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Development tips

Development Tips

Here are some valuable tips on how to develop your intelligent contract, debug it, and test it using the Genlayer Simulator.

1. Validators setup

You need to be sure that you have at least one validator. If you don't have any, you can create one in the settings screen by providing:

  • Provider
  • Model
  • Stake (at least 1)
  • Config (optional)

2. Add types to your contract method inputs

Adding types to your contract method inputs helps the UI render the correct input fields. For example, if you have a method that takes a string as input, you can define it as follows:

def update_storage(self, new_storage:str) -> None:
    self.storage = new_storage

This will allow the UI to render the form needed to call the contract with the correct input type as follows


Node Log

3. The constructor

The constructor is a special method called when the contract is deployed. It is used to initialize the contract's storage. You can define it as follows:

def __init__(self, initial_storage: str):
    self.storage = initial_storage

Right now, your contract must include a constructor. Without one, the simulator won't be able to deploy your contract.

4. Deploying a contract and sending transactions

After you have written your contract, you can deploy it by clicking the "Deploy" button. This will deploy the contract and show you the contract's address.
You can then call the contract's methods, shown below in the deployment section on the left panel of the simulator's UI.


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5. Debugging your contract

You can debug your contract by adding print statements to your contract methods. The simulator's Logs section will display these print statements. Here is an example of printing in a contract method:

def update_storage(self, new_storage:str) -> None:
    print("new storage value: ", new_storage)
    self.storage = new_storage

When a transaction is sent to this method, the print statement will be shown in the Logs section as follows:


Node Log

6. What happened when the transaction was executed

After a transaction is executed, you can see the details by clicking on the transaction in the Transactions section (left-bottom corner). This will show you:

  • Number: The transaction's number in the database
  • Timestamp: The time the transaction was executed
  • Type: The transaction's type (deployment or method call)
  • Status: The transaction's status (PENDING, PROPOSING, COMMITTING, REVEALING, ACCEPTED, FINALIZED)
  • Input: the parameters passed to the method
  • Execution: The status of the execution (SUCCESS or ERROR), the leader's configuration, and the validator's consensus votes
  • Equivalence principle output: The output of the equivalence principle from the leader

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7. Knowing what happens when the LLMs are called

If a contract method calls an LLM, you can see the Equivalence Principle Output from the leader (what's being input in the eq.set call) in the transaction details modal.


Node Log

8. Access to the contract state

If your contract methods change the contract's state, you can query that information by adding a read method to your contract (read methods should start with get_). This method should return the state you want to query.
For example:

def get_balances(self) -> dict[str, int]:
    return self.balances
 
def get_balance_of(self, address: str) -> int:
    return self.balances.get(address, 0)

These two methods allow you to query the contract's balance state. You can call them by expanding them from the left panel of the simulator's UI and clicking on the "Call Contract" button.

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