@ethereumjs/evm
TypeScript implementation of the Ethereum EVM. |
---|
Installation
To obtain the latest version, simply require the project using npm
:
npm install @ethereumjs/evm
This package provides the core Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) implementation which is capable of executing EVM-compatible bytecode. The package has been extracted from the @ethereumjs/vm package along the VM v6
release.
Note: If you want to work with EIP-4844
related functionality, you will have additional manual installation steps for the KZG setup, see related section below.
Usage
Basic
With the v2 release (Summer 2023) the EVM/VM packages have been further decoupled and it now possible to run the EVM package in isolation with reaonable defaults.
The following is the simplest example for an EVM instantiation:
import { hexToBytes } from '@ethereumjs/util'
import { EVM } from '@ethereumjs/evm'
const evm = new EVM()
evm.runCode({ code: hexToBytes('0x01') })
Blockchain, State and Events
If the EVM should run on a certain state an @ethereumjs/statemanager
is needed. An @ethereumjs/blockchain
instance can be passed in to provide access to external interface information like a blockhash:
import { Blockchain } from '@ethereumjs/blockchain'
import { Chain, Common, Hardfork } from '@ethereumjs/common'
import { EVM } from '@ethereumjs/evm'
import { DefaultStateManager } from '@ethereumjs/statemanager'
import { bytesToHex } from '@ethereumjs/util'
const main = async () => {
const common = new Common({ chain: Chain.Mainnet, hardfork: Hardfork.Shanghai })
const stateManager = new DefaultStateManager()
const blockchain = await Blockchain.create()
const evm = new EVM({
common,
stateManager,
blockchain,
})
const STOP = '00'
const ADD = '01'
const PUSH1 = '60'
const code = [PUSH1, '03', PUSH1, '05', ADD, STOP]
evm.events.on('step', function (data) {
console.log(`Opcode: ${data.opcode.name}\tStack: ${data.stack}`)
})
const results = await evm.runCode({
code: Buffer.from(code.join(''), 'hex'),
gasLimit: BigInt(0xffff),
})
console.log(`Returned: ${bytesToHex(results.returnValue)}`)
console.log(`gasUsed: ${results.executionGasUsed.toString()}`)
}
void main()
Additionally this usage example shows the use of events to listen on the inner workings and procedural updates
(step
event) of the EVM.
Examples
This projects contain the following examples:
- ./examples/decode-opcodes: Decodes a binary EVM program into its opcodes.
- ./examples/runCode: Show how to use this library in a browser.
All of the examples have their own README.md
explaining how to run them.
Browser
With the breaking release round in Summer 2023 we have added hybrid ESM/CJS builds for all our libraries (see section below) and have eliminated many of the caveats which had previously prevented a frictionless browser usage.
It is now easily possible to run a browser build of one of the EthereumJS libraries within a modern browser using the provided ESM build. For a setup example see ./examples/browser.html.
API
Docs
For documentation on EVM
instantiation, exposed API and emitted events
see generated API docs.
Hybrid CJS/ESM Builds
With the breaking releases from Summer 2023 we have started to ship our libraries with both CommonJS (cjs
folder) and ESM builds (esm
folder), see package.json
for the detailed setup.
If you use an ES6-style import
in your code files from the ESM build will be used:
import { EthereumJSClass } from '@ethereumjs/[PACKAGE_NAME]'
If you use Node.js specific require
, the CJS build will be used:
const { EthereumJSClass } = require('@ethereumjs/[PACKAGE_NAME]')
Using ESM will give you additional advantages over CJS beyond browser usage like static code analysis / Tree Shaking which CJS can not provide.
Buffer -> Uint8Array
With the breaking releases from Summer 2023 we have removed all Node.js specific Buffer
usages from our libraries and replace these with Uint8Array representations, which are available both in Node.js and the browser (Buffer
is a subclass of Uint8Array
).
We have converted existing Buffer conversion methods to Uint8Array conversion methods in the @ethereumjs/util bytes
module, see the respective README section for guidance.
BigInt Support
Starting with v1 the usage of BN.js for big numbers has been removed from the library and replaced with the usage of the native JS BigInt data type (introduced in ES2020
).
Please note that number-related API signatures have changed along with this version update and the minimal build target has been updated to ES2020
.
Architecture
VM/EVM Relation
This package contains the inner Ethereum Virtual Machine core functionality which was included in the @ethereumjs/vm package up till v5 and has been extracted along the v6 release.
This will make it easier to customize the inner EVM, which can now be passed as an optional argument to the outer VM
instance.
State and Blockchain Information
For the EVM to properly work it needs access to a respective execution environment (to e.g. request on information like block hashes) as well as the connection to an outer account and contract state.
With the v2 release EVM, VM and StateManager have been substantially reworked in this regard, see PR #2649 and PR #2702 for further deepening context.
The interfaces (in a non-TypeScript sense) between these packages have been simplified and the EEI
package has been completely removed. Most of the EEI related logic is now either handled internally or more generic functionality being taken over by the @ethereumjs/statemanager
package.
This allows for both a standalone EVM instantiation with reasonable defaults as well as for a simplified EVM -> VM passing if a customized EVM is needed.
Setup
Hardfork Support
The EthereumJS EVM implements all hardforks from Frontier
(chainstart
) up to the latest active mainnet hardfork.
Currently the following hardfork rules are supported:
chainstart
(a.k.a. Frontier)homestead
tangerineWhistle
spuriousDragon
byzantium
constantinople
petersburg
istanbul
muirGlacier
(only mainnet
)berlin
(v5.2.0
+)london
(v5.4.0
+)arrowGlacier
(only mainnet
) (v5.6.0
+)merge
shanghai
(v2.0.0
+)cancun
(v2.0.0
+)
Default: shanghai
(taken from Common.DEFAULT_HARDFORK
)
A specific hardfork EVM ruleset can be activated by passing in the hardfork
along the Common
instance to the outer @ethereumjs/vm
instance.
EIP Support
It is possible to individually activate EIP support in the EVM by instantiate the Common
instance passed to the
outer VM with the respective EIPs, e.g.:
import { Chain, Common } from '@ethereumjs/common'
import { EVM } from '@ethereumjs/evm'
const common = new Common({ chain: Chain.Mainnet, eips: [2537] })
const evm = new EVM({ common })
Currently supported EIPs:
- EIP-1153 - Transient storage opcodes (Cancun)
- EIP-1559 - Fee market change for ETH 1.0 chain
- EIP-2315 - Simple subroutines for the EVM (
outdated
) - EIP-2537 - BLS precompiles (removed in v4.0.0, see latest v3 release)
- EIP-2565 - ModExp gas cost
- EIP-2718 - Transaction Types
- EIP-2929 - gas cost increases for state access opcodes
- EIP-2930 - Optional access list tx type
- EIP-3074 - AUTH and AUTHCALL opcodes
- EIP-3198 - Base fee Opcode
- EIP-3529 - Reduction in refunds
- EIP-3540 - EVM Object Format (EOF) v1 (
outdated
) - EIP-3541 - Reject new contracts starting with the 0xEF byte
- EIP-3554 - Difficulty Bomb Delay to December 2021 (only PoW networks)
- EIP-3607 - Reject transactions from senders with deployed code
- EIP-3651 - Warm COINBASE (Shanghai)
- EIP-3670 - EOF - Code Validation (
outdated
) - EIP-3675 - Upgrade consensus to Proof-of-Stake
- EIP-3855 - Push0 opcode (Shanghai)
- EIP-3860 - Limit and meter initcode (Shanghai)
- EIP-4345 - Difficulty Bomb Delay to June 2022
- EIP-4399 - Supplant DIFFICULTY opcode with PREVRANDAO (Merge)
- EIP-4788 - Beacon block root in the EVM (Cancun)
- EIP-4844 - Shard Blob Transactions (Cancun) (
experimental
) - EIP-4895 - Beacon chain push withdrawals as operations (Shanghai)
- EIP-5656 - MCOPY - Memory copying instruction (Cancun)
- EIP-6780 - SELFDESTRUCT only in same transaction (Cancun)
EIP-4844 Shard Blob Transactions Support
This library supports the blob transaction type introduced with EIP-4844 as being specified in the b9a5a11 EIP version from July 2023 deployed along 4844-devnet-7 (July 2023), see PR #2349 and following.
Note: 4844 support is not yet completely stable and there will still be (4844-)breaking changes along all types of library releases.
Initialization
To run EVM related EIP-4844 functionality you have to active the EIP in the associated @ethereumjs/common
library:
import { Common, Chain, Hardfork } from '@ethereumjs/common'
const common = new Common({ chain: Chain.Mainnet, hardfork: Hardfork.Shanghai, eips: [4844] })
EIP-4844 comes with a new opcode BLOBHASH
(Attention! Renamed from DATAHASH
) and adds a new point evaluation precompile at address 0x0a
(moved from 0x14
at some point along spec updates).
Note: Usage of the point evaluation precompile needs a manual KZG library installation and global initialization, see KZG Setup for instructions.
Tracing Events
The EVM has a public property events
which instantiates an AsyncEventEmitter and events are submitted along major execution steps which you can listen to.
You can subscribe to the following events:
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 EVM 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 EVM 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
EVM 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 within the handler or a function called
by it, the exception will bubble into the EVM and interrupt it, possibly
corrupting its state. It's strongly recommended not to throw from within
event handlers.
Understanding the EVM
If you want to understand your EVM 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=ethjs,[Logger Selection] node [Your Script to Run].js
and produce output like the following:
The following loggers are currently available:
Logger | Description |
---|
evm | EVM control flow, CALL or CREATE message execution |
evm:gas | EVM gas logger |
evm:eei:gas | EEI gas logger |
evm:ops | Opcode traces |
evm:ops:[Lower-case opcode name] | Traces on a specific opcode |
Here are some examples for useful logger combinations.
Run one specific logger:
DEBUG=ethjs,evm ts-node test.ts
Run all loggers currently available:
DEBUG=ethjs,evm:*,evm:*:* ts-node test.ts
Run only the gas loggers:
DEBUG=ethjs,evm:*:gas ts-node test.ts
Excluding the ops logger:
DEBUG=ethjs,evm:*,evm:*:*,-evm:ops ts-node test.ts
Run some specific loggers including a logger specifically logging the SSTORE
executions from the EVM (this is from the screenshot above):
DEBUG=ethjs,evm,evm:ops:sstore,evm:*:gas ts-node test.ts
Internal Structure
The EVM processes state changes at many levels.
- 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
.
TODO: this section likely needs an update.
Development
See @ethereumjs/vm README.
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 carry out improvements on the libraries, please review our contribution guidelines first.
License
MPL-2.0