Structure of a Contract

Contracts in Vyper are contained within files, with each file being one smart-contract. Files in Vyper are similar to classes in object-oriented languages. Each file can contain declarations of State Variables and Functions.

State Variables

State variables are values which are permanently stored in contract storage.

storedData: int128

See the Types section for valid state variable types.

Functions

Functions are the executable units of code within a contract.

@public
@payable
def bid(): // Function
  // ...

Function calls can happen internally or externally and have different levels of visibility (see Non-reentrant Functions) towards other contracts. Functions must be explicitely declared as public or private.

Public Functions

Public functions (decorated with @public) are a part of the contract interface and may be called via transactions or from other contracts. They cannot be called internally.

Public functions in Vyper are equivalent to external functions in Solidity.

Private Functions

Private functions (decorated with @private) are only accessible from other functions within the same contract. They are called via the self variable:

@private
def _times_two(amount: uint256) -> uint256:
    return amount * 2

@public
def calculate(amount: uint256) -> uint256:
    return self._times_two(amount)

Private functions do not have access to msg.sender or msg.value. If you require these values within a private function they must be passed as parameters.

Non-reentrant Functions

The @nonreentrant(<key>) decorator places a lock on the current function, and all functions with the same <key> value. An attempt by an external contract to call back into any of these functions will cause a REVERT call.

Decorators

The following decorators are available:

Decorator Description
@public Can only be called externally.
@private Can only be called within current contract.
@constant Does not alter contract state.
@payable The contract is open to receive Ether.
@nonreentrant(<unique_key>) Function can only be called once, both externally and internally. Used to prevent reentrancy attacks.

The visibility decorators @public or @private are mandatory on function declarations, whilst the other decorators(@constant, @payable, @nonreentrant) are optional.

Default function

A contract can also have a default function, which is executed on a call to the contract if no other functions match the given function identifier (or if none was supplied at all, such as through someone sending it Eth). It is the same construct as fallback functions in Solidity.

This function is always named __default__ and must be annotated with @public. It cannot have arguments and cannot return anything.

If the function is annotated as @payable, this function is executed whenever the contract is sent Ether (without data). This is why the default function cannot accept arguments and return values - it is a design decision of Ethereum to make no differentiation between sending ether to a contract or a user address.

Example:

Payment: event({amount: int128, from: indexed(address)})

@public
@payable
def __default__():
    log.Payment(msg.value, msg.sender)

Considerations

Just as in Solidity, Vyper generates a default function if one isn’t found, in the form of a REVERT call. Note that this still generates an exception and thus will not succeed in receiving funds.

Ethereum specifies that the operations will be rolled back if the contract runs out of gas in execution. send calls to the contract come with a free stipend of 2300 gas, which does not leave much room to perform other operations except basic logging. However, if the sender includes a higher gas amount through a call instead of send, then more complex functionality can be run.

It is considered a best practice to ensure your payable default function is compatible with this stipend. The following operations will consume more than 2300 gas:

  • Writing to storage
  • Creating a contract
  • Calling an external function which consumes a large amount of gas
  • Sending Ether

Lastly, although the default function receives no arguments, it can still access the msg global, including:

  • the address of who is interacting with the contract (msg.sender)
  • the amount of ETH sent (msg.value)
  • the gas provided (msg.gas).

Events

Events may be logged in specially indexed data structures that allow clients, including light clients, to efficiently search for them.

Payment: event({amount: int128, arg2: indexed(address)})

total_paid: int128

@public
@payable
def pay():
    self.total_paid += msg.value
    log.Payment(msg.value, msg.sender)

Events must be declared before global declarations and function definitions.

NatSpec Metadata

Vyper supports structured documentation for state variables and functions and events.

carrotsEaten: int128
"""
@author Bob Clampett
@notice Number of carrots eaten
@dev Chewing does not count, carrots must pass the throat to be "eaten"
"""
@public
@payable
def doesEat(food: string):
  """
  @author Bob Clampett
  @notice Determine if Bugs will accept `food` to eat
  @dev Compares the entire string and does not rely on a hash
  @param food The name of a food to evaluate (in English)
  @return true if Bugs will eat it, false otherwise
  """

  // ...
Ate: event({food: string})
"""
@author Bob Clampett
@notice Bugs did eat `food`
@dev Chewing does not count, carrots must pass the throat to be "eaten"
@param food The name of a food that was eaten (in English)
"""

Additional information about Ethereum Natural Specification (NatSpec) can be found here.

Contract Interfaces

An interface is a set of function definitions used to enable communication between smart contracts. A contract interface defines all of that contract’s publicly available functions. By importing the interface, your contract now knows how to call these functions in other contracts.

Defining Interfaces and Making External Calls

Interfaces can be added to contracts either through inline definition, or by importing them from a seperate file.

The contract keyword is used to define an inline external interface:

contract FooBar:
    def calculate() -> uint256: constant
    def test1(): modifying

The defined interface can then be use to make external calls, given a contract address:

@public
def test(some_address: address):
    FooBar(some_address).calculate()

The interface name can also be used as a type annotation for storage variables. You then assign an address value to the variable to access that interface. Note that assignment of an address requires the value to be cast using the contract type e.g. FooBar(<address_var>):

foobar_contract: FooBar

@public
def __init__(foobar_address: address):
    self.foobar_contract = FooBar(foobar_address)

@public
def test():
    self.foobar_contract.calculate()

Specifying modifying annotation indicates that the call made to the external contract will be able to alter storage, whereas the constant call will use a STATICCALL ensuring no storage can be altered during execution.

contract FooBar:
    def calculate() -> uint256: constant
    def test1(): modifying

@public
def test(some_address: address):
    FooBar(some_address).calculate()  # cannot change storage
    FooBar(some_address).test1()  # storage can be altered

Importing Interfaces

Interfaces are imported with import or from ... import statements.

Imported interfaces are written using standard Vyper syntax, with the body of each function replaced by a pass statement:

@public
def test1():
    pass

@public
def calculate() -> uint256:
    pass

You can also import a fully implemented contract and Vyper will automatically convert it to an interface.

Imports via import

With absolute import statements, you must include an alias as a name for the imported package. In the following example, failing to include as Foo will raise a compile error:

import contract.foo as Foo

Imports via from ... import

Using from you can perform both absolute and relative imports. With from import statements you cannot use an alias - the name of the interface will always be that of the file:

from contract import foo

Relative imports are possible by prepending dots to the contract name. A single leading dot indicates a relative import starting with the current package. Two leading dots indicate a relative import from the parent of the current package:

from . import foo
from ..interfaces import baz

Searching For Interface Files

When looking for a file to import Vyper will first search relative to the same folder as the contract being compiled. For absolute imports, it also searches relative to the root path for the project. Vyper checks for the file name with a .vy suffix first, then .json.

When using the command line compiler, the root path defaults to to the current working directory. You can change it with the -p flag:

$ vyper my_project/contracts/my_contract.vy -p my_project

In the above example, the my_project folder is set as the root path. A contract cannot perform a relative import that goes beyond the top-level folder.

Built-in Interfaces

Vyper includes common built-in interfaces such as ERC20 and ERC721. These are imported from vyper.interfaces:

from vyper.interfaces import ERC20

implements: ERC20

You can see all the available built-in interfaces in the Vyper GitHub repo.

Implementing an Interface

You can define an interface for your contract with the implements statement:

import an_interface as FooBarInterface

implements: FooBarInterface

This imports the defined interface from the vyper file at an_interface.vy (or an_interface.json if using ABI json interface type) and ensures your current contract implements all the necessary public functions. If any interface functions are not included in the contract, it will fail to compile. This is especially useful when developing contracts around well-defined standards such as ERC20.

Extracting Interfaces

Vyper has a built-in format option to allow you to make your own vyper interfaces easily.

$ vyper -f interface examples/voting/ballot.vy

# Functions

@constant
@public
def delegated(addr: address) -> bool:
    pass

# ...

If you want to do an external call to another contract, vyper provides an external contract extract utility as well.

$ vyper -f external_interface examples/voting/ballot.vy

# External Contracts
contract Ballot:
    def delegated(addr: address) -> bool: constant
    def directlyVoted(addr: address) -> bool: constant
    def giveRightToVote(voter: address): modifying
    def forwardWeight(delegate_with_weight_to_forward: address): modifying
    # ...

The output can then easily be copy-pasted to be consumed.