🚀 Votex quick start guide

This guide gives validators a practical understanding of how The Vault gauges work and how to use them effectively with Votex in under five minutes.

Banner: A guide welcomes two participants to a cream voting marketplace with a blank orange ballot card, a small lock and a validator server model.

What you need to know in 5 minutes

Gauges allow validators to receive stake through a weekly voting mechanism. Validators acquire voting power, votes are cast, and stake is distributed for the following epoch. This process repeats weekly.

What gauges are

Gauges are a vote based stake allocation system:

Validators acquire voting power.
Votes are cast for a specific epoch.
Stake is distributed based on vote share.
Votes expire after one week and must be renewed.

This creates a predictable, transparent way to attract stake through market pricing.

Key numbers at a glance

Voting epochs last 7 days.
A minimum commitment of 2 to 3 weeks is recommended.
The stakebot runs every 3 hours.
Initial impact is visible after one week when using Votex.
Delta updates appear within 3 hours of a new epoch starting.
Stake moves over the following 1 to 2 Solana epochs after the new gauge epoch starts.

Follow the quick process

Buy votes

Visit https://votex.so/daos.
Confirm voting is open. Voting is available six days per week and closes on the final day of the epoch.
Purchase votes for your validator, as shown in How to buy gauge votes. Any wallet can be used and it does not need to remain consistent week to week.

Wait for the next epoch

Check the Gauge cycle timeline on The Vault's Gauges page. Votes always apply to the next epoch after purchase, so wait for it to start. Gauge epochs last one week and don't line up with Solana epochs.

Example: votes purchased during Epoch 20 apply to Epoch 21.

Check your delta

Visit https://thevault.finance/validators.
Locate your validator and review the delta column.

Deltas typically appear within three hours of the new epoch starting.

Wait for stake distribution

Continue monitoring your validator page for updates. Once the gauge epoch is set, the stakebot moves stake to the new targets over the following Solana epochs. Stake is processed through a priority queue. First time or large stake allocations may take slightly longer.

Repeat weekly

Votes only last one week. To retain or grow stake, you must vote again for the next epoch. Most validators see the strongest results after two to three consecutive weeks.

Example timeline

Day 0, Monday: votes are purchased during Epoch 20.
Near the end of Epoch 20: Votex casts votes on your behalf.
Day 7, Monday: Epoch 21 begins.
Within 3 hours: your delta appears on the dashboard.
From Day 7: the stakebot moves stake to the new targets over the following 1 to 2 Solana epochs.
Day 14: votes must be renewed for Epoch 22 (Figure 10.18).

Example timeline showing votes bought in Epoch 20 on Day 0 and cast by Votex near the end of that epoch, Epoch 21 beginning with the delta appearing within 3 hours on Day 7, stake moving over the following 1 to 2 Solana epochs, and vote renewal for Epoch 22 on Day 14.

Figure 10.18: Example voting timeline

Stake priority rules

Stake is processed in the following order (Figure 10.19):

First priority: direct stake combined with gauge stake.
Second priority: undirected stake.

Within each priority tier, validators with larger deltas are processed first.

A two-tier queue processes direct stake combined with gauge stake before undirected stake, with larger validator deltas processed first within each tier.