Collect the sibling needed at each step toward the root.
LET’S PICTURE IT
A route to the top needs the neighboring branch at each junction.
SEE IT FOR YOURSELF
Build a root and follow one membership proofStep 1 / 4
This example hashes UTF-8 A, B, C and D. The displayed hashes are abbreviated, and the tree uses the playground’s sorted-pair convention.
This example hashes UTF-8 A, B, C and D. The displayed hashes are abbreviated, and the tree uses the playground’s sorted-pair convention.Each pair of raw child hashes is sorted, concatenated and hashed. The resulting parent fingerprints commit to their children.Hash the two parents under the same rule to obtain one root commitment. Changing a leaf changes the hashes on its path.The highlighted siblings are B and hash(C,D). Starting with A, the verifier recomputes its path and compares the final result with a trusted root.
Animated local teaching model. No wallet, RPC or live blockchain data. Some labels and hashes are abbreviated for readability.
Select one leaf
For the four-leaf example, choose A’s leaf hash. The proof should not include every other original item when a smaller sibling path is enough.
Collect its first sibling
A needs sibling B to reconstruct parent AB. Under sorted pairing, their complete hashes are sorted before the pair is hashed.
Collect the next sibling
Parent AB needs sibling parent CD to reconstruct the root. The proof for A therefore contains B and the combined CD node.
Preserve the verification order
The verifier consumes siblings from the leaf level upward. Reordering the proof list can change the computed root.