Yearn Roles & Governance

Role Architecture

The Yearn V3 Role Architecture for a BaseStrategy centers around three primary roles: Manager, Keeper, and Fee Recipient. Each role has distinct responsibilities to ensure smooth operations, proper governance, and secure profit realization.

Primary Roles and Responsibilities

Role

Responsibilities

Manager

Controls key parameters, executes emergency functions, and configures fees.

Keeper

Triggers state updates via report() calls, enabling profit realization.

Fee Recipient

Passively receives performance fees during profit distribution.

Manager

The Manager oversees the configuration of critical strategy parameters, handles role assignments, and executes emergency controls when needed.

Responsibilities:

  • Parameter Control:

    • Configures profitMaxUnlockTime (profit unlocking duration).

    • Sets performanceFee (fee percentage).

    • Assigns performanceFeeRecipient (fee distribution address).

    • Assigns the keeper role.

  • Emergency Functions:

    • Enables or disables the strategy via the shutdown flag.

    • Executes emergency actions through the emergencyAdmin.

  • Role Management:

    • Manages 2-step ownership transfers (management and pendingManagement).

Manager-Controlled Fields (in StrategyData struct):

struct StrategyData {        
   uint32 profitMaxUnlockTime;     // Unlock duration
   uint16 performanceFee;          // Fee percentage
   address performanceFeeRecipient;// Fee recipient
   address keeper;                 // Keeper address
   address management;             // Current manager
   address pendingManagement;      // Pending manager
   address emergencyAdmin;         // Emergency admin
   bool shutdown;                  // Emergency control
}

Keeper

The Keeper is responsible for maintaining strategy operations by periodically calling the report() function. This role focuses on ensuring accurate profit realization and portfolio updates.

Responsibilities:

  • Report Calls:

    • Executes report() to calculate totalAssets, determine profit/loss, and trigger profit unlocking.

    • Updates the lastReport timestamp and related state fields.

Keeper-Accessible Fields (in StrategyData struct):

struct StrategyData {      
   uint256 profitUnlockingRate;    // Rate of profit unlocking
   uint96 fullProfitUnlockDate;    // Unlock completion date
   uint96 lastReport;              // Timestamp of last report
}

Key Features of report():

  • Calculates the new totalAssets.

  • Determines realized profit or loss.

  • Sets profitUnlockingRate and updates fullProfitUnlockDate.

  • Records the lastReport timestamp for tracking.

The Keeper does not directly control strategy parameters but ensures the system operates within defined configurations by updating state through reporting.

Fee Recipient

The Fee Recipient passively receives performance fees during profit realization.

Responsibilities:

  • Collects performance fees as specified by the strategy (e.g., 10% of realized profits by default).

  • Receives fees directly into the designated address (performanceFeeRecipient) during the report() process.

The Fee Recipient does not perform any actions or control parameters—it simply receives the allocated fees as part of the profit distribution.

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