# General Governance Updates

Snowbridge has several governance APIs that can only be executed using a democratic process via Polkadot OpenGov.

These APIs include:

* Updating the Gateway contract on Ethereum
* Updating pricing parameters for fee calculations

These APIs are available on the `EthereumSystem` pallet on BridgeHub. We have also developed a [tool](https://github.com/Snowfork/snowbridge/tree/main/control) for generating calls to these APIs.

## Steps for initiating a governance update

As an example, we will show how to upgrade the Gateway contract on Ethereum.

### **Generate the preimage**

Deploy the new gateway contract, and then generate a preimage for calling `EthereumSystem.upgrade`

```bash
snowbridge-preimage --format binary upgrade PARAMS > preimage.bin
 
```

### Test the update in chopsticks

The `snowbridge-preimage` tool will also generate a helper script `chopsticks-execute-upgrade.js` to execute the update in simulated chopsticks environment.

1. Run chopsticks and fork Polkadot, AssetHub, and BridgeHub, using these [configs](https://github.com/Snowfork/snowbridge/tree/main/control/chopsticks)

```
chopsticks xcm -r polkadot.yml -p polkadot-asset-hub.yml -p polkadot-bridge-hub.yml
```

2. Once the chopsticks environment has been initialized, connect to BridgeHub in Polkadot-JS, and execute the contents of `chopsticks-execute-upgrade.js` in the Polkadot-JS Javascript console.

A more [complicated](/resources/test-runtime-upgrades.md) testing scenario would involve having to upgrade BridgeHub with new code, and then calling a governance API.

### OpenGov

The next step involves submitting the proposal to the Whitelisted Caller track in OpenGov.

This actually involves two referendums:

* A referendum on the Collectives chain where the technical fellowship vote to whitelist the preimage.
* A public referendum on Polkadot where the general public vote to execute the whitelisted preimage.

We use the tool [opengov-cli](https://github.com/joepetrowski/opengov-cli) to generate the various calls required to setup these referendums.

```
opengov-cli submit-referendum --proposal preimage.hex --network polkadot --track whitelisted-caller --after 100 --output-len-limit 100 --output AppsUiLink
```


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.snowbridge.network/resources/governance-updates.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.