Encoding & Caveats

Contract state is stored through a deterministic JSON-based encoding layer.

Supported Special Types

The encoder has explicit markers for:

• ContractingDecimal
• datetime.datetime / contract Datetime
• datetime.timedelta / contract Timedelta
• bytes
• very large integers

Why This Matters

Consensus depends on every validator encoding the same value into the same byte representation.

For numeric values, this means:

• contract float values are stored as ContractingDecimal
• decimal values are encoded with the __fixed__ marker
• the same numeric value always produces the same stored representation

Practical Advice

• keep values JSON-like where possible
• avoid storing very large blobs
• remember that storage cost is byte-based
• use shorter key and field names when stamp efficiency matters

Read/Write Cost Reminder

• reads: 1 stamp per byte
• writes: 25 stamps per byte

That byte count includes both key and value.