Table of contents:
Here are some ways you can contribute:
- Open a new issue here (please check the issue does not already exist).
- Work on an existing issue (check out the good first issues list on our public project board).
Please comment on the issue that you're interested in working on. Also, check out the coding standards and documentation standards before you start working on the pull request.
Once the pull request is merged to one of Taiko's GitHub repositories (you can see which repositories here: 2023 Taiko Contributor GitPOAP), you will be automatically awarded a Taiko Contributor GitPOAP. Opening a good new issue (not a spam issue) is also eligible for a GitPOAP, just leave a comment and we will manually invoke a GitHub bot that will send the GitPOAP.
This section describes our coding standards at Taiko.
It is important you use the correct commit type. For minor semver bumps, use feat
, for patches use fix
. For a major bump use feat(scope)!
or fix(scope)!
. If you use chore
, docs
, or ci
, then it won't result in a release-please PR or version bump.
Specify the scope of your change with a conventional commit in the PR title (for example, feat(scope): description of feature
). This will be squashed and merged into the main
branch. You can find the full list of allowed scopes here.
Because we squash all of the changes into a single commit, please try to keep the PR limited to the scope specified in the commit message. This commit message will end up in the automated changelog by checking which packages are affected by the commit.
For example, feat(scope): description of feature
should only impact the scope
package. If your change is a global one, you can use feat: description of feature
, for example.
Follow the NatSpec format for documenting smart contract source code.
Please adhere to a few additional style guidelines which are outlined in the following subsections.
This style guide applies to all Solidity files in packages/protocol/contracts
, with the exception of those located within the following directories:
packages/protocol/automata-attestation/
packages/protocol/thirdparty/
These directories may contain externally sourced contracts or those following different conventions.
To maintain clarity and consistency across our Solidity codebase, the following naming conventions are to be adhered to:
- Function Parameters: Prefix all function parameters with a leading underscore (
_
) to distinguish them from local and global variables and avoid naming conflicts. - Function Return Values: Suffix names of function return variables with an underscore (
_
) to clearly differentiate them from other variables and parameters. - Private Functions: Prefix private function names with a leading underscore (
_
). This convention signals the function's visibility level at a glance. - Private State Variables: Prefix all private state variable names with a leading underscore (
_
), highlighting their limited scope within the contract.
To ensure upgradeability and prevent storage collisions in future contract versions, reserve a fixed number of storage slots at the end of each contract. This is achieved by declaring a placeholder array in the contract's storage layout as follows:
// Reserve 50 storage slots for future use to ensure contract upgradeability.
uint256[50] private __gap;
Note: Replace
xx
with the actual number of slots you intend to reserve, as shown in the example above.
All contracts should have at the top, and nothing else (minimum viable documentation):
// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity 0.8.24;
All contracts should have, preceding their declaration, at minimum:
/// @title A title
/// @custom:security-contact [email protected]
Always use a single tag, for example do not do this:
/// @dev Here is a dev comment.
/// @dev Here is another dev comment.
Instead, combine them into a single comment.
Choose ///
over /** */
for multi-line NatSpec comments for consistency. All NatSpec comments should use ///
instead of /** */
. Additional explanatory comments should use //
, even for multi-line comments.
Explicitly use @notice
, don't let the compiler pick it up automatically:
/// This is a notice.
becomes this:
/// @notice This is a notice.
For multi-line annotations, do not "align". For example, this is wrong:
/**
* Here is a comment.
* @param someParam Here is a long parameter blah blah blah
* and I wrap it to here.
* @return someThing Here is a long return parameter blah
* and I wrap it to here.
*/
This is correct:
/**
* Here is a comment.
* @param someParam Here is a long parameter blah blah blah
* and I wrap it to here.
* @return someThing Here is a long return parameter blah
* and I wrap it to here.
*/
Use extra line breaks as you see fit. By default, do not use them unless it improves the readability.
This is preferred:
/**
* Here is a comment.
* @param someParam Here is a long parameter blah blah blah
* and I wrap it to here.
* @return someThing Here is a long return parameter blah
* and I wrap it to here.
*/
This is also okay:
/**
* Here is a comment.
*
* @param someParam Here is a long parameter blah blah blah
* and I wrap it to here.
* @return someThing Here is a long return parameter blah
* and I wrap it to here.
*/
You can use additional comments with //
. These can be above what it is describing or to the side. Try to remain consistent in what you are commenting. Do not use /* */
. You can align comments on the side or not, whichever improves readability.
This is correct:
struct Some {
// This is foo
uint256 foo;
uint256 bar; // This is bar
}
This is wrong:
struct Some {
uint256 foo; /* This is foo */
}
Periods are optional for comments, but recommended if it's a proper sentence. However, remain consistent in whatever file or section you are commenting.
This is correct:
struct Some {
// This is foo
uint256 foo;
}
This is wrong:
struct Some {
// This is foo.
uint256 foo;
// This is bar
uint256 bar;
}
The variable in the for-loop shall not be initialized with 0, and we enforce using ++var
instead of `var++``.
This is correct:
for (uint256 i; i < 100; ++i) {
}
This is wrong:
for (uint256 i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
}
To mention another contract file in the repo use the standard like this:
/// @notice See the documentation in {IProverPool}
If you are referring to some struct or function within the file you can use the standard like this:
/// @notice See the struct in {TaikoData.Config}
All public interfaces (those that would be in the ABI) should be documented. This includes public state variables, functions, events, errors, etc. If it's in the ABI, it needs NatSpec.
Taken from the official Solidity Style Guide
Contract elements should be laid out in the following order:
- Pragma statements
- Import statements
- Events
- Errors
- Interfaces
- Libraries
- Contracts
Inside each contract, library or interface, use the following order:
- Type declarations
- State variables
- Events
- Errors
- Modifiers
- Functions
Functions should be grouped according to their visibility and ordered:
- constructor
- receive function (if exists)
- fallback function (if exists)
- external
- public
- internal
- private
It is preferred for state variables to follow the same ordering according to visibility as functions, shown above, but it is not required as this could affect the storage layout.
Lexicographical order is preferred but also optional.
To document the implementing contract of an interface, you cannot use @inheritdoc
, it is not supported for contracts at the top-level. Thus, you should mention a statement like so:
/// @notice See the documentation in {IProverPool}
You can then mention implementation specific details by adding a @dev
tag:
/// @notice See the documentation in {IProverPool}
/// @dev This implementation uses a ProverPool of size 32.
Internal functions and structs should commented with a @dev
tag, and you can also comment the contents of the struct with explanatory comments.
All user-facing functions should be fully documented with NatSpec. Internal functions should always be commented with a @dev
tag, not a @notice
tag.
Explanatory comments use //
. There is a common idea that the code describes the documentation. There are pros to this approach. One of the pros is that you remove the coupling between documentation and the code it's describing, that's why we should always strive for the minimum viable documentation (one of our core documentation philosophies). It can also appear cleaner.
It's important that our codebase is well documented with explanatory comments. Thus, in addition to the standard NatSpec documentation which we should apply, we should comment the more complex things in our codebase for higher readability. More important than commenting what we should be concerned with commenting why. The what does not need to be commented for obvious things, of course the code is able to achieve that. We should comment the what for more complex things to aid in the reader for more quickly understanding the code. In addition to that, we should strive to answer the why with comments in our code.
Keep in mind the advantage of having minimum viable documentation. Keep the comments close to the code which it is describing, so that it does not easily go stale or out of date.
There are several annotations used in NatSpec, this is the order of precedence we use from top to bottom:
- @title
- @author [we don't use this tag]
- @notice
- @dev
- @param
- @return
- @inheritdoc
- @custom [we don't use this tag unless we define the convention for it here]
This section describes our documentation standards at Taiko.
- Create the minimum viable documentation.
- Don't repeat yourself, use links to existing documentation or inherit it.
- Keep documentation close to what it's describing (for example, in the source code).
Use the Microsoft Writing Style Guide as a base point of reference for writing style. Generally, don't worry too much about things like typos. What's more important is following the basic philosophies outlined above and following structural standards for highly readable and minimal documentation.
For consistency throughout the project, please use American English.
If you are interested in creating some content (video, blog post, tweet thread, visuals, etc.), you are absolutely free to do so. It's useful to get a peer review on these, if you need a peer review please reach out to the community / team on the Taiko Discord.
If you are looking for some more guidance on creating content, you can consult the Taiko content guide.