# FAQ

## General

**What is Rome Protocol?** Rome is an EVM execution environment running natively inside the Solana runtime. Solidity contracts deploy on Solana with direct CPI access to all Solana programs. See [What is Rome?](/getting-started/what-is-rome.md)

**Is Rome a bridge?** No. Rome EVM runs inside Solana's runtime as a first-class program. There's no message relay between separate chains. EVM state IS Solana state.

**Is Rome a rollup?** Rome uses OP Stack components (OP-Geth, Hercules indexer) for Ethereum RPC compatibility, but EVM execution happens on Solana L1 — not on a separate rollup chain.

## Development

**Can I use my existing Solidity contracts?** Yes. Standard Solidity contracts deploy unchanged on Rome. If your contracts use Chainlink oracles, the Oracle Gateway provides the same `AggregatorV3Interface`.

**What Solidity version should I use?** 0.8.28 is recommended (matches the Rome Solidity SDK). Earlier versions work.

**Can I use Hardhat? Foundry?** Both work. Configure your network with the Rome RPC URL and chain ID. See [Deploy Solidity](/developer-guides/deploy-solidity.md).

**Can I use MetaMask?** Yes. Add Rome as a custom network in MetaMask with the appropriate RPC URL and chain ID. See [Quickstart](/getting-started/quickstart.md).

**How do I call Solana programs from Solidity?** Use the CPI precompile (`0xFF...08`) via the Rome Solidity SDK. See [Call Solana from EVM](/developer-guides/call-solana-from-evm.md).

## Performance

**What's the transaction finality time?** Sub-second — same as Solana block time (\~400ms).

**What's the compute budget?** \~1.4M compute units per atomic transaction. Operations exceeding this use iterative mode (split across multiple Solana transactions). See [Compute Budget](/core-concepts/compute-budget.md).

## Tokens

**What gas token does Rome use?** Each chain chooses its own gas token — any SPL token. RSOL (wrapped SOL) is the default. Custom tokens are priced via Meteora pools.

**How do ERC-20 tokens work on Rome?** ERC-20 tokens on Rome are transparent wrappers over SPL tokens. `balanceOf()` reads directly from the SPL token account on Solana. See [Token Interop](/core-concepts/token-interop.md).

**Do Transfer Hooks work with Rome?** Yes. Rome is the only EVM environment where Solidity contracts can act as Token-2022 Transfer Hooks. See [Transfer Hooks](/core-concepts/transfer-hooks.md).

## Infrastructure

**Do I need to run my own node?** For development, connect to the devnet RPC at `https://montispl.devnet.romeprotocol.xyz`. For production, you'll need Proxy + Hercules + (optionally) OP-Geth.

**What databases does Rome need?** PostgreSQL for Hercules (block indexing) and Proxy (block queries in single-state mode). Default connection: `postgres://hercules:qwerty123@postgres_rome/test_rollup`.

**Can I run Rome locally?** Yes. `cd rome-setup/deploy && ./start-local.sh` brings up the full stack. See the rome-setup README.


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