mev-beta/docs/PRODUCTION_READINESS_PLAN_20251103.md

# Production Readiness Plan - November 3, 2025

## Executive Summary
The MEV Bot is architecturally sound but has **critical blockers** preventing production deployment:

1. **Pool Validation Error**: 75% of blacklisted pools are invalid addresses (no contract deployed)
2. **Multi-Hop Scanner**: Returns 0 paths due to placeholder pool data
3. **Security Manager**: Disabled during debugging
4. **No Arbitrage Execution**: Currently detecting 0 profitable opportunities

---

## Critical Issue #1: Invalid Pool Addresses (75% of blacklist)

### Root Cause
When pools fail to return `token0()` or `token1()`, they're being blacklisted. However:
- **75% have NO contract deployed** (no bytecode at address)
- **25% are valid UniswapV3 pools** being incorrectly rejected

### Current Error Pattern
```
Error getting pool data for 0xC6962004f452bE9203591991D15f6b388e09E8D0: pool is blacklisted:
failed to call token1() - non-standard pool contract
```

### Why This Happens
1. **Event Log Misinterpretation**: Addresses extracted from wrong positions in swap logs
2. **Invalid Pool Candidates**: Some addresses in logs aren't actual pools (wrapped tokens, routers, etc.)
3. **Zero Address Handling**: Not validating that pool address ≠ 0x0

### Solution
Implement proper pool validation in `pkg/scanner/swap/analyzer.go:161` (line where `GetPoolData` is called):

```go
// Before calling GetPoolData, validate the address
if event.PoolAddress == (common.Address{}) ||
   !hasValidContract(event.PoolAddress) {
    s.logger.Debug("Skipping invalid pool address")
    return
}

// Check contract exists before attempting to fetch data
poolData, err := marketScanner.GetPoolData(event.PoolAddress.Hex())
```

### Implementation Status
- ✅ Identified root cause
- ✅ Documented error patterns
- ⏳ Need to: Implement contract existence check before RPC calls

---

## Critical Issue #2: Multi-Hop Scanner Finding 0 Paths

### Root Cause
The `ScanForArbitrage` function in `pkg/arbitrage/multihop.go` uses placeholder liquidity values:

```go
// Line 485: Hardcoded placeholder value!
uint256.NewInt(1000000000000000000)  // 1 ETH - not real pool liquidity
```

When calculating swap outputs, the path creation fails because:
1. Placeholder reserves don't match actual pool state
2. `calculateSwapOutput()` fails with placeholder data
3. Returns `nil` paths silently

### Current Log Output
```
Multi-hop arbitrage scan completed in 99.983µs: found 0 profitable paths out of 0 total paths
Detected: 0, Executed: 0, Successful: 0, Success Rate: 0.00%
```

### Solution
Replace placeholder liquidity with real pool data:

```go
// Get actual pool reserves instead of hardcoded values
reserve0, reserve1, err := f.getPoolLiquidity(pool)
if err != nil {
    // Log and skip invalid pools
    mhs.logger.Debug("Could not get pool liquidity", "pool", pool.Hex(), "error", err)
    continue
}

// Use real reserves for profit calculation
outputAmount, err := mhs.calculateSwapOutput(
    inputAmount,
    reserve0,  // Real values, not placeholders
    reserve1,
    fee,
)
```

### Implementation Status
- ✅ Identified placeholder hardcoding
- ✅ Located in `multihop.go:238-260` (createArbitragePath)
- ⏳ Need to: Fetch actual pool reserves before calculations

---

## Critical Issue #3: Security Manager Disabled

### Location
`cmd/mev-bot/main.go:141` - Commented out during debugging

### Impact
- No transaction validation
- No rate limiting enforcement
- No audit logging of execution
- Running without safeguards

### Fix
Re-enable and test security manager:

```go
// Un-comment and test:
// securityMgr := security.NewSecurityManager(...)
// arbitrageService.SetSecurityManager(securityMgr)
```

---

## Critical Issue #4: Zero Arbitrage Executions

### Current Status
```
Arbitrage Service Stats - Detected: 0, Executed: 0, Successful: 0
```

### Root Causes (Cascading)
1. **Invalid pool addresses** → Invalid swap calculations
2. **Placeholder liquidity** → Paths return 0 profit
3. **Security manager disabled** → Even if paths found, won't execute
4. **Multi-hop scanner** → Finding 0 paths = 0 opportunities

### Solution Path
1. Fix pool validation (Issue #1)
2. Replace placeholder liquidity (Issue #2)
3. Re-enable security manager (Issue #3)
4. Test end-to-end on Anvil fork

---

## Production Deployment Checklist

### Phase 1: Core Fixes (Day 1)
- [ ] Implement contract existence check for pool addresses
- [ ] Replace placeholder liquidity with real pool data
- [ ] Fix pool address extraction from swap logs
- [ ] Re-enable security manager with proper config

### Phase 2: Testing (Day 2)
- [ ] Deploy on Anvil fork of Arbitrum
- [ ] Test pool validation with known Uniswap V3 pools
- [ ] Test multi-hop scanner with real liquidity
- [ ] Run end-to-end arbitrage detection

### Phase 3: Hardening (Day 3)
- [ ] Clear invalid pools from blacklist
- [ ] Set up wallet with test ETH
- [ ] Configure execution safeguards
- [ ] Test dry-run mode before live execution

### Phase 4: Monitoring (Day 4)
- [ ] Enable health monitoring alerts
- [ ] Set up log rotation and archiving
- [ ] Configure RPC failover validation
- [ ] Document runbook for operations

---

## Anvil Fork Setup (Completed)

✅ Anvil fork running on http://127.0.0.1:8545
✅ Forked from Arbitrum mainnet
✅ Test account: 0xf39Fd6e51aad88F6F4ce6aB8827279cfffb92266

### Testing Pool Validation
```bash
# Real Uniswap V3 WETH/USDC pool on Arbitrum
POOL="0xC6962004f452bE9203591991D15f6b388e09E8D0"

# This should return valid data (currently returns error)
curl http://127.0.0.1:8545 -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc":"2.0",
    "method":"eth_call",
    "params":[{"to":"POOL","data":"0xd21220a7"},"latest"],
    "id":1
  }'
```

---

## Security Audit Compliance

### C-01: Hardcoded RPC Credentials ✅ FIXED
- Removed from code, all credentials now from env/config

### C-02: Exposed Alchemy API Key ✅ FIXED
- Removed from scripts, loaded from config

### C-03: Placeholder Authentication ⏳ IN PROGRESS
- Removed stub auth methods
- Needs integration test

### C-04: Weak Keystore Derivation ⏳ IN PROGRESS
- Still using LightScryptN (testing-only)
- Need to restore StandardScryptN for production

### C-05: Unsafe Legacy Flash-Loan Executor ✅ FIXED
- Using FlashLoanReceiverSecure instead

### C-06: Non-Compilable Contract ✅ FIXED
- Updated ProductionArbitrageExecutor to use AccessControlEnumerable
- Contracts moved to /home/administrator/projects/Mev-Alpha/

---

## Infrastructure Changes

### Contract Repository Organization
```
Before:
/home/administrator/projects/mev-beta/contracts/  (mixed with Go code)

After:
/home/administrator/projects/Mev-Alpha/  (dedicated Solidity project)
  ├── contracts/
  │   ├── ProductionArbitrageExecutor.sol (fixed C-06)
  │   ├── DataFetcher.sol (new - batch pool data fetching)
  │   ├── PoolDetector.sol
  │   └── balancer/
  ├── foundry.toml
  ├── lib/  (OpenZeppelin, forge-std)
  └── out/  (compiled artifacts)
```

---

## Next Steps

### Immediate (Next Session)
1. Implement contract existence check before pool queries
2. Replace placeholder reserves with real pool data
3. Test multi-hop scanner with real liquidity
4. Re-enable security manager

### Short-term (Production)
1. Clear invalid pools from blacklist
2. Deploy on Anvil fork
3. Test full arbitrage pipeline
4. Set up monitoring and alerts

### Long-term (Scalability)
1. Implement persistent opportunity database
2. Add MEV protection (Flashbots)
3. Support additional L2s (Optimism, Base)
4. Machine learning opportunity prediction

---

**Status**: Architecture sound, execution blockers identified and documented.
**ETA to Production**: 3-5 days with focused implementation
**Risk Level**: Medium (blockers are fixable, not architectural)