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Standard Libraries

Gno comes with a set of standard libraries which are included to ease development and provide extended functionality to the language. These include:

  • standard libraries as we know them in classic Go, i.e. strings, testing, etc.
  • a special chain package with subpackages containing types, interfaces, and APIs created to handle blockchain-related functionality, such as fetching the last caller, fetching coins sent along with a transaction, getting the block timestamp and height, and more.

Standard libraries differ from on-chain packages in terms of their import path structure. Unlike on-chain packages, standard libraries do not incorporate a domain-like format at the beginning of their import path. For example:

  • import "strings" refers to a standard library
  • import "gno.land/p/nt/avl" refers to an on-chain pure package.

To see concrete implementation details & API references of the chain package & subpackages, see below.

Accessing documentation​

Apart from the official documentation you are currently reading, you can also access documentation for the standard libraries in several other different ways. You can obtain a list of all the available standard libraries with the following commands:

$ cd gnovm/stdlibs # go to correct directory

$ find -type d
./testing
./math
./crypto
./crypto/chacha20
./crypto/chacha20/chacha
./crypto/chacha20/rand
./crypto/sha256
./crypto/cipher
...

All the packages have automatically generated documentation through the use of the gno doc command, which has similar functionality and features to go doc:

$ gno doc encoding/binary
package binary // import "encoding/binary"

Package binary implements simple translation between numbers and byte sequences
and encoding and decoding of varints.

[...]

var BigEndian bigEndian
var LittleEndian littleEndian
type AppendByteOrder interface{ ... }
type ByteOrder interface{ ... }
$ gno doc -u -src encoding/binary littleEndian.AppendUint16
package binary // import "encoding/binary"

func (littleEndian) AppendUint16(b []byte, v uint16) []byte {
        return append(b,
                byte(v),
                byte(v>>8),
        )
}

gno doc will work automatically when used within the Gno repository or any repository which has a go.mod dependency on github.com/gnolang/gno.

Another alternative is setting your environment variable GNOROOT to point to where you cloned the Gno repository.

export GNOROOT=$HOME/gno

Concepts​

Coin​

A Coin is a native Gno type that has a denomination and an amount. Coins can be issued by the native Gno Banker.

A coin is defined by the following:

type Coin struct {
	Denom  string `json:"denom"`
	Amount int64  `json:"amount"`
}

Denom is the denomination of the coin, i.e. ugnot, and Amount is a non-negative amount of the coin.

Multiple coins can be bundled together into a Coins slice:

type Coins []Coin

This slice behaves like a mathematical set - it cannot contain duplicate Coin instances.

The Coins slice can be included in a transaction made by a user addresses or a realm. Coins in this set are then available for access by specific types of Bankers, which can manipulate them depending on access rights.

Read more about coins in the Effective Gno section.

Banker​

The Banker's main purpose is to handle balance changes of native coins within Gno chains. This includes issuance, transfers, and burning of coins.

The Banker module can be cast into 4 subtypes of bankers that expose different functionalities and safety features within your packages and realms.

Banker Types​

  1. BankerTypeReadonly - read-only access to coin balances
  2. BankerTypeOriginSend - full access to coins sent with the transaction that called the banker
  3. BankerTypeRealmSend - full access to coins that the realm itself owns, including the ones sent with the transaction
  4. BankerTypeRealmIssue - able to issue new coins

Events​

Events in Gno are a fundamental aspect of interacting with and monitoring on-chain applications. They serve as a bridge between the on-chain environment and off-chain services, making it simpler for developers, analytics tools, and monitoring services to track and respond to activities happening in gno.land.

Gno events are pieces of data that log specific activities or changes occurring within the state of an on-chain app. These activities are user-defined; they might be token transfers, changes in ownership, updates in user profiles, and more. Each event is recorded in the ABCI results of each block, ensuring that action that happened is verifiable and accessible to off-chain services.

To emit an event, you can use the Emit() function from the chain package provided in the Gno standard library. The Emit() function takes in a string representing the type of event, and an even number of arguments after representing key:value pairs.

Read more about events & Emit() in Effective Gno.

An event contained in an ABCI response of a block will include the following data:

{
    "@type": "/tm.gnoEvent", // TM2 type
    "type": "OwnershipChange", // Type/name of event defined in Gno
    "pkg_path": "gno.land/r/demo/example", // Path of the emitter
    "func": "ChangeOwner", // Gno function that emitted the event
    "attrs": [ // Slice of key:value pairs emitted
        {
            "key": "oldOwner",
            "value": "g1jg8mtutu9khhfwc4nxmuhcpftf0pajdhfvsqf5"
        },
        {
            "key": "newOwner",
            "value": "g1zzqd6phlfx0a809vhmykg5c6m44ap9756s7cjj"
        }
    ]
}

You can fetch the ABCI response of a specific block by using the /block_results RPC endpoint.

Builtins​

Gno has a few custom builtin types & keywords that are used for handling Gno-specific cases:

  • realm - represents a Realm object
  • address - represents a Gno address
  • cross - passed as a realm type argument during a crossing call

address​

Native address type in Gno, conforming to the Bech32 format.

type address string
func (a address) IsValid() bool {...}
func (a address) String()  string {...}

IsValid​

Check if Address is of a valid length, and conforms to the bech32 format.

Usage​
if !address.IsValid() {...}

String​

Get string representation of Address.

Usage​
stringAddr := addr.String()

realm​

realm is the structure representing a realm in Gno. See our realm documentation for more details.

type realm Realm
type Realm struct { 
    addr    Address
    pkgPath string
}

func (r Realm) Address() Address {...}
func (r Realm) PkgPath() string {...}
func (r Realm) String() string {...}
func (r Realm) IsUser() bool {...}
func (r Realm) IsUserRun() bool {...}
func (r Realm) IsUserCall() bool {...}
func (r Realm) IsEphemeral() bool {...}
func (r Realm) CoinDenom(coinName string) string {...}

Address​

Returns the address field of the realm it was called upon.

Usage​
realmAddr := r.Address() // eg. g1n2j0gdyv45aem9p0qsfk5d2gqjupv5z536na3d

PkgPath​

Returns the string package path of the realm it was called upon.

Usage​
realmPath := r.PkgPath() // eg. gno.land/r/gnoland/blog

String​

Returns the string representation of the realm it was called upon. Also provides information whether the realm is a code realm or user realm.

Usage​
s := r.String() // UserRealm{ g1... } OR CodeRealm{ g1..., gno.land/r/... }

IsUser​

Checks if the receiver realm is a user realm. This check passes for both MsgCall and MsgRun transactions.

Usage​
if r.IsUser() {...}

IsCode​

Checks if the receiver realm is a code realm.

Usage​
if r.IsCode() {...}

IsUserRun​

Checks if the receiver realm is a user realm, given by a MsgRun transaction.

Usage​
if r.IsUserRun() {...}

IsUserCall​

Checks if the receiver realm is a user realm, given by a MsgCall transaction.

Usage​
if r.IsUserCall() {...}

IsEphemeral​

Checks if the receiver realm is a user realm, given by a MsgCall transaction.

Usage​
if r.IsUserCall() {...}

CoinDenom​

Composes a qualified denomination string from the realm's pkgPath and the provided coin name, e.g. /gno.land/r/demo/blog:blgcoin. This method should be used to get fully qualified denominations of coins when interacting with the Banker module.

Parameters​

  • coinName string - The coin name used to build the qualified denomination. Must start with a lowercase letter, followed by 2–15 lowercase letters or digits.

Usage​

// in "gno.land/r/gnoland/blog"
denom := r.CoinDenom("blgcoin") // /gno.land/r/gnoland/blog:blgcoin

Package chain​

Emit​

func Emit(typ string, attrs ...string)

Emits a Gno event. Takes in a string type (event identifier), and an even number of string arguments acting as key-value pairs to be included in the emitted event.

Usage​
chain.Emit("MyEvent", "myKey1", "myValue1", "myKey2", "myValue2")

PackageAddress​

func PackageAddress(pkgPath string) address

Derives the Realm address from its pkgpath parameter.

Usage​
realmAddr := chain.PackageAddress("gno.land/r/demo/tamagotchi") //  g1a3tu874agjlkrpzt9x90xv3uzncapcn959yte4

CoinDenom​

func CoinDenom(pkgPath, coinName string) string

Composes a qualified denomination string from the realm's pkgPath and the provided coin name, e.g. /gno.land/r/demo/blog:blgcoin. This method should be used to get fully qualified denominations of coins when interacting with the Banker module. It can also be used as a method of the Realm object. Read more here.

Parameters​

  • pkgPath string - package path of the realm
  • coinName string - The coin name used to build the qualified denomination. Must start with a lowercase letter, followed by 2–15 lowercase letters or digits.

Usage​

denom := chain.CoinDenom("gno.land/r/demo/blog", "blgcoin") // /gno.land/r/demo/blog:blgcoin

Coin​

type Coin struct {
	Denom  string `json:"denom"`
	Amount int64  `json:"amount"`
}

func NewCoin(denom string, amount int64) Coin {...}
func (c Coin) String() string {...}
func (c Coin) IsGTE(other Coin) bool {...}
func (c Coin) IsLT(other Coin) bool {...}
func (c Coin) IsEqual(other Coin) bool {...}
func (c Coin) Add(other Coin) Coin {...}
func (c Coin) Sub(other Coin) Coin {...}
func (c Coin) IsPositive() bool {...}
func (c Coin) IsNegative() bool {...}
func (c Coin) IsZero() bool {...}

NewCoin​

Returns a new Coin with a specific denomination and amount.

Usage​
coin := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 100)

String​

Returns a string representation of the Coin it was called upon.

Usage​
coin := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 100)
coin.String() // 100ugnot

IsGTE​

Checks if the amount of other Coin is greater than or equal than amount of Coin c it was called upon. If coins compared are not of the same denomination, IsGTE will panic.

Parameters​
  • other Coin to compare with
Usage​
coin1 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 150)
coin2 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 100)

coin1.IsGTE(coin2) // true
coin2.IsGTE(coin1) // false

IsLT​

Checks if the amount of other Coin is less than the amount of Coin c it was called upon. If coins compared are not of the same denomination, IsLT will panic.

Parameters​
  • other Coin to compare with
Usage​
coin := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 150)
coin := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 100)

coin1.IsLT(coin2) // false
coin2.IsLT(coin1) // true

IsEqual​

Checks if the amount of other Coin is equal to the amount of Coin c it was called upon. If coins compared are not of the same denomination, IsEqual will panic.

Parameters​
  • other Coin to compare with
Usage​
coin1 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 150)
coin2 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 100)
coin3 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 100)

coin1.IsEqual(coin2) // false
coin2.IsEqual(coin1) // false
coin2.IsEqual(coin3) // true

Add​

Adds two coins of the same denomination. If coins are not of the same denomination, Add will panic. If final amount is larger than the maximum size of int64, Add will panic with an overflow error. Adding a negative amount will result in subtraction.

Parameters​
  • other Coin to add
Usage​
coin1 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 150)
coin2 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 100)

coin3 := coin1.Add(coin2)
coin3.String() // 250ugnot

Sub​

Subtracts two coins of the same denomination. If coins are not of the same denomination, Sub will panic. If final amount is smaller than the minimum size of int64, Sub will panic with an underflow error. Subtracting a negative amount will result in addition.

Parameters​
  • other Coin to subtract
Usage​
coin1 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 150)
coin2 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 100)

coin3 := coin1.Sub(coin2)
coin3.String() // 50ugnot

IsPositive​

Checks if a coin amount is positive.

Usage​
coin1 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 150)
coin2 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", -150)

coin1.IsPositive() // true
coin2.IsPositive() // false

IsNegative​

Checks if a coin amount is negative.

Usage​
coin1 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 150)
coin2 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", -150)

coin1.IsNegative() // false
coin2.IsNegative() // true

IsZero​

Checks if a coin amount is zero.

Usage​
coin1 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 150)
coin2 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 0)

coin1.IsZero() // false
coin2.IsZero() // true

Coins​

Coins is a set of Coin, one per denomination.

type Coins []Coin

func NewCoins(coins ...Coin) Coins {...}
func (c Coins) String() string {...}
func (c Coins) AmountOf(denom string) int64 {...}
func (c Coins) Add(other Coins) Coins {...}

NewCoins​

Returns a new set of Coins given one or more Coin. Consolidates any denom duplicates into one, keeping the properties of a mathematical set.

Usage​
coin1 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 150)
coin2 := chain.NewCoin("example", 100)
coin3 := chain.NewCoin("ugnot", 100)

coins := chain.NewCoins(coin1, coin2, coin3)
coins.String() // 250ugnot, 100example
String​

Returns a string representation of the Coins set it was called upon.

Usage​
coins := chain.Coins{chain.Coin{"ugnot", 100}, chain.Coin{"foo", 150}, chain.Coin{"bar", 200}}
coins.String() // 100ugnot,150foo,200bar

AmountOf​

Returns int64 amount of specified coin within the Coins set it was called upon. Returns 0 if the specified coin does not exist in the set.

Parameters​
  • denom string denomination of specified coin
Usage​
coins := chain.Coins{chain.Coin{"ugnot", 100}, chain.Coin{"foo", 150}, chain.Coin{"bar", 200}}
coins.AmountOf("foo") // 150

Add​

Adds (or updates) the amount of specified coins in the Coins set. If the specified coin does not exist, Add adds it to the set.

Parameters​

  • other Coins to add to Coins set
Usage​
coins := // ...
otherCoins := // ...
coins.Add(otherCoins)

chain/runtime​

AssertOriginCall​

func AssertOriginCall()

Panics if caller of function is not an EOA. Only allows MsgCall transactions; panics on MsgRun calls.

Usage​
runtime.AssertOriginCall()

ChainDomain​

func ChainDomain() string

Returns the chain domain. Currently only gno.land is supported.

Usage​
domain := runtime.ChainDomain() // gno.land

ChainID​

func ChainID() string

Returns the chain ID.

Usage​
chainID := runtime.ChainID() // dev | test5 | main ...

ChainHeight​

func ChainHeight() int64

Returns the current block number (height).

Usage​
height := runtime.ChainHeight()

OriginCaller​

func OriginCaller() Address

Returns the original signer of the transaction.

Usage​
caller := runtime.OriginCaller()

CurrentRealm​

func CurrentRealm() Realm

Returns current Realm object.

Usage​
currentRealm := runtime.CurrentRealm()

PreviousRealm​

func PreviousRealm() Realm

Returns the previous caller realm (can be code or user realm). If caller is a user realm, pkgpath will be empty.

Usage​
prevRealm := runtime.PreviousRealm()

chain/banker​

Contains everything related to the Banker module in Gno.

type BankerType uint8

const (
    BankerTypeReadonly BankerType = iota
    BankerTypeOriginSend
    BankerTypeRealmSend
    BankerTypeRealmIssue
)

type Banker interface {
    GetCoins(addr Address) (dst Coins)
    SendCoins(from, to Address, coins Coins)
    IssueCoin(addr Address, denom string, amount int64)
    RemoveCoin(addr Address, denom string, amount int64)
}

NewBanker​

Returns Banker of the specified type.

Parameters​
  • BankerType - type of Banker to get:
    • BankerTypeReadonly - read-only access to coin balances
    • BankerTypeOrigSend - full access to coins sent with the transaction that calls the banker
    • BankerTypeRealmSend - full access to coins that the realm itself owns, including the ones sent with the transaction
    • BankerTypeRealmIssue - able to issue new coins
Usage​
banker := banker.NewBanker(banker.<BankerType>)

GetCoins​

Returns Coins owned by Address.

Parameters​
  • addr Address to fetch balances for
Usage​
coins := banker.GetCoins(addr)

SendCoins​

Sends coins from address from to address to. coins needs to be a well-defined Coins slice.

Parameters​
  • from Address to send from
  • to Address to send to
  • coins Coins to send
Usage​
banker.SendCoins(from, to, coins)

IssueCoin​

Issues amount of coin with a denomination denom to address addr.

Parameters​
  • addr Address to issue coins to
  • denom string denomination of coin to issue
  • amount int64 amount of coin to issue
Usage​
banker.IssueCoin(addr, denom, amount)
Coin denominations

Banker methods expect qualified denomination of the coins. Read more here.

RemoveCoin​

Removes (burns) amount of coin with a denomination denom from address addr.

Parameters​
  • addr Address to remove coins from
  • denom string denomination of coin to remove
  • amount int64 amount of coin to remove
Usage​
banker.RemoveCoin(addr, denom, amount)

OriginSend​

func OriginSend() Coins

Returns the Coins that were sent along with the calling transaction.

Usage​
coinsSent := banker.OriginSend()

testing​

// package `testing`
func SkipHeights(count int64)
func SetOriginCaller(origCaller address)
func SetOriginSend(sent chain.Coins)
func IssueCoins(addr address, coins chain.Coins)
func SetRealm(realm realm)
func NewUserRealm(address address) realm
func NewCodeRealm(pkgPath string) realm

SkipHeights​

func SkipHeights(count int64)

Modifies the block height variable by skipping count blocks.

It also increases block timestamp by 5 seconds for every single count

Usage​

testing.SkipHeights(100)

SetOriginCaller​

func SetOriginCaller(origCaller address)

Sets the current caller of the transaction to addr.

Usage​

testing.SetOriginCaller(address("g1jg8mtutu9khhfwc4nxmuhcpftf0pajdhfvsqf5"))

SetOriginSend​

func SetOriginSend(sent chain.Coins)

Sets the sent & spent coins for the current context.

Usage​

testing.SetOriginSend(sent Coins)

IssueCoins​

func IssueCoins(addr address, coins chain.Coins)

Issues testing context coins to addr.

Usage​

issue := chain.Coins{{"coin1", 100}, {"coin2", 200}}
addr := address("g1ecely4gjy0yl6s9kt409ll330q9hk2lj9ls3ec")
testing.TestIssueCoins(addr, issue)

TestSetRealm​

func SetRealm(rlm Realm)

Sets the realm for the current frame. After calling SetRealm(), calling CurrentRealm() in the same test function will yield the value of rlm, and any PreviousRealm() called from a function used after TestSetRealm will yield rlm.

Should be used in combination with NewUserRealm & NewCodeRealm.

Usage​

addr := address("g1ecely4gjy0yl6s9kt409ll330q9hk2lj9ls3ec")
testing.SetRealm(testing.NewUserRealm(""))
// or
testing.SetRealm(testing.NewCodeRealm("gno.land/r/demo/users"))

NewUserRealm​

func NewUserRealm(address address) Realm

Creates a new user realm for testing purposes.

Usage​

addr := address("g1ecely4gjy0yl6s9kt409ll330q9hk2lj9ls3ec")
userRealm := testing.NewUserRealm(addr)

NewCodeRealm​

func NewCodeRealm(pkgPath string) realm

Creates a new code realm for testing purposes.

Usage​

path := "gno.land/r/demo/boards"
codeRealm := testing.NewCodeRealm(path)