> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.rome.builders/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.rome.builders/getting-started/what-is-rome.md).

# What is Rome?

Rome is an EVM execution environment that runs inside Solana. Whatever you build on Rome is open to everyone at once — EVM users, Solana users, and users on other chains. You build once, and each of them can reach it.

## How Rome works

Rome embeds a full EVM bytecode interpreter as a Solana on-chain program. When you deploy a Solidity contract on Rome, it lives on Solana; when it runs, it runs inside Solana's runtime with direct access to any Solana program — SPL Token, Jupiter, Kamino, Meteora, or your own program — atomically, in one transaction. EVM and Solana share the same state, so a token on Solana and its ERC-20 form in the EVM are the same account: nothing is bridged or wrapped.

Because it all runs on Solana, **either wallet drives the same apps.** A MetaMask user signs an EVM transaction the usual way. A Phantom user signs with their **Solana** key — no EVM keypair, no separate address — and uses the very same Solidity apps directly. Both reach the same contracts and the same state, each with the identity they already have.

```mermaid
flowchart LR
    MM["MetaMask (EVM key)"] --> APPS
    PH["Phantom (Solana key)"] --> APPS
    APPS["Rome: your Solidity apps<br/>one shared state, inside Solana"] --> PROGS["Solana programs<br/>Jupiter, Meteora, Pyth"]
```

## How to use Rome

There are four ways to build on Rome. Each has a guide, and working code you can read.

### Bring your Solidity

Deploy your existing Solidity contracts as they are. On Rome they can call Solana programs atomically — a swap, a price read — inside one transaction, and the same contract is open to EVM wallets, Solana wallets, and users arriving from other chains.

**How to build it:** [Deploy Solidity](/developer-guides/deploy-solidity.md), then [Call Solana from EVM](/developer-guides/call-solana-from-evm.md).

**Examples to read:** Compound v3 and Aave v3 run on Rome unchanged — [compound-on-rome-comet](https://github.com/rome-protocol/compound-on-rome-comet), [rome-aave-v3](https://github.com/rome-protocol/rome-aave-v3). [Aerarium](https://github.com/rome-protocol/aerarium) is a lending app where EVM and Solana users share one market.

### Bring your Solana program

Your Solana program keeps doing what it already does for your Solana users. On Rome it also becomes reachable from Solidity, so EVM users — and users on other chains — can use it too, with no changes to the program.

**How to build it:** [Call a Solana program from EVM](/developer-guides/call-solana-from-evm.md); [Call EVM from Solana](/developer-guides/call-evm-from-solana.md) covers the other direction.

**Examples to read:** [cardo](https://github.com/rome-protocol/cardo) reaches Jupiter, Meteora, Marinade, and Mango from an EVM account.

### Bring your idea

Start something new that uses both sides from the beginning — one pool that EVM and Solana users share, a market both sides borrow from, an oracle that brings Solana prices into the EVM. Every audience can use it from day one.

**How to build it:** first [choose your core](/core-concepts/choose-your-core.md), then [Call Solana from EVM](/developer-guides/call-solana-from-evm.md) and the [DeFi patterns](/use-cases/defi-protocols.md).

**Examples to read:** [rome-dex](https://github.com/rome-protocol/rome-dex) is one pool traded by both EVM and Solana wallets; [rome-oracle-gateway](https://github.com/rome-protocol/rome-oracle-gateway) reads Solana price feeds and serves them to Solidity through a standard Chainlink interface.

### From home

Your users don't have to move. From their home chain — Arbitrum, Monad, or any other chain — they can reach a Rome app and get to Solana without leaving where they already are.

**How to build it:** [From home: reach Rome from another chain](/developer-guides/from-home.md).

**Examples to read:** [appia](https://github.com/rome-protocol/appia) — users bring USDC from their home chain and use Rome-side DeFi; [rome-bridge-api](https://github.com/rome-protocol/rome-bridge-api) is the bridge orchestrator.

## Run it on your own chain

When you're ready, you can run any of this on your own Rome chain, with your own gas token and fees that accrue to your app. See [App Sovereignty](/products/app-sovereignty.md).

## Prerequisites

* Solidity experience (Hardhat or Foundry), or a Solana program to bring
* A wallet — MetaMask and/or a Solana wallet like Phantom
* A basic grasp of Solana's account model (see [Key Concepts](/getting-started/key-concepts.md))

## What's Next

* [Quickstart](/getting-started/quickstart.md) — deploy your first contract in minutes
* [Architecture](/getting-started/architecture.md) — how EVM execution works inside Solana
* [Apps on Rome](/apps-on-rome/apps.md) — the full catalog of live apps and their repos


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