An EIP, or Ethereum Improvement Proposal, is a design document used to describe and discuss changes or information relevant to Ethereum. It normally records the motivation, technical specification, rationale, and relevant compatibility or security considerations. An EIP number identifies a document; it does not by itself mean a feature is adopted or available.
Different purposes
Standards Track proposals cover areas such as core protocol rules, networking, interfaces, and application standards. ERCs are the application-standard category, including token interfaces. Meta proposals concern processes, while Informational proposals provide guidance or background without necessarily representing community consensus.
For example, EIP-1559 specified changes to Ethereum’s execution transaction-fee market, including a protocol-determined base fee.
From proposal to implementation
Documents can progress through Draft, Review, Last Call, and Final, or become Stagnant or Withdrawn. Editors check document quality and process requirements; assigning a number is not a unilateral decision to change Ethereum.
Core protocol changes require implementation work, testing, and coordination around network upgrades. A proposal’s publication does not automatically update node software. “Final” describes its standing in the standards process, not a security certification for every implementation.
To understand whether a feature applies, check the proposal’s status alongside the relevant network’s implementation and activation history.