That will require its own Preview and Pre-production deployments followed by another mainnet governance action. Phase 1 must already be active because it supplies the ledger structures and protocol parameters Peras requires. The second deployment will expand the network changes established through the first phase, representing a broader technical transition involving Cardano's protocol architecture, node infrastructure, and governance framework.
