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Methods existing in ABCI

Echo

  • Request:
    • Message (string): A string to echo back
  • Response:
    • Message (string): The input string
  • Usage:
    • Echo a string to test an abci client/server implementation

Flush

  • Usage:
    • Signals that messages queued on the client should be flushed to the server. It is called periodically by the client implementation to ensure asynchronous requests are actually sent, and is called immediately to make a synchronous request, which returns when the Flush response comes back.

Info

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • Return information about the application state.
    • Used to sync CometBFT with the application during a handshake that happens on startup or on recovery.
    • The returned app_version will be included in the Header of every block.
    • CometBFT expects last_block_app_hash and last_block_height to be updated and persisted during Commit.
Note: Semantic version is a reference to semantic versioning. Semantic versions in info will be displayed as X.X.x.

InitChain

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • Called once upon genesis.
    • If ResponseInitChain.Validators is empty, the initial validator set will be the RequestInitChain.Validators
    • If ResponseInitChain.Validators is not empty, it will be the initial validator set (regardless of what is in RequestInitChain.Validators).
    • This allows the app to decide if it wants to accept the initial validator set proposed by CometBFT (ie. in the genesis file), or if it wants to use a different one (perhaps computed based on some application specific information in the genesis file).
    • Both RequestInitChain.Validators and ResponseInitChain.Validators are ValidatorUpdate structs. So, technically, they both are updating the set of validators from the empty set.

Query

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • Query for data from the application at current or past height.
    • Optionally return Merkle proof.
    • Merkle proof includes self-describing type field to support many types of Merkle trees and encoding formats.

CheckTx

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • Technically optional - not involved in processing blocks.
    • Guardian of the mempool: every node runs CheckTx before letting a transaction into its local mempool.
    • The transaction may come from an external user or another node
    • CheckTx validates the transaction against the current state of the application, for example, checking signatures and account balances, but does not apply any of the state changes described in the transaction.
    • Transactions where ResponseCheckTx.Code != 0 will be rejected - they will not be broadcast to other nodes or included in a proposal block. CometBFT attributes no other value to the response code.

BeginBlock

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • Signals the beginning of a new block.
    • Called prior to any DeliverTx method calls.
    • The header contains the height, timestamp, and more - it exactly matches the CometBFT block header. We may seek to generalize this in the future.
    • The CommitInfo and ByzantineValidators can be used to determine rewards and punishments for the validators.

DeliverTx

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • [Required] The core method of the application.
    • DeliverTx is called once for each transaction in the block.
    • When DeliverTx is called, the application must execute the transaction deterministically in full before returning control to CometBFT.
    • Alternatively, the application can apply a candidate state corresponding to the same block previously executed via PrepareProposal or ProcessProposal any time between the calls to BeginBlock, the various calls to DeliverTx and EndBlock.
    • ResponseDeliverTx.Code == 0 only if the transaction is fully valid.

EndBlock

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • Signals the end of a block.
    • Called after all the transactions for the current block have been delivered, prior to the block’s Commit message.
    • Optional validator_updates triggered by block H. These updates affect validation for blocks H+1, H+2, and H+3.
    • Heights following a validator update are affected in the following way:
      • H+1: NextValidatorsHash includes the new validator_updates value.
      • H+2: The validator set change takes effect and ValidatorsHash is updated.
      • H+3: last_commit_info (BeginBlock) is changed to include the altered validator set and *_last_commit fields in PrepareProposal, ProcessProposal now include the altered validator set.
    • consensus_param_updates returned for block H apply to the consensus params for block H+1. For more information on the consensus parameters, see the application spec entry on consensus parameters.
    • validator_updates and consensus_param_updates may be empty. In this case, CometBFT will keep the current values.

Commit

  • Request: Commit signals the application to persist application state. It takes no parameters.
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • Signal the application to persist the application state.
    • Return an (optional) Merkle root hash of the application state
    • ResponseCommit.Data is included as the Header.AppHash in the next block
      • It may be empty or hard-coded, but MUST be deterministic - it must not be a function of anything that did not come from the parameters of the execution calls (BeginBlock/DeliverTx/EndBlock methods) and the previous committed state.
    • Later calls to Query can return proofs about the application state anchored in this Merkle root hash
    • Use RetainHeight with caution! If all nodes in the network remove historical blocks then this data is permanently lost, and no new nodes will be able to join the network and bootstrap. Historical blocks may also be required for other purposes, e.g. auditing, replay of non-persisted heights, light client verification, and so on.

ListSnapshots

  • Request: Empty request asking the application for a list of snapshots.
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • Used during state sync to discover available snapshots on peers.
    • See Snapshot data type for details.

LoadSnapshotChunk

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • Used during state sync to retrieve snapshot chunks from peers.

OfferSnapshot

  • Request:
  • Response:

Result

  • Usage:
    • OfferSnapshot is called when bootstrapping a node using state sync. The application may accept or reject snapshots as appropriate. Upon accepting, CometBFT will retrieve and apply snapshot chunks via ApplySnapshotChunk. The application may also choose to reject a snapshot in the chunk response, in which case it should be prepared to accept further OfferSnapshot calls.
    • Only AppHash can be trusted, as it has been verified by the light client. Any other data can be spoofed by adversaries, so applications should employ additional verification schemes to avoid denial-of-service attacks. The verified AppHash is automatically checked against the restored application at the end of snapshot restoration.
    • For more information, see the Snapshot data type or the state sync section.

ApplySnapshotChunk

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • The application can choose to refetch chunks and/or ban P2P peers as appropriate. CometBFT will not do this unless instructed by the application.
    • The application may want to verify each chunk, e.g. by attaching chunk hashes in Snapshot.Metadata and/or incrementally verifying contents against AppHash.
    • When all chunks have been accepted, CometBFT will make an ABCI Info call to verify that LastBlockAppHash and LastBlockHeight matches the expected values, and record the AppVersion in the node state. It then switches to block sync or consensus and joins the network.
    • If CometBFT is unable to retrieve the next chunk after some time (e.g. because no suitable peers are available), it will reject the snapshot and try a different one via OfferSnapshot. The application should be prepared to reset and accept it or abort as appropriate.

New methods introduced in ABCI 2.0

PrepareProposal

Parameters and Types

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • RequestPrepareProposal’s parameters txs, misbehavior, height, time, next_validators_hash, and proposer_address are the same as in RequestProcessProposal.
    • RequestPrepareProposal.local_last_commit is a set of the precommit votes that allowed the decision of the previous block.
    • Fields height, time, proposer_address, and next_validators_hash match the values from the header of the proposed block.
    • RequestPrepareProposal contains a preliminary set of transactions txs that CometBFT retrieved from the mempool, called raw proposal. The Application can modify this set and return a modified set of transactions via ResponsePrepareProposal.txs .
      • The Application can modify the raw proposal: it can reorder, remove or add transactions. Let tx be a transaction in txs (set of transactions within RequestPrepareProposal):
        • If the Application considers that tx should not be proposed in this block, e.g., there are other transactions with higher priority, then it should not include it in ResponsePrepareProposal.txs. However, this will not remove tx from the mempool.
        • If the Application wants to add a new transaction to the proposed block, then the Application includes it in ResponsePrepareProposal.txs. CometBFT will not add the transaction to the mempool.
      • The Application should be aware that removing and adding transactions may compromise traceability.
        Consider the following example: the Application transforms a client-submitted transaction t1 into a second transaction t2, i.e., the Application asks CometBFT to remove t1 from the block and add t2 to the block. If a client wants to eventually check what happened to t1, it will discover that t1 is not in a committed block (assuming a re-CheckTx evited it from the mempool), getting the wrong idea that t1 did not make it into a block. Note that t2 will be in a committed block, but unless the Application tracks this information, no component will be aware of it. Thus, if the Application wants traceability, it is its responsability to support it. For instance, the Application could attach to a transformed transaction a list with the hashes of the transactions it derives from.
    • CometBFT MAY include a list of transactions in RequestPrepareProposal.txs whose total size in bytes exceeds RequestPrepareProposal.max_tx_bytes. Therefore, if the size of RequestPrepareProposal.txs is greater than RequestPrepareProposal.max_tx_bytes, the Application MUST remove transactions to ensure that the RequestPrepareProposal.max_tx_bytes limit is respected by those transactions returned in ResponsePrepareProposal.txs .
    • As a result of executing the prepared proposal, the Application may produce block events or transaction events. The Application must keep those events until a block is decided. It will then forward the events to the BeginBlock-DeliverTx-EndBlock functions depending on where each event should be placed, thereby returning the events to CometBFT.
    • CometBFT does NOT provide any additional validity checks (such as checking for duplicate transactions).
    • If CometBFT fails to validate the ResponsePrepareProposal, CometBFT will assume the Application is faulty and crash.
    • The implementation of PrepareProposal can be non-deterministic.

When does CometBFT call PrepareProposal ?

When a validator p enters consensus round r, height h, in which p is the proposer, and p’s validValue is nil:
  1. CometBFT collects outstanding transactions from p’s mempool
    • the transactions will be collected in order of priority
    • p’s CometBFT creates a block header.
  2. p’s CometBFT calls RequestPrepareProposal with the newly generated block, the local commit of the previous height (with vote extensions), and any outstanding evidence of misbehavior. The call is synchronous: CometBFT’s execution will block until the Application returns from the call.
  3. The Application uses the information received (transactions, commit info, misbehavior, time) to (potentially) modify the proposal.
    • the Application MAY fully execute the block and produce a candidate state (immediate execution)
    • the Application can manipulate transactions:
      • leave transactions untouched
      • add new transactions (not present initially) to the proposal
      • remove transactions from the proposal (but not from the mempool thus effectively delaying them) - the Application does not include the transaction in ResponsePrepareProposal.txs.
      • modify transactions (e.g. aggregate them). As explained above, this compromises client traceability, unless it is implemented at the Application level.
      • reorder transactions - the Application reorders transactions in the list
  4. The Application includes the transaction list (whether modified or not) in the return parameters (see the rules in section Usage), and returns from the call.
  5. p uses the (possibly) modified block as p’s proposal in round r, height h.
Note that, if p has a non-nil validValue in round r, height h, the consensus algorithm will use it as proposal and will not call RequestPrepareProposal.

ProcessProposal

Parameters and Types

  • Request:
  • Response:
  • Usage:
    • Contains all information on the proposed block needed to fully execute it.
      • The Application may fully execute the block as though it was handling the calls to BeginBlock-DeliverTx-EndBlock.
      • However, any resulting state changes must be kept as candidate state, and the Application should be ready to discard it in case another block is decided.
    • RequestProcessProposal is also called at the proposer of a round. Normally the call to RequestProcessProposal occurs right after the call to RequestPrepareProposal and RequestProcessProposal matches the block produced based on ResponsePrepareProposal (i.e., RequestPrepareProposal.txs equals RequestProcessProposal.txs). However, no such guarantee is made since, in the presence of failures, RequestProcessProposal may match ResponsePrepareProposal from an earlier invocation or ProcessProposal may not be invoked at all.
    • The height and time values match the values from the header of the proposed block.
    • If ResponseProcessProposal.status is REJECT, consensus assumes the proposal received is not valid.
    • The Application MAY fully execute the block — immediate execution
    • The implementation of ProcessProposal MUST be deterministic. Moreover, the value of ResponseProcessProposal.status MUST exclusively depend on the parameters passed in the call to RequestProcessProposal, and the last committed Application state (see Requirements section).
    • Moreover, application implementors SHOULD always set ResponseProcessProposal.status to ACCEPT, unless they really know what the potential liveness implications of returning REJECT are.

When does CometBFT call ProcessProposal ?

When a node p enters consensus round r, height h, in which q is the proposer (possibly p = q):
  1. p sets up timer ProposeTimeout.
  2. If p is the proposer, p executes steps 1-6 in PrepareProposal.
  3. Upon reception of Proposal message (which contains the header) for round r, height h from q, p verifies the block header.
  4. Upon reception of Proposal message, along with all the block parts, for round r, height h from q, p follows the validators’ algorithm to check whether it should prevote for the proposed block, or nil.
  5. If the validators’ consensus algorithm indicates p should prevote non-nil:
    1. CometBFT calls RequestProcessProposal with the block. The call is synchronous.
    2. The Application checks/processes the proposed block, which is read-only, and returns ACCEPT or REJECT in the ResponseProcessProposal.status field.
      • The Application, depending on its needs, may call ResponseProcessProposal
        • either after it has completely processed the block (immediate execution),
        • or after doing some basic checks, and process the block asynchronously. In this case the Application will not be able to reject the block, or force prevote/precommit nil afterwards.
        • or immediately, returning ACCEPT, if p is not a validator and the Application does not want non-validating nodes to handle ProcessProposal
    3. If p is a validator and the returned value is
      • ACCEPT: p prevotes on this proposal for round r, height h.
      • REJECT: p prevotes nil.

Data Types existing in ABCI

Most of the data structures used in ABCI are shared common data structures. In certain cases, ABCI uses different data structures which are documented here:

Validator

  • Fields:
  • Usage:
    • Validator identified by address
    • Used in RequestBeginBlock as part of VoteInfo
    • Does not include PubKey to avoid sending potentially large quantum pubkeys over the ABCI

ValidatorUpdate

  • Fields:
  • Usage:
    • Validator identified by PubKey
    • Used to tell CometBFT to update the validator set

Misbehavior

  • Fields:

MisbehaviorType

  • Fields MisbehaviorType is an enum with the listed fields:

ConsensusParams

  • Fields:

ProofOps

  • Fields:

ProofOp

  • Fields:

Snapshot

  • Fields:
  • Usage:
    • Used for state sync snapshots, see the state sync section for details.
    • A snapshot is considered identical across nodes only if all fields are equal (including Metadata). Chunks may be retrieved from all nodes that have the same snapshot.
    • When sent across the network, a snapshot message can be at most 4 MB.

Data types introduced or modified in ABCI++

VoteInfo

  • Fields:
  • Usage:
    • Indicates whether a validator signed the last block, allowing for rewards based on validator availability.
    • This information is typically extracted from a proposed or decided block.

ExtendedVoteInfo

  • Fields:
  • Usage:
    • Indicates whether a validator signed the last block, allowing for rewards based on validator availability.
    • This information is extracted from CometBFT’s data structures in the local process.
    • vote_extension is reserved for future use when vote extensions are added. Currently, this field is always set to nil.

CommitInfo

  • Fields:

ExtendedCommitInfo

  • Fields:

ProposalStatus

  • Usage:
    • Used within the ProcessProposal response.
      • If Status is UNKNOWN, a problem happened in the Application. CometBFT will assume the application is faulty and crash.
      • If Status is ACCEPT, the consensus algorithm accepts the proposal and will issue a Prevote message for it.
      • If Status is REJECT, the consensus algorithm rejects the proposal and will issue a Prevote for nil instead.