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Hello Clarity for the VM

In this tutorial, you learn how to use Clarity, Blockstack's smart contracting language inside of a virtual environment. The environment is run using a Docker image. Use this tutorial to get a quick introduction to Clarity and the default Blockstack test environment.

TOC {:toc}

Clarity is in pre-release

Clarity and its accompanying toolset are in pre-release. If you encounter issues with or have feature requests regarding Clarity, please create an issue on the blockstack/blockstack-core repository. To read previous or join ongoing discussions about smart contracts in general and Clarity in particular, visit the Smart Contracts topic in the Blockstack Forum.

Before you begin (pre-requisites)

The Clarity language goes live in the next Stacks blockchain fork. Until the fork, you can run Clarity in a test environment. You run this test environment in a Docker container. Before you begin this tutorial, make sure you have Docker installed on your workstation.

If, for some reason, you don't want to run the test environment with Docker, you can build and maintain a local environment. Instructions for downloading and building the environment are available in the blockstack/blockstack-core repository's README file.

Task 1: Set up the test environment

Blockstack publishes the clarity-developer-preview image on Docker hub. A container built from this image contains sample programs, the Blockstack Core, and tools for working with them. In this task, you use Docker to pull and run the image on your local workstation.

Pull the Blockstack core clarity-developer-preview image from Docker Hub.
```
$ docker pull blockstack/blockstack-core:clarity-developer-preview
```
Start the Blockstack Core test environment with a Bash shell.
```
$ docker run -it -v $HOME/blockstack-dev-data:/data/ blockstack/blockstack-core:clarity-developer-preview bash
```
The command launches a container with the Clarity test environment and opens a bash shell into the container. The -v flag creates a local $HOME/blockstack-dev-data directory in your workstation and mounts it at the /data directory inside the container. The shell opens into the src/blockstack-core directory. This directory contains the source for a core and includes Clarity contract samples you can run.
List the contents of the sample-programs directory.
```
root@f88368ba07b2:/src/blockstack-core# ls sample-programs/
names.clar  tokens.clar
```
The sample program's directory contains two simple Clarity programs. Clarity code files have a .clar suffix.
Go ahead and display the contents of the tokens.clar program with the cat command.
```
root@c28600552694:/src/blockstack-core# cat sample-programs/tokens.clar 
```
The next section gives you an introduction to the Clarity language by way of examining this program's code.

Task 2: Review a simple Clarity program

If you haven't already done so, use the cat or more command to display the tokens.clar file's code. Clarity is designed for static analysis; it is not a compiled language and is not Turing complete. It language is a LISP-like language. LISP is an acronym for list processing.

The first lines of the tokens.clar program contains a user-defined get-balance function.

(define-map tokens ((account principal)) ((balance uint)))
(define-private (get-balance (account principal))
  (default-to u0 (get balance (map-get? tokens (tuple (account account))))))

get-balance is a private function because it is constructed with the define-private call. To create public functions, you would use the define-public function. Public functions can be called from other contracts or even from the command line with the clarity-cli.

Notice the program is enclosed in () (parentheses) and each statement as well. The get-balance function takes an account argument of the special type principal. Principals represent a spending entity and are roughly equivalent to a Stacks address.

Along with the principal types, Clarity supports booleans, integers, and fixed-length buffers. Variables are created via let binding, but there is no support for mutating functions like set.

The next sequence of lines shows an if statement that allows you to set conditions for execution in the language.

(define-private (token-credit! (account principal) (amount uint))
  (if (<= amount u0)
      (err "must move positive balance")
      (let ((current-amount (get-balance account)))
        (begin
          (map-set tokens (tuple (account account))
                      (tuple (balance (+ amount current-amount))))
          (ok amount)))))

Every smart contract has both a data space and code. The data space of a contract may only interact with that contract. This particular function is interacting with a map named tokens. The set-entry! function is a native function that sets the value associated with the input key to the inputted value in the tokens data map. Because set-entry! mutates data so it has an ! exclamation point; this is by convention in Clarity.

In the first token-transfer public function, you see that it calls the private get-balance function and passes it tx-sender. The tx-sender is a globally defined variable that represents the current principal.

(define-public (token-transfer (to principal) (amount uint))
  (let ((balance (get-balance tx-sender)))
    (if (or (> amount balance) (<= amount u0))
        (err "must transfer positive balance and possess funds")
        (begin
          (map-set tokens (tuple (account tx-sender))
                      (tuple (balance (- balance amount))))
          (token-credit! to amount)))))

(define-public (mint! (amount uint))
   (let ((balance (get-balance tx-sender)))
     (token-credit! tx-sender amount)))

(token-credit! 'SZ2J6ZY48GV1EZ5V2V5RB9MP66SW86PYKKQ9H6DPR u10000)
(token-credit! 'SM2J6ZY48GV1EZ5V2V5RB9MP66SW86PYKKQVX8X0G u300)

The final two lines of the program pass a principal, represented by a Stacks address, and an amount to the private user-defined token-credit function.

Smart contracts may call other smart contracts using a contract-call! function. This ability means that if a transaction invokes a function in a given smart contract, that function is able to make calls into other smart contracts on your behalf. The ability to read and do a static analysis of Clarity code allows clients to learn which functions a given smart contract will ever call. Good clients should always warn users about any potential side effects of a given transaction.

Take a moment to cat the contents of the sample-programs/names.clar file.

cat sample-programs/names.clar

Which tokens.clar function is being called?

Task 3: Initialize data-space and launch contracts

In this task, you interact with the the contracts using the clarity-cli command line.

Initialize a new db database in the /data/ directory
```
#  clarity-cli initialize /data/db
Database created
```
You should see a message saying Database created. The command creates an SQLlite database. The database is available in the container and also in your workstation. In this tutorial, your workstation mount should, at this point, contain the $HOME/blockstack-dev-data/db directory.
Type check the names.clar contract.
```
#  clarity-cli check sample-programs/names.clar /data/db
```
You should get an error:
```
Error (line 11, column 1): use of unresolved contract ''S1G2081040G2081040G2081040G208105NK8PE5.tokens'.
```
This happens because the names.clar contract calls the tokens.clar contract, and that contract has not been created on the blockchain.
Type check the tokens.clar contract, it should pass a check as it does not use the contract-call function:
```
# clarity-cli check sample-programs/tokens.clar /data/db
Checks passed.
```
When the check command executes successfully and exits with the stand UNIX 0 exit code.
Generate a demo Stacks address for testing your contract.

This address is used to name your contract at launch time. You can use any existing Stacks address. For this sample, you are going to use the generate_address command to create one.
```
# clarity-cli generate_address
SP28Z69HE5H70BVRG4VGKN4SYNVJ1J0417WVCKZWM
```
The demo address you generate will be different than the one that appears in this example.

Add the address to your environment.

# DEMO_ADDRESS=SP28Z69HE5H70BVRG4VGKN4SYNVJ1J0417WVCKZWM

Launch the tokens.clar contract and assign it to your DEMO_ADDRESS address.

You use the launch command to instantiate a contract on the Stacks blockchain. If you have dependencies between contracts, for example names.clar is dependent on tokens.clar, you must launch the dependency first.
```
# clarity-cli launch $DEMO_ADDRESS.tokens sample-programs/tokens.clar /data/db
Contract initialized!
```
Once launched, you can execute the contract or a public method on the contract. Your development database has an instantiated tokens contract. If you were to close the container and restart it later with the same mount point and you wouldn't need to relaunch that database; it persists until you remove it from your local drive.

Instantiate the names.clar contract and assign it to your DEMO_ADDRESS address. as well.

# clarity-cli launch $DEMO_ADDRESS.names sample-programs/names.clar /data/db
Contract initialized!

Task 4. Examine the SQLite database

The test environment uses a SQLite database to represent a virtual blockchain. You initialized this database when you ran this earlier:

clarity-cli initialize /data/db

As you work the contracts, data is added to the db database because you pass this database as a parameter, for example:

clarity-cli launch $DEMO_ADDRESS.tokens sample-programs/tokens.clar /data/db

The database exists on your local workstation and persists through restarts of the container. You can use this database to explore the transactional effects of your Clarity programs. The SQLite database includes a single data_table and a set of marf structures.

While not required, you can install SQLite in your local environment and use it to examine the data associated with and impacted by your contract. For example, this what the data_able contains after you initialize the tokens contract.

The marf directory defines a data structure that handles key-value lookups in the presence of blockchain forks. These structures are not intended for use in debugging, they simply support the implementation.

Task 5: Execute a public function

In this section, you use the public mint! function in the tokens contract to mint some new tokens.

Get the current balance of your new address.
```
 # echo "(get-balance '$DEMO_ADDRESS)" | clarity-cli eval $DEMO_ADDRESS.tokens /data/db
 Program executed successfully! Output: 
 0
```
This command uses the private get-balance function in the tokens contract and pipes the result to the eval subcommand. The eval subcommand lets you evaluate both public and private functions of a contract in read-only mode.
Try minting some tokens and sending them to an address we'll use for our demo.
```
# clarity-cli execute /data/db $DEMO_ADDRESS.tokens mint! $DEMO_ADDRESS u100000
Transaction executed and committed. Returned: 100000
```
This executes the public mint! function defined in the tokens contract, sending 100000 tokens to you $DEMO_ADDRESS.

Use the clarity-cli eval command to check the result of this call.

# echo "(get-balance '$DEMO_ADDRESS)" | clarity-cli eval $DEMO_ADDRESS.tokens /data/db
Program executed successfully! Output: 
100000

Task 6: Spend tokens by registering a name

Now, let's register a name using the names.clar contract. Names can only be integers in this sample contract, so you'll register the name 10 in this environment.

Compute the hash of the name we want to register.

You'll salt the hash with the salt 8888:

# echo "(hash160 (xor 10 8888))" | clarity-cli eval $DEMO_ADDRESS.names /data/db
Program executed successfully! Output: 
0xb572fb1ce2e9665f1efd0994fe077b50c3a48fde

The value of the name hash is:

0xb572fb1ce2e9665f1efd0994fe077b50c3a48fde

Preorder the name using the execute command:

# clarity-cli execute /data/db $DEMO_ADDRESS.names preorder $DEMO_ADDRESS 0xb572fb1ce2e9665f1efd0994fe077b50c3a48fde u1000
e077b50c3a48fde 1000
Transaction executed and committed. Returned: 0

This executes the public preorder function defined in the names.clar contract. The function reserves a name by paying the name fee (in this case, 1000 tokens).

Check the demo address' new balance:

# echo "(get-balance '$DEMO_ADDRESS)" | clarity-cli eval $DEMO_ADDRESS.tokens /data/db
Program executed successfully! Output: 
99000

# clarity-cli execute /data/db $DEMO_ADDRESS.names register $DEMO_ADDRESS \'$DEMO_ADDRESS 10 8888
Transaction executed and committed. Returned: 0

Lookup the "owner address" for the name:

# echo "(get owner (map-get name-map (tuple (name 10))))" | clarity-cli eval $DEMO_ADDRESS.names /data/db
Program executed successfully! Output: 
(some 'SP2Y8T8RWWXFR8S1XBP6K0MHCQF01D552FSWD9M4E)

Where to go next

{:.no_toc}

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