vm

@ethereumjs/vm

TypeScript implementation of the Ethereum VM.

Note: this README reflects the state of the library from v5.0.0 onwards. See README from the standalone repository for an introduction on the last preceeding release.

INSTALL

npm install @ethereumjs/vm

USAGE

import { BN } from 'ethereumjs-util'
import Common, { Chain, Hardfork } from '@ethereumjs/common'
import VM from '@ethereumjs/vm'

const common = new Common({ chain: Chain.Mainnet, hardfork: Hardfork.Berlin })
const vm = new VM({ common })

const STOP = '00'
const ADD = '01'
const PUSH1 = '60'

// Note that numbers added are hex values, so '20' would be '32' as decimal e.g.
const code = [PUSH1, '03', PUSH1, '05', ADD, STOP]

vm.on('step', function (data) {
  console.log(`Opcode: ${data.opcode.name}\tStack: ${data.stack}`)
})

vm.runCode({
  code: Buffer.from(code.join(''), 'hex'),
  gasLimit: new BN(0xffff),
})
  .then((results) => {
    console.log(`Returned: ${results.returnValue.toString('hex')}`)
    console.log(`gasUsed : ${results.gasUsed.toString()}`)
  })
  .catch(console.error)

Example

This projects contain the following examples:

1. ./examples/run-blockchain: Loads tests data, including accounts and blocks, and runs all of them in the VM.
2. ./examples/run-code-browser: Show how to use this library in a browser.
3. ./examples/run-solidity-contract: Compiles a Solidity contract, and calls constant and non-constant functions.
4. ./examples/run-transactions-complete: Runs a contract-deployment transaction and then calls one of its functions.
5. ./examples/decode-opcodes: Decodes a binary EVM program into its opcodes.

All of the examples have their own README.md explaining how to run them.

API

VM

For documentation on VM instantiation, exposed API and emitted events see generated API docs.

StateManager

Documentation on the StateManager can be found here. If you want to provide your own StateManager you can implement the dedicated interface to ensure that your implementation conforms with the current API.

Note: along the EIP-2929 (Gas cost increases for state access opcodes) implementation released in v5.2.0 a new EIP2929StateManager interface has been introduced inheriting from the base StateManager interface. The methods introduced there will be merged into the base state manager on the next breaking release.

BROWSER

To build the VM for standalone use in the browser, see: Running the VM in a browser.

SETUP

Chain Support

Starting with v5.1.0 the VM supports running both Ethash/PoW and Clique/PoA blocks and transactions. Clique support has been added along the work on PR #1032 and follow-up PRs and (block) validation checks and the switch of the execution context now happens correctly.

Ethash/PoW Chains

@ethereumjs/blockchain validates the PoW algorithm with @ethereumjs/ethash and validates blocks' difficulty to match their canonical difficulty.

Clique/PoA Chains

For the VM to work correctly in a Clique/PoA context you need to use the library with the following library versions or higher:

• @ethereumjs/block -> v3.1.0
• @ethereumjs/blockchain -> v5.1.0
• @ethereumjs/common" -> v2.1.0

The following is a simple example for a block run on Goerli:

import VM from '@ethereumjs/vm'
import Common, { Chain } from '@ethereumjs/common'

const common = new Common({ chain: Chain.Goerli })
const hardforkByBlockNumber = true
const vm = new VM({ common, hardforkByBlockNumber })

const serialized = Buffer.from('f901f7a06bfee7294bf4457...', 'hex')
const block = Block.fromRLPSerializedBlock(serialized, { hardforkByBlockNumber })
const result = await vm.runBlock(block)

Hardfork Support

Starting with the v5 release series all hardforks from Frontier (chainstart) up to the latest active mainnet hardfork are supported.

The VM currently supports the following hardfork rules:

• chainstart (a.k.a. Frontier) (v5.0.0+)
• homestead (v5.0.0+)
• tangerineWhistle (v5.0.0+)
• spuriousDragon (v5.0.0+)
• byzantium
• constantinople
• petersburg
• istanbul (v4.1.1+)
• muirGlacier (only mainnet and ropsten) (v4.1.3+)
• berlin (v5.2.0+)
• london (v5.4.0+)

Default: istanbul (taken from Common.DEFAULT_HARDFORK)

A specific hardfork VM ruleset can be activated by passing in the hardfork along the Common instance:

import Common, { Chain, Hardfork } from '@ethereumjs/common'
import VM from '@ethereumjs/vm'

const common = new Common({ chain: Chain.Mainnet, hardfork: Hardfork.Berlin })
const vm = new VM({ common })

EIP Support

It is possible to individually activate EIP support in the VM by instantiate the Common instance passed with the respective EIPs, e.g.:

import Common, { Chain } from '@ethereumjs/common'
import VM from '@ethereumjs/vm'

const common = new Common({ chain: Chain.Mainnet, eips: [2537] })
const vm = new VM({ common })

Currently supported EIPs:

• EIP-1559 - Fee Market (london EIP)
• EIP-2315: Simple subroutines
• EIP-2537: BLS precompiles
• EIP-2565: ModExp gas cost (berlin EIP)
• EIP-2718: Typed transactions (berlin EIP)
• EIP-2929: Gas cost increases for state access opcodes (berlin EIP)
• EIP-2930: Optional Access Lists Typed Transactions (berlin EIP)
• EIP-3198 - BASEFEE opcode (london EIP)
• EIP-3529 - Reduction in refunds (london EIP)
• EIP-3541 - Reject new contracts starting with the 0xEF byte (london EIP)

Tracing Events

Our TypeScript VM is implemented as an AsyncEventEmitter and events are submitted along major execution steps which you can listen to.

You can subscribe to the following events:

• beforeBlock: Emits a Block right before running it.
• afterBlock: Emits AfterBlockEvent right after running a block.
• beforeTx: Emits a Transaction right before running it.
• afterTx: Emits a AfterTxEvent right after running a transaction.
• beforeMessage: Emits a Message right after running it.
• afterMessage: Emits an EVMResult right after running a message.
• step: Emits an InterpreterStep right before running an EVM step.
• newContract: Emits a NewContractEvent right before creating a contract. This event contains the deployment code, not the deployed code, as the creation message may not return such a code.

An example for the step event can be found in the initial usage example in this README.

Asynchronous event handlers

You can perform asynchronous operations from within an event handler and prevent the VM to keep running until they finish.

In order to do that, your event handler has to accept two arguments. The first one will be the event object, and the second one a function. The VM won't continue until you call this function.

If an exception is passed to that function, or thrown from within the handler or a function called by it, the exception will bubble into the VM and interrupt it, possibly corrupting its state. It's strongly recommended not to do that.

Synchronous event handlers

If you want to perform synchronous operations, you don't need to receive a function as the handler's second argument, nor call it.

Note that if your event handler receives multiple arguments, the second one will be the continuation function, and it must be called.

If an exception is thrown from withing the handler or a function called by it, the exception will bubble into the VM and interrupt it, possibly corrupting its state. It's strongly recommended not to throw from withing event handlers.

Understanding the VM

If you want to understand your VM runs we have added a hierarchically structured list of debug loggers for your convenience which can be activated in arbitrary combinations. We also use these loggers internally for development and testing. These loggers use the debug library and can be activated on the CL with DEBUG=[Logger Selection] node [Your Script to Run].js and produce output like the following:

The following loggers are currently available:

Logger	Description
vm:block	Block operations (run txs, generating receipts, block rewards,...)
vm:tx	Transaction operations (account updates, checkpointing,...)
vm:tx:gas	Transaction gas logger
vm:evm	EVM control flow, CALL or CREATE message execution
vm:evm:gas	EVM gas logger
vm:eei:gas	EEI gas logger
vm:state	StateManager logger
vm:ops	Opcode traces
vm:ops:[Lower-case opcode name]	Traces on a specific opcode

Here are some examples for useful logger combinations.

Run one specific logger:

DEBUG=vm:tx ts-node test.ts

Run all loggers currently available:

DEBUG=vm:*,vm:*:* ts-node test.ts

Run only the gas loggers:

DEBUG=vm:*:gas ts-node test.ts

Excluding the state logger:

DEBUG=vm:*,vm:*:*,-vm:state ts-node test.ts

Run some specific loggers including a logger specifically logging the SSTORE executions from the VM (this is from the screenshot above):

DEBUG=vm:tx,vm:evm,vm:ops:sstore,vm:*:gas ts-node test.ts

Internal Structure

The VM processes state changes at many levels.

• runBlockchain
  • for every block, runBlock
• runBlock
  • for every tx, runTx
  • pay miner and uncles
• runTx
  • check sender balance
  • check sender nonce
  • runCall
  • transfer gas charges
• runCall
  • checkpoint state
  • transfer value
  • load code
  • runCode
  • materialize created contracts
  • revert or commit checkpoint
• runCode
  • iterate over code
  • run op codes
  • track gas usage
• OpFns
  • run individual op code
  • modify stack
  • modify memory
  • calculate fee

The opFns for CREATE, CALL, and CALLCODE call back up to runCall.

DEVELOPMENT

Developer documentation - currently mainly with information on testing and debugging - can be found here.

EthereumJS

See our organizational documentation for an introduction to EthereumJS as well as information on current standards and best practices.

If you want to join for work or do improvements on the libraries have a look at our contribution guidelines.

LICENSE

MPL-2.0