Serialization formats

The serialization formats in this document describes the binary format used to encode the different objects in the binary format that is used for:

Hashing (e.g., block hash)
Insertion in the Merkle Patricia Tree (e.g., state trees, transaction trees).
Signing transactions (i.e., the (hash of the) serialized form is signed).

Other formats may be used for communication between nodes or for the user API.

Blocks and headers

There are two types of blocks:

micro block - contains a header and a list of transactions.
key block - contains only a header.

Blocks are serialized in a staged manner for uniformity. The key block does not contain any more information than the header, so the representation of the block and the header is the same. Micro blocks has a static size header and a dynamic size "body".

The header starts with a version number (32 bits), followed by a reserved flags field (32 bits). The first flag bit marks the header as a key or micro header. Other flag fields are defined separately for the header types. Note that unused flags must be set to zero.

Header type flag	Header type
0	micro
1	key

Key block/header

All field sizes are statically known and can be constructed directly as a byte array. The header starts with a version number (32 bits), followed by a reserved flags field (32 bits).

For flag bits:

In Roma release, only one flag bit is used, to mark the header as a key header.
In Minerva release, another bit is used, to mark the presence of an optional info field in the header.
Other flags must be set to zero.

Fieldname	Size (bytes)	Notes
version	32 bits
key_tag	1 bit
info_flag	1 bit	From Minerva protocol
unused_flag	1 bit (set to 0)	For Roma protocol
unused_flags	30 bits (all set to 0)
height	8
prev_hash	32
prev_key_hash	32
state_hash	32
miner	32
beneficiary	32
target	4
pow	168
nonce	8
time	8
info	0 or 4	From Minerva protocol

Note:

The info field is either present, and of size 4 bytes, or not present (0 bytes). The presence of the info field must be signalled by setting the info_flag to 1. The contents of the info field has no current interpretation, but the plan is to use it to signal information about the miners (e.g., if the miners are aware of a coming hard fork).

Micro block

Fieldname	Size
Micro Header	216 or 238 bytes (see below)
Micro Body	variable

Micro block header

Fieldname	Size (bytes)
version	32 bits
micro_tag	1 bit
has_fraud	1 bit
unused_flags	30 bits (all set to 0)
height	8
prev_hash	32
prev_key_hash	32
state_hash	32
txs_hash	32
time	8
fraud_hash	0 or 32
signature	64

Note:

The field for signature (64 bytes) must be filled with only zeroes when constructing or validating the signature.
The micro block header has two valid sizes depending on whether the block contains Proof of Fraud or not. This is signalled using the has_fraud flag.

has_fraud	fraud_hash size
1	32 bytes
0	0 bytes

Dynamic size object serialization

In this section we use [] to mean lists, <name> to denote fields, , to separate fields in lists. We use :: to separate fields from their types . We use int() to denote the integer type and binary() to denote the byte array type. Variable length lists are denoted with [] in the type domain (e.g., [int()] is a list of integers). Fixed length lists are denoted with '{}' (e.g. '{int(), int()}') denotes a list of exactly two integers. We use ++ as the list concatenation operator. We also use the bool() type as the special case of the integers 0 and 1 used as the boolean type.

The id() type

The special type id() is a binary() denoting a tagged binary (e.g., hash or public key) referring to an object in the chain (e.g., account, oracle) . The first byte is a tag denoting which type of identifier, and the remaining 32 bytes is the identifier itself. This is used to distinguish between identifiers where there can be ambiguity.

Id tag	Identifier type
1	account
2	name
3	commitment
4	oracle
5	contract
6	channel

In Erlang notation, the id() type pattern is:

<<Tag:1/unsigned-integer-unit:8, Hash:32/binary-unit:8>>

The call_return_type() type

The special type call_return_type() is an int() denoting the outcome of a contract call.

Value	Return type
0	ok
1	error
2	revert

RLP Encoding

We use the Recursive Length Prefix encoding (https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/RLP) for serializing objects that have dynamic sizes of the fields.

RLP ensures that there is only one serialization of each corresponding object on the lowest level, but it can only encode two primitive objects, lists and byte arrays.

RLP ensures that the serialization is a non-empty byte array.

Objects in æternity are encoded as lists of fields, where the two first fields describe the object type and the object version.

[ <tag>, <version>, <field1>, <field2>...]

Since all values are byte arrays in RLP, int() needs to be a byte array as well. We encode all integers as unsigned, big endian byte arrays. To avoid ambiguity in the encoding of integers, we adapt the same scheme as RLP and demand that integers are encoded with the minimal number of bytes (i.e., disallow leading zeroes in the encoded byte array). Negative integers is not used in the serialization format since they are not needed. If the need arises, the scheme should be extended.

Binary serialization

The serialization, S, of a dynamic size object, O, is defined as

S(O) = rlp([tag(O), vsn(O)] ++ fields(O))

where the tag is given in the table below, and the fields are in the subsequent sections divided by object.

Table of object tags

Type	Tag
Account	10
Signed transaction	11
Spend transaction	12
Oracle	20
Oracle query	21
Oracle register transaction	22
Oracle query transaction	23
Oracle response transaction	24
Oracle extend transaction	25
Name service name	30
Name service commitment	31
Name service claim transaction	32
Name service preclaim transaction	33
Name service update transaction	34
Name service revoke transaction	35
Name service transfer transaction	36
Contract	40
Contract call	41
Contract create transaction	42
Contract call transaction	43
Channel create transaction	50
Channel set delegates transaction	501
Channel deposit transaction	51
Channel withdraw transaction	52
Channel force progress transaction	521
Channel close mutual transaction	53
Channel close solo transaction	54
Channel slash transaction	55
Channel settle transaction	56
Channel off-chain transaction	57
Channel off-chain update transfer	570
Channel off-chain update deposit	571
Channel off-chain update withdrawal	572
Channel off-chain update create contract	573
Channel off-chain update call contract	574
Channel client reconnect transaction	575
Channel	58
Channel snapshot transaction	59
POI	60
Trees with DB	61
State trees	62
Merkle Patricia tree	63
Merkle Patricia tree's value	64
Contracts' Merkle Patricia tree's value	621
Contract Calls' Merkle Patricia tree's value	622
Channels' Merkle Patricia tree's value	623
Nameservice's Merkle Patricia tree's value	624
Oracles' Merkle Patricia tree's value	625
Accounts' Merkle Patricia tree's value	626
Sophia byte code	70
Generalized accounts attach transaction	80
Generalized accounts meta transaction	81
PayingFor transaction	82
Key block	100
Micro block	101
Light micro block	102
Proof of Fraud	200

Accounts (version 1, Basic accounts))

[ <nonce>   :: int()
, <balance> :: int()
]

Accounts (version 2, Generalized accounts, from Fortuna release)

[ <flags>       :: int()
, <nonce>       :: int()
, <balance>     :: int()
, <ga_contract> :: id()
, <ga_auth_fun> :: binary()
]

Accounts (version 3, Normal accounts with flags, from Lima release)

[ <flags>       :: int()
, <nonce>       :: int()
, <balance>     :: int()
]

Signed transaction

[ <signatures>  :: [binary()]
, <transaction> :: binary()
]

Type signatures are sorted.

Spend transaction

[ <sender>    :: id()
, <recipient> :: id()
, <amount>    :: int()
, <fee>       :: int()
, <ttl>       :: int()
, <nonce>     :: int()
, <payload>   :: binary()
]

The recipient must be one of the following:

An account identifier.
An oracle identifier.
A contract identifier.
A name identifier, whose related name entry has an identifier as value of pointer with key account_pubkey. If multiple pointer entries are present for such key, then the first of such entries is used.

Oracles

[ <owner>           :: id()
, <query_format>    :: binary()
, <response_format> :: binary()
, <query_fee>       :: int()
, <expires>         :: int()
, <abi_version>>    :: int()
]

Oracle queries

[ <sender_address> :: id()
, <sender_nonce>   :: int()
, <oracle_address> :: id()
, <query>          :: binary()
, <has_response>   :: bool()
, <response>       :: binary()
, <expires>        :: int()
, <response_ttl>   :: int()
, <fee>            :: int()
]

Oracle register transaction

[ <account>       :: id()
, <nonce>         :: int()
, <query_spec>    :: binary()
, <response_spec> :: binary()
, <query_fee>     :: int()
, <ttl_type>      :: int()
, <ttl_value>     :: int()
, <fee>           :: int()
, <ttl>           :: int()
, <abi_version>   :: int()
]

Oracle query transaction

[ <sender>             :: id()
, <nonce>              :: int()
, <oracle>             :: id()
, <query>              :: binary()
, <query_fee>          :: int()
, <query_ttl_type>     :: int()
, <query_ttl_value>    :: int()
, <response_ttl_type>  :: int()
, <response_ttl_value> :: int()
, <fee>                :: int()
, <ttl>                :: int()

Oracle response transaction

[ <oracle>             :: id()
, <nonce>              :: int()
, <query_id>           :: binary()
, <response>           :: binary()
, <response_ttl_type>  :: int()
, <response_ttl_value> :: int()
, <fee>                :: int()
, <ttl>                :: int()
]

Oracle extend transaction

[ <oracle>    :: id()
, <nonce>     :: int()
, <ttl_type>  :: int()
, <ttl_value> :: int()
, <fee>       :: int()
, <ttl>       :: int()
]

Contracts

For a contract with address <contractpubkey>, the fields of the contract object (to which tag and version need to be prepended) are:

[ <owner>      :: id()
, <ct_version> :: int()
, <code>       :: binary()
, <log>        :: binary(),
, <active>     :: bool(),
, <referers>   :: [id()],
, <deposit>    :: int()
]

The log field is always the empty binary.

The balance of the account is stored in the account state tree.

The contract storage (or state) which is a key value map from (key::binary() to value::binary()) is stored in its own subtree. The key for a contract storage value is:

<contractpubkey><16><key> :: binary()

The <key> is non-empty.

Each value is just stored as a binary as is - without tag or version. If the value is the empty binary the key is pruned from the tree.

The content of the contract store depends on the ABI and the VM version.

From FATE VM version 2, stored code is the same as from the corresponding contract create operation. FATE VM version 1 contracts are stored without an init function. The only way to check the init function of a FATE v1 deployed contract is to look at the Contract create transaction.

Contract call (version 2, from Roma release)

[ <caller_id>        :: id()
, <caller_nonce>     :: int()
, <height>           :: int()
, <contract_id>      :: id()
, <gas_price>        :: int()
, <gas_used>         :: int()
, <return_value>     :: binary()
, <return_type>      :: call_return_type()
, <log>              :: [ { <address> :: id, [ <topics> :: binary() ], <data> :: binary() } ]
]

Contract call (version 3, with ct_call_id, from Ceres release)

[ <caller_id>        :: id()
, <caller_nonce>     :: int()
, <height>           :: int()
, <contract_id>      :: id()
, <ct_call_id>       :: binary()
, <gas_price>        :: int()
, <gas_used>         :: int()
, <return_value>     :: binary()
, <return_type>      :: call_return_type()
, <log>              :: [ { <address> :: id, [ <topics> :: binary() ], <data> :: binary() } ]
]

Contract create transaction

[ <owner>      :: id()
, <nonce>      :: int()
, <code>       :: binary()
, <ct_version> :: int()
, <fee>        :: int()
, <ttl>        :: int()
, <deposit>    :: int()
, <amount>     :: int()
, <gas>        :: int()
, <gas_price>  :: int()
, <call_data>  :: binary()
]

Contract call transaction

[ <caller>      :: id()
, <nonce>       :: int()
, <contract>    :: id()
, <abi_version> :: int()
, <fee>         :: int()
, <ttl>         :: int()
, <amount>      :: int()
, <gas>         :: int()
, <gas_price>   :: int()
, <call_data>   :: binary()
]

Note: From Ceres protocol version contract can be a name (where the contract_pubkey key defines the contract to be called. No type change.

Name service name

[ <owner>      :: id()
, <expires_by> :: int()
, <status>     :: binary()
, <client_ttl> :: int()
, <pointers>   :: [{binary(), id()}]

Name service commitment

[ <owner>   :: id()
, <created> :: int()
, <expires> :: int()
]

Name service claim transaction

[ <account>   :: id()
, <nonce>     :: int()
, <name>      :: binary() %% The actual name, not the hash
, <name_salt> :: int()
, <name_fee>  :: int()
, <fee>       :: int()
, <ttl>       :: int()
]

Name service preclaim transaction

[ <account>    :: id()
, <nonce>      :: int()
, <commitment> :: id()
, <fee>        :: int()
, <ttl>        :: int()
]

Name service update transaction

[ <account>    :: id()
, <nonce>      :: int()
, <hash>       :: id()
, <name_ttl>   :: int()
, <pointers>   :: [{binary(), id()}]
, <client_ttl> :: int()
, <fee>        :: int()
, <ttl>        :: int()
]

Name service revoke transaction

[ <account> :: id()
, <nonce>   :: int()
, <hash>    :: id()
, <fee>     :: int()
, <ttl>     :: int()
]

Name service transfer transaction

[ <account>   :: id()
, <nonce>     :: int()
, <hash>      :: id()
, <recipient> :: id()
, <fee>       :: int()
, <ttl>       :: int()
]

The recipient must be one of the following:

An account identifier.
A name identifier, whose related name entry has an identifier as value of pointer with key account_pubkey. If multiple pointer entries are present for such key, then the first of such entries is used.

Channels

Channel create transaction (version 1, until Iris release)

[ <initiator>        :: id()
, <initiator_amount> :: int()
, <responder>        :: id()
, <responder_amount> :: int()
, <channel_reserve>  :: int()
, <lock_period>      :: int()
, <ttl>              :: int()
, <fee>              :: int()
, <delegate_ids>     :: [id()]
, <state_hash>       :: binary()
, <nonce>            :: int()
]

Channel create transaction (version 2, from Iris release)

[ <initiator>               :: id()
, <initiator_amount>        :: int()
, <responder>               :: id()
, <responder_amount>        :: int()
, <channel_reserve>         :: int()
, <lock_period>             :: int()
, <ttl>                     :: int()
, <fee>                     :: int()
, <initiator_delegate_ids>  :: [id()]
, <responder_delegate_ids>  :: [id()]
, <state_hash>              :: binary()
, <nonce>                   :: int()
]

Channel deposit transaction

[ <channel_id> :: id()
, <from_id>    :: id()
, <amount>     :: int()
, <ttl>        :: int()
, <fee>        :: int()
, <state_hash> :: binary()
, <round>      :: int()
, <nonce>      :: int()
]

Channel withdraw transaction

[ <channel_id> :: id()
, <to_id>      :: id()
, <amount>     :: int()
, <ttl>        :: int()
, <fee>        :: int()
, <state_hash> :: binary()
, <round>      :: int()
, <nonce>      :: int()
]

Channel close mutual transaction

[ <channel_id>             :: id()
, <from_id>                :: id()
, <initiator_amount_final> :: int()
, <responder_amount_final> :: int()
, <ttl>                    :: int()
, <fee>                    :: int()
, <nonce>                  :: int()
]

Channel close solo transaction

[ <channel_id>      :: id()
, <from_id>         :: id()
, <payload>         :: binary()
, <poi>             :: poi()
, <ttl>             :: int()
, <fee>             :: int()
, <nonce>           :: int()
]

The payload is a serialized signed channel off-chain transaction or it is empty.

Channel slash transaction

[ <channel_id>      :: id()
, <from_id>         :: id()
, <payload>         :: binary()
, <poi>             :: poi()
, <ttl>             :: int()
, <fee>             :: int()
, <nonce>           :: int()
]

The payload is a serialized signed channel off-chain transaction or it is empty.

Channel settle transaction

[ <channel_id>             :: id()
, <from_id>                :: id()
, <initiator_amount_final> :: int()
, <responder_amount_final> :: int()
, <ttl>                    :: int()
, <fee>                    :: int()
, <nonce>                  :: int()
]

Channel snapshot solo transaction

[ <channel_id>      :: id()
, <from_id>         :: id()
, <payload>         :: binary()
, <ttl>             :: int()
, <fee>             :: int()
, <nonce>           :: int()
]

The payload is a serialized signed channel off-chain transaction and can not be empty.

Channel solo force progress transaction

[ <channel_id>      :: id()
, <from_id>         :: id()
, <payload>         :: binary()
, <round>           :: int()
, <update>          :: binary()
, <state_hash>      :: binary()
, <offchain_trees>  :: trees()
, <ttl>             :: int()
, <fee>             :: int()
, <nonce>           :: int()
]

The payload is a serialized co-signed channel off-chain transaction or it is empty. The round is the new channel's round that will be produced by the forcing of progress. The update is the contract call update to be applied on the old channel's state. The state hash is the expected root hash of the produced channel's state trees after the update had been applied to the channel state provided in the proof of inclusion. The proof of inclusion has the same root hash as the state hash of the co-signed payload.

Channel set delegates transaction

[ <channel_id>             :: id()
, <from_id>                :: id()
, <initiator_delegate_ids> :: [id()]
, <responder_delegate_ids> :: [id()]
, <payload>                :: binary()
, <state_hash>             :: binary()
, <round>                  :: int()
, <ttl>                    :: int()
, <fee>                    :: int()
, <nonce>                  :: int()
]

The payload is a serialized signed channel off-chain transaction or it can be empty.

Channel off-chain update

Channel update rounds are described by various updates, that are defined in this subsection. Each mention of type update() in the rest of this document is meant to be understood as referring to any one of these updates. If not specified something different, any of the addresses involved could belong to a participant, contract or even some other address part of the off-chain state tree of this channel.

Channel off-chain update transfer

This is an internal off-chain transfer from one address to another.

[ <from>    			:: id()
, <to>      			:: id()
, <amount>  			:: int()
]

Channel off-chain update deposit

This is an internal off-chain balance increment. It is used by the channel_deposit_tx internal representation.

[ <from>    			:: id()
, <amount>  			:: int()
]

Channel off-chain update withdrawal

This is an internal off-chain balance decrement. It is used by the channel_withdraw_tx internal representation.

[ <to>      			:: id()
, <amount>  			:: int()
]

Channel off-chain update create contract

This is an update for creating new contracts inside channel's off-chain state tree.

[ <owner>      :: id()
, <ct_version> :: int()
, <code>       :: binary()
, <deposit>    :: int()
, <call_data>  :: binary()
]

Channel off-chain update call contract

This is an update for calling a contract inside channel's off-chain state tree.

[ <caller>      :: id()
, <contract>    :: id(),
, <abi_version> :: int()
, <amount>      :: int()
, <call_data>   :: binary()
, <call_stack>  :: [int()]
, <gas_price>   :: int()
, <gas_limit>   :: int()
]

Channel off-chain transaction

The channel off-chain transaction is not included directly in the transaction tree but indirectly as payload of:

The channel close solo transaction.
The channel slash transaction.
The channel snapshot solo transaction.
The channel force progress transaction.

version 1, until Fortuna release

[ <channel_id>       :: id()
, <round>            :: int()
, <updates>          :: [update()]
, <state_hash>       :: binary()
]

version 2, from Fortuna release

[ <channel_id>       :: id()
, <round>            :: int()
, <state_hash>       :: binary()
]

Channel client reconnect transaction

The channel client reconnect transaction is used only when a Websocket client wants to reconnect to an already running FSM. It cannot be introduced into the mempool. The elements of the transaction are:

The channel id of the channel that the client wants to connect to
A round (integer), which must be higher than at the last attempt
The role (initiator or responder) of the FSM instance in question
The public key of the client; must correspond to the private key used for signing the transaction.

[ <channel_id>    :: id()
, <round>         :: int()
, <role>          :: binary()
, <pub_key>       :: id()
]

Channel (version 1, until Fortuna release)

[ <initiator>           :: id()
, <responder>           :: id()
, <channel_amount>      :: int()
, <initiator_amount>    :: int()
, <responder_amount>    :: int()
, <channel_reserve>     :: int()
, <delegate_ids>        :: [id()]
, <state_hash>          :: binary()
, <round>               :: int()
, <solo_round>          :: int()
, <lock_period>         :: int()
, <locked_until>        :: int()
]

Channel (version 2, from Fortuna release)

[ <initiator>           :: id()
, <responder>           :: id()
, <channel_amount>      :: int()
, <initiator_amount>    :: int()
, <responder_amount>    :: int()
, <channel_reserve>     :: int()
, <delegate_ids>        :: [id()]
, <state_hash>          :: binary()
, <round>               :: int()
, <solo_round>          :: int()
, <lock_period>         :: int()
, <locked_until>        :: int()
, <initiator_auth>      :: binary()
, <responder_auth>      :: binary()
]

Channel (version 3, from Iris release)

[ <initiator>               :: id()
, <responder>               :: id()
, <channel_amount>          :: int()
, <initiator_amount>        :: int()
, <responder_amount>        :: int()
, <channel_reserve>         :: int()
, <initiator_delegate_ids>  :: [id()]
, <responder_delegate_ids>  :: [id()]
, <state_hash>              :: binary()
, <round>                   :: int()
, <solo_round>              :: int()
, <lock_period>             :: int()
, <locked_until>            :: int()
, <initiator_auth>          :: binary()
, <responder_auth>          :: binary()
]

Proof of inclusion on state trees (POI) :: poi()

[ {<accounts>  :: [<proof_of_inclusion> :: {<root_hash> :: binary(), [{<mpt_hash> :: binary(), <mpt_value> :: [binary()]}]}]}
, {<calls>     :: [<proof_of_inclusion> :: {<root_hash> :: binary(), [{<mpt_hash> :: binary(), <mpt_value> :: [binary()]}]}]}
, {<channels>  :: [<proof_of_inclusion> :: {<root_hash> :: binary(), [{<mpt_hash> :: binary(), <mpt_value> :: [binary()]}]}]}
, {<contracts> :: [<proof_of_inclusion> :: {<root_hash> :: binary(), [{<mpt_hash> :: binary(), <mpt_value> :: [binary()]}]}]}
, {<ns>        :: [<proof_of_inclusion> :: {<root_hash> :: binary(), [{<mpt_hash> :: binary(), <mpt_value> :: [binary()]}]}]}
, {<oracles>   :: [<proof_of_inclusion> :: {<root_hash> :: binary(), [{<mpt_hash> :: binary(), <mpt_value> :: [binary()]}]}]}
]

If a subtree (e.g. <accounts>) is empty, then its serialization is just [] (e.g. <accounts> is []) otherwise it contains at least its root hash (e.g. <accounts> is [{<root_hash>, []}]).

NOTE: [{<mpt_hash>, <mpt_value>}] is the sorted list of Merkle Patricia Tree nodes in the proof.

NOTE: As the POI contains the Merkle Patricia Tree nodes (e.g. not only their hashes):

Each state subtree does not necessarily contain elements of the same key length.
The object itself does not contain its own id as it can be derived from the location in the tree.
The key used for storing each object in each state subtree is not necessarily derived from the object itself.
The value(s) whose inclusion the POI proves is included in the POI itself.

Merkle Patricia Value

[ <key>        :: binary()
, <val>        :: binary()
]

Merkle Patricia Tree :: mtree()

[ <values>        :: [binary()]
]

All Merkle Patricia Values are serialized.

State trees :: trees()

[ <contracts>   ::  binary()
, <calls>       ::  binary()
, <channels>    ::  binary()
, <ns>          ::  binary()
, <oracles>     ::  binary()
, <accounts>    ::  binary()
]

All binaries are serialized as follows: