{
  "slug": "provers",
  "name": "Proof assistants and general verifiers",
  "short": "proof engineering",
  "title": "Proof assistants and general verifiers used in cryptography: Lean 4, Rocq, Isabelle, F*, ACL2, K, Certora Prover",
  "summary": "The foundations underneath the specialised frameworks: interactive proof assistants (Lean 4, Rocq, Isabelle/HOL, F*, ACL2), a semantics framework (K), and SMT-based verifiers for smart contracts (Certora Prover, Halmos, hevm). Choosing one fixes the ecosystem, the available libraries, the hiring pool and, increasingly, which AI proving tools can help.",
  "intro": [
    "In 2026 the ZK ecosystem has largely settled on Lean 4: Clean, zkLean, Halva, ArkLib, sp1-lean, Lampe, proven-zk, Nethermind's EVM model and StarkWare's Cairo proofs are all Lean. Rocq remains strong for implementation verification (Fiat-Crypto, Formal Land's rocq-of-rust and Garden, SSProve), Isabelle appears in Apple's corecrypto proofs, F* underpins HACL* and hax, and ACL2 has a mature but niche prime-field constraint library.",
    "Smart-contract verifiers are listed here because ZK verifiers deploy on-chain. Certora Prover, Halmos and hevm check the Solidity or bytecode around a verifier contract; none of them verifies the circuit."
  ],
  "choose": [
    "New ZK verification project in 2026: **Lean 4**. The libraries, the funded projects and the AI provers are there.",
    "Rust implementation verification with a Rocq team, or reuse of Fiat-Crypto: **Rocq**.",
    "C and ARM64 code with a refinement-style methodology: **Isabelle/HOL** with AutoCorres2, as Apple did.",
    "Executable semantics that both runs and proves (EVM, zkVM ISAs): the **K framework**.",
    "On-chain verifier contract properties: **Certora Prover** for full rule-based verification, **Halmos** or **hevm** for bounded symbolic checks."
  ],
  "tools": [
    {
      "name": "Lean 4 and Mathlib",
      "page": "https://sorryfree.com/frameworks/lean4/"
    },
    {
      "name": "Rocq (formerly Coq)",
      "page": "https://sorryfree.com/frameworks/rocq/"
    },
    {
      "name": "Isabelle/HOL",
      "page": "https://sorryfree.com/frameworks/isabelle/"
    },
    {
      "name": "F*",
      "page": "https://sorryfree.com/frameworks/fstar/"
    },
    {
      "name": "ACL2 (R1CS and PFCS books)",
      "page": "https://sorryfree.com/frameworks/acl2/"
    },
    {
      "name": "K framework and KEVM",
      "page": "https://sorryfree.com/frameworks/k-framework/"
    },
    {
      "name": "Certora Prover",
      "page": "https://sorryfree.com/frameworks/certora-prover/"
    }
  ],
  "page": "https://sorryfree.com/categories/provers/",
  "updated": "2026-09-13"
}