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nventuro merged 2 commits into from
Feb 24, 2026
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docs: minor clarification #20788

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docs: minor clarification
nventuro Feb 23, 2026
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Merge branch 'merge-train/fairies' into nico/f-176-indicate-public-nu…
nventuro Feb 24, 2026
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12 changes: 8 additions & 4 deletions noir-projects/aztec-nr/aztec/src/context/public_context.nr
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Expand Up @@ -158,15 +158,15 @@ impl PublicContext {
///
/// ## Public vs Private
///
/// In general, it is unsafe to check for nullifier non-existence in private, as that will not consider the
/// In general, one should not attempt to prove nullifier non-existence in private, as that will not consider the
/// possibility of the nullifier having been emitted in any transaction between the anchor block and the inclusion
/// block. Private functions instead prove existence via
/// [`crate::context::PrivateContext::assert_nullifier_exists`]
/// and 'prove' non-existence by _emitting_ the nullifer, which would cause the transaction to fail if the
/// nullifier existed.
///
/// This is not the case in public functions, which do have access to the tip of the blockchain and so can reliably
/// prove whether a nullifier exists or not.
/// This is not the case in public functions, which **do** have access to the tip of the blockchain and so can
/// reliably prove whether a nullifier exists or not.
///
/// ## Safety
///
Expand All @@ -175,7 +175,11 @@ impl PublicContext {
/// existence of a nullifier emitted from a private function implies that all other side-effects of said private
/// execution have been completed, more concretely that any enqueued public calls have been executed.
///
/// This is because all private transaction effects are committed _before_ enqueued public functions are run (in
/// For example, if a function in contract `A` privately emits nullifier `X` and then enqueues public function `Y`,
/// then it is **unsafe** for a contract `B` to infer that `Y` has alredy executed simply because `X` exists.
///
/// This is because **all** private transaction effects are committed _before_ enqueued public functions are run
/// (in
/// order to not reveal detailed timing information about the transaction), so it is possible to observe a
/// nullifier that was emitted alongside the enqueuing of a public call **before** said call has been completed.
///
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