Serializations Reference

Introduction/Summary

Chain objects are encoded into binary, using RLP, according to the RLP templates here
Those binary representations may further be encoded into plain text using the API Encoding
As of 2025-03-23, this document is NOT exhaustive
Things with multiple fields are encoded as [Tag, Version | Fields]
This page is meant to succeed the serializations page in the protocol
That page is out of date
This page is meant to be a more up-to-date version written in a way that it's easier to
1. keep up-to-date
2. detect when it's out of date
Every part of the documentation here should have a permalink reference to the source file. This way a reader can click on the reference and check if it is out of date
Each primary object type generally has an "app" dedicated to it in the Gajumaru repo which also defines a sort of namespace like the aect_* prefix.
The serializers and things are defined in terms of those modules, which serve an an interface to the type as an ADT so that everything can be called in a regular way (roughly Type:serialize(This)).
Example: - aect_contracts contract record - aect_contracts serialization template

The `id()` type

Any account or contract etc that is somehow party to a transaction is encoded using this convention:

<<IdTag:8, PubKey:32/bytes>>

The Tags are (source)

decode_tag(1) -> account;
decode_tag(2) -> name;
decode_tag(3) -> commitment;
decode_tag(5) -> contract;
decode_tag(6) -> channel;
decode_tag(7) -> associate_chain;
decode_tag(8) -> native_token;
decode_tag(9) -> entry;

Table of object tags

Source

rev_tag(10) -> account;
rev_tag(11) -> signed_tx;
rev_tag(12) -> spend_tx;
rev_tag(13) -> data_extend_tx;
rev_tag(30) -> name;
rev_tag(31) -> name_commitment;
rev_tag(32) -> name_claim_tx;
rev_tag(33) -> name_preclaim_tx;
rev_tag(34) -> name_update_tx;
rev_tag(35) -> name_revoke_tx;
rev_tag(36) -> name_transfer_tx;
rev_tag(37) -> name_auction;
rev_tag(40) -> contract;
rev_tag(41) -> contract_call;
rev_tag(42) -> contract_create_tx;
rev_tag(43) -> contract_call_tx;
rev_tag(44) -> contract_source;
rev_tag(50) -> channel_create_tx;
rev_tag(501) -> channel_set_delegates_tx;
rev_tag(502) -> channel_delegates;
rev_tag(51) -> channel_deposit_tx;
rev_tag(52) -> channel_withdraw_tx;
rev_tag(521) -> channel_force_progress_tx;
rev_tag(53) -> channel_close_mutual_tx;
rev_tag(54) -> channel_close_solo_tx;
rev_tag(55) -> channel_slash_tx;
rev_tag(56) -> channel_settle_tx;
rev_tag(57) -> channel_offchain_tx;
rev_tag(570) -> channel_offchain_update_transfer;
rev_tag(571) -> channel_offchain_update_deposit;
rev_tag(572) -> channel_offchain_update_withdraw;
rev_tag(573) -> channel_offchain_update_create_contract;
rev_tag(574) -> channel_offchain_update_call_contract;
rev_tag(576) -> channel_offchain_update_meta;
rev_tag(575) -> channel_client_reconnect_tx;
rev_tag(58) -> channel;
rev_tag(59) -> channel_snapshot_solo_tx;
rev_tag(60) -> trees_poi;
rev_tag(61) -> trees_db;
rev_tag(62) -> state_trees;
rev_tag(63) -> mtree;
rev_tag(64) -> mtree_value;
rev_tag(621) -> contracts_mtree;
rev_tag(622) -> calls_mtree;
rev_tag(623) -> channels_mtree;
rev_tag(624) -> nameservice_mtree;
rev_tag(626) -> accounts_mtree;
rev_tag(627) -> acs_mtree;
rev_tag(628) -> entries_mtree;
rev_tag(70) -> compiler_sophia;
rev_tag(80) -> ga_attach_tx;
rev_tag(81) -> ga_meta_tx;
rev_tag(82) -> paying_for_tx;
rev_tag(810) -> ga_meta_tx_auth_data;
rev_tag(90)  -> associate_chain;
rev_tag(91)  -> ac_state;
rev_tag(92)  -> ac_burn;
rev_tag(93)  -> ac_create_tx;
rev_tag(94)  -> ac_deposit_tx;
rev_tag(95)  -> ac_update_cops_tx;
rev_tag(96)  -> ac_rollup_tx;
rev_tag(97)  -> ac_proposal_tx;
rev_tag(100) -> key_block;
rev_tag(101) -> micro_block;
rev_tag(102) -> light_micro_block;
rev_tag(110) -> testimony;
rev_tag(111) -> testimony_tx;
rev_tag(120) -> nt_native_token;
rev_tag(121) -> nt_create_tx;
rev_tag(122) -> nt_mint_tx;
rev_tag(123) -> nt_finalize_tx;
rev_tag(124) -> nt_trade_tx;
rev_tag(125) -> nt_burn_tx;
rev_tag(140) -> entry;
rev_tag(141) -> entry_create_tx;
rev_tag(142) -> entry_transfer_tx;
rev_tag(143) -> entry_destroy_tx;
rev_tag(200) -> pof.

Serializations Reference

Links

Introduction/Summary

The id() type

Table of object tags

The `id()` type