go-ethereum/docs/developers/evm-tracing/built-in-tracers.md

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Built-in tracers Explanation of the tracers that come bundled in Geth as part of the tracing API.

Geth comes bundled with a choice of tracers that can be invoked via the tracing API. Some of these built-in tracers are implemented natively in Go, and others in Javascript. The default tracer is the opcode logger (otherwise known as struct logger) which is the default tracer for all the methods. Other tracers have to be specified by passing their name to the tracer parameter in the API call.

Struct/opcode logger

The struct logger (aka opcode logger) is a native Go tracer which executes a transaction and emits the opcode and execution context at every step. This is the tracer that will be used when no name is passed to the API, e.g. debug.traceTransaction(<txhash>). The following information is emitted at each step:

field type description
pc uint64 program counter
op byte opcode to be executed
gas uint64 remaining gas
gasCost uint64 cost for executing op
memory []byte EVM memory. Enabled via enableMemory
memSize int Size of memory
stack []uint256 EVM stack. Disabled via disableStack
returnData []byte Last call's return data. Enabled via enableReturnData
storage map[hash]hash Storage slots of current contract read from and written to. Only emitted for SLOAD and SSTORE. Disabled via disableStorage
depth int Current call depth
refund uint64 Refund counter
error string Error message if any

Note that the fields memory, stack, returnData, and storage have dynamic size and depending on the exact transaction they could grow large in size. This is specially true for memory which could blow up the trace size. It is recommended to keep them disabled unless they are explicitly required for a given use-case.

It is also possible to configure the trace by passing Boolean (true/false) values for four parameters that tweak the verbosity of the trace. By default, the EVM memory and Return data are not reported but the EVM stack and EVM storage are. To report the maximum amount of data:

enableMemory: true
disableStack: false
disableStorage: false
enableReturnData: true

An example call:

debug.traceTransaction('0xfc9359e49278b7ba99f59edac0e3de49956e46e530a53c15aa71226b7aa92c6f', {
  enableMemory: true,
  disableStack: false,
  disableStorage: false,
  enableReturnData: true
});

Return:

{
   "gas":25523,
   "failed":false,
   "returnValue":"",
   "structLogs":[
      {
         "pc":0,
         "op":"PUSH1",
         "gas":64580,
         "gasCost":3,
         "depth":1,
         "error":null,
         "stack":[

         ],
         "memory":null,
         "storage":{

         }
      },
      {
         "pc":2,
         "op":"PUSH1",
         "gas":64577,
         "gasCost":3,
         "depth":1,
         "error":null,
         "stack":[
            "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060"
         ],
         "memory":null,
         "storage":{

         }
      },

      ...

Native tracers

The following tracers are implement in Go. This means they are much more performant than other tracers that are written in Javascript. The tracers are selected by passing their name to the tracer parameter when invoking a tracing API method, e.g. debug.traceTransaction(<txhash>, { tracer: 'callTracer' }).

4byteTracer

Solidity contract functions are addressed using the first four four byte of the Keccak-256 hash of their signature. Therefore when calling the function of a contract, the caller must send this function selector as well as the ABI-encoded arguments as call data.

The 4byteTracer collects the function selectors of every function executed in the lifetime of a transaction, along with the size of the supplied call data. The result is a map[string]int where the keys are SELECTOR-CALLDATASIZE and the values are number of occurances of this key. For example:

Example call:

debug.traceTransaction( "0x214e597e35da083692f5386141e69f47e973b2c56e7a8073b1ea08fd7571e9de", {tracer: "4byteTracer"})

Return:

{
  "0x27dc297e-128": 1,
  "0x38cc4831-0": 2,
  "0x524f3889-96": 1,
  "0xadf59f99-288": 1,
  "0xc281d19e-0": 1
}

callTracer

The callTracer tracks all the call frames executed during a transaction, including depth 0. The result will be a nested list of call frames, resembling how EVM works. They form a tree with the top-level call at root and sub-calls as children of the higher levels. Each call frame has the following fields:

field type description
type string CALL or CREATE
from string address
to string address
value string hex-encoded amount of value transfer
gas string hex-encoded gas provided for call
gasUsed string hex-encoded gas used during call
input string call data
output string return data
error string error, if any
revertReason string Solidity revert reason, if any
calls []callframe list of sub-calls

Example Call:

> debug.traceTransaction("0x44bed3dc0f584b2a2ab32f5e2948abaaca13917eeae7ae3b959de3371a6e9a95", {tracer: 'callTracer'})

Return:

{
  calls: [{
      from: "0xc8ba32cab1757528daf49033e3673fae77dcf05d",
      gas: "0x18461",
      gasUsed: "0x60",
      input: "0x000000204895cd480cc8412691a880028a25aec86786f1ed2aa5562bc400000000000000c6403c14f35be1da6f433eadbb6e9178a47fbc7c6c1d568d2f2b876e929089c8d8db646304fd001a187dc8a6",
      output: "0x557904b74478f8810cc02198544a030d1829bb491e14fe1dd0354e933c5e87bd",
      to: "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000002",
      type: "STATICCALL"
  }, {
      from: "0xc8ba32cab1757528daf49033e3673fae77dcf05d",
      gas: "0x181db",
      gasUsed: "0x48",
      input: "0x557904b74478f8810cc02198544a030d1829bb491e14fe1dd0354e933c5e87bd",
      output: "0x5fb393023b12544491a5b8fb057943b4ebf5b1401e88e44a7800000000000000",
      to: "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000002",
      type: "STATICCALL"
  }],
  from: "0x35a9f94af726f07b5162df7e828cc9dc8439e7d0",
  gas: "0x1a310",
  gasUsed: "0xfcb6",
  input: "0xd1a2eab2000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000024aea100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000050000000204895cd480cc8412691a880028a25aec86786f1ed2aa5562bc400000000000000c6403c14f35be1da6f433eadbb6e9178a47fbc7c6c1d568d2f2b876e929089c8d8db646304fd001a187dc8a600000000000000000000000000000000",
  to: "0xc8ba32cab1757528daf49033e3673fae77dcf05d",
  type: "CALL",
  value: "0x0"
}

Things to note about the call tracer:

  • Calls to precompiles are also included in the result

  • In case a frame reverts, the field output will contain the raw return data

  • In case the top level frame reverts, its revertReason field will contain the parsed reason of revert as returned by the Solidity contract

Config

callTracer accepts two options:

  • onlyTopCall: true instructs the tracer to only process the main (top-level) call and none of the sub-calls. This avoids extra processing for each call frame if only the top-level call info are required.
  • withLog: true instructs the tracer to also collect the logs emitted during each call.

Example invokation with the onlyTopCall flag:

> debug.traceTransaction('0xc73e70f6d60e63a71dabf90b9983f2cdd56b0cb7bcf1a205f638d630a95bba73', { tracer: 'callTracer', tracerConfig: { onlyTopCall: true } })

prestateTracer

The prestate tracer has two modes: prestate and diff. The prestate mode returns the accounts necessary to execute a given transaction. diff mode returns the differences between the transaction's pre and post-state (i.e. what changed because the transaction happened). The prestateTracer defaults to prestate mode. It reexecutes the given transaction and tracks every part of state that is touched. This is similar to the concept of a stateless witness, the difference being this tracer doesn't return any cryptographic proof, rather only the trie leaves. The result is an object. The keys are addresses of accounts. The value is an object with the following fields:

field type description
balance string balance in Wei
nonce uint64 nonce
code string hex-encoded bytecode
storage map[string]string storage slots of the contract

To run this tracer in diff mode, pass tracerConfig: {diffMode: true} in the APi call.

Example:

debug.traceCall(
  {
    from: '0x35a9f94af726f07b5162df7e828cc9dc8439e7d0',
    to: '0xc8ba32cab1757528daf49033e3673fae77dcf05d',
    data: '0xd1a2eab2000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000024aea100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000050000000204895cd480cc8412691a880028a25aec86786f1ed2aa5562bc400000000000000c6403c14f35be1da6f433eadbb6e9178a47fbc7c6c1d568d2f2b876e929089c8d8db646304fd001a187dc8a600000000000000000000000000000000'
  },
  'latest',
  { tracer: 'prestateTracer' }
);

Return:

{
  0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000002: {
    balance: "0x0"
  },
  0x008b3b2f992c0e14edaa6e2c662bec549caa8df1: {
    balance: "0x2638035a26d133809"
  },
  0x35a9f94af726f07b5162df7e828cc9dc8439e7d0: {
    balance: "0x7a48734599f7284",
    nonce: 1133
  },
  0xc8ba32cab1757528daf49033e3673fae77dcf05d: {
    balance: "0x0",
    code: "0x608060405234801561001057600080fd5b50600436106100885760003560e01c8063a9c2d...
    nonce: 1,
    storage: {
      0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000: "0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000024aea6",
      0x59fb7853eb21f604d010b94c123acbeae621f09ce15ee5d7616485b1e78a72e9: "0x00000000000000c42b56a52aedf18667c8ae258a0280a8912641c80c48cd9548",
      0x8d8ebb65ec00cb973d4fe086a607728fd1b9de14aa48208381eed9592f0dee9a: "0x00000000000000784ae4881e40b1f5ebb4437905fbb8a5914454123b0293b35f",
      0xff896b09014882056009dedb136458f017fcef9a4729467d0d00b4fd413fb1f1: "0x000000000000000e78ac39cb1c20e9edc753623b153705d0ccc487e31f9d6749"
    }
  }
}

Return (same call with {diffMode: True}):

{
  post: {
    0x35a9f94af726f07b5162df7e828cc9dc8439e7d0: {
      nonce: 1135
    }
  },
  pre: {
    0x35a9f94af726f07b5162df7e828cc9dc8439e7d0: {
      balance: "0x7a48429e177130a",
      nonce: 1134
    }
  }
}

noopTracer

This tracer is noop. It returns an empty object and is only meant for testing the setup.

Javascript tracers

There are also a set of tracers written in Javascript. These are less performant than the Go native tracers because of overheads associated with interpreting the Javascript in Geth's Go environment.

bigram

bigramTracer counts the opcode bigrams, i.e. how many times 2 opcodes were executed one after the other.

Example:

debug.traceCall(
  {
    from: '0x35a9f94af726f07b5162df7e828cc9dc8439e7d0',
    to: '0xc8ba32cab1757528daf49033e3673fae77dcf05d',
    data: '0xd1a2eab2000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000024aea100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000050000000204895cd480cc8412691a880028a25aec86786f1ed2aa5562bc400000000000000c6403c14f35be1da6f433eadbb6e9178a47fbc7c6c1d568d2f2b876e929089c8d8db646304fd001a187dc8a600000000000000000000000000000000'
  },
  'latest',
  { tracer: 'bigramTracer' }
);

Returns:

{
  ADD-ADD: 1,
  ADD-AND: 2,
  ADD-CALLDATALOAD: 1,
  ADD-DUP1: 2,
  ADD-DUP2: 2,
  ADD-GT: 1,
  ADD-MLOAD: 1,
  ADD-MSTORE: 4,
  ADD-PUSH1: 1,
  ADD-PUSH2: 4,
  ADD-SLT: 1,
  ADD-SWAP1: 10,
  ADD-SWAP2: 1,
  ADD-SWAP3: 1,
  ADD-SWAP4: 3,
  ADD-SWAP5: 1,
  AND-DUP3: 2,
  AND-ISZERO: 4,
  ...
  }

evmdis

evmdisTracer returns sufficient information from a trace to perform evmdis-style disassembly

Example:

> debug.traceCall({from: "0x35a9f94af726f07b5162df7e828cc9dc8439e7d0", to: "0xc8ba32cab1757528daf49033e3673fae77dcf05d", data: "0xd1a2eab2000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000024aea100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000050000000204895cd480cc8412691a880028a25aec86786f1ed2aa5562bc400000000000000c6403c14f35be1da6f433eadbb6e9178a47fbc7c6c1d568d2f2b876e929089c8d8db646304fd001a187dc8a600000000000000000000000000000000"}, 'latest', {tracer: 'evmdisTracer'})

Returns:

[{
    depth: 1,
    len: 2,
    op: 96,
    result: ["80"]
}, {
    depth: 1,
    len: 2,
    op: 96,
    result: ["40"]
}, {
    depth: 1,
    op: 82,
    result: []
}, {
    depth: 1,
    op: 52,
    result: ["0"]
}, {
    depth: 1,
    op: 128,
    result: ["0", "0"]
}, {
    depth: 1,
    op: 21,
    result: ["1"]
}, {
    depth: 1,
    len: 3,
    op: 97,
    result: ["10"]
}, {
    depth: 1,
    op: 87,
    result: []
}, {
    depth: 1,
    op: 91,
    pc: 16,
    result: []
},
...

opcount

opcountTracer counts the total number of opcodes executed and simply returns the number.

Example:

debug.traceCall(
  {
    from: '0x35a9f94af726f07b5162df7e828cc9dc8439e7d0',
    to: '0xc8ba32cab1757528daf49033e3673fae77dcf05d',
    data: '0xd1a2eab2000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000024aea100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000050000000204895cd480cc8412691a880028a25aec86786f1ed2aa5562bc400000000000000c6403c14f35be1da6f433eadbb6e9178a47fbc7c6c1d568d2f2b876e929089c8d8db646304fd001a187dc8a600000000000000000000000000000000'
  },
  'latest',
  { tracer: 'opcountTracer' }
);

Returns:

1384

trigram

trigramTracer counts the opcode trigrams. Trigrams are the possible combinations of three opcodes this tracer reports how many times each combination is seen during execution.

Example:

debug.traceCall(
  {
    from: '0x35a9f94af726f07b5162df7e828cc9dc8439e7d0',
    to: '0xc8ba32cab1757528daf49033e3673fae77dcf05d',
    data: '0xd1a2eab2000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000024aea100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000050000000204895cd480cc8412691a880028a25aec86786f1ed2aa5562bc400000000000000c6403c14f35be1da6f433eadbb6e9178a47fbc7c6c1d568d2f2b876e929089c8d8db646304fd001a187dc8a600000000000000000000000000000000'
  },
  'latest',
  { tracer: 'trigramTracer' }
);

Returns:

{
  --PUSH1: 1,
  -PUSH1-MSTORE: 1,
  ADD-ADD-GT: 1,
  ADD-AND-DUP3: 2,
  ADD-CALLDATALOAD-PUSH8: 1,
  ADD-DUP1-PUSH1: 2,
  ADD-DUP2-ADD: 1,
  ADD-DUP2-MSTORE: 1,
  ADD-GT-ISZERO: 1,
  ADD-MLOAD-DUP6: 1,
  ADD-MSTORE-ADD: 1,
  ADD-MSTORE-PUSH1: 2,
  ADD-MSTORE-PUSH32: 1,
  ADD-PUSH1-KECCAK256: 1,
  ADD-PUSH2-JUMP: 2,
  ADD-PUSH2-JUMPI: 1,
  ADD-PUSH2-SWAP2: 1,
  ADD-SLT-PUSH2: 1,
...
}

unigram

unigramTracer counts the frequency of occurrance of each opcode.

Example:

> debug.traceCall({from: "0x35a9f94af726f07b5162df7e828cc9dc8439e7d0", to: "0xc8ba32cab1757528daf49033e3673fae77dcf05d", data: "0xd1a2eab2000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000024aea100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000050000000204895cd480cc8412691a880028a25aec86786f1ed2aa5562bc400000000000000c6403c14f35be1da6f433eadbb6e9178a47fbc7c6c1d568d2f2b876e929089c8d8db646304fd001a187dc8a600000000000000000000000000000000"}, 'latest', {tracer: 'unigramTracer'})

Returns:

{
  ADD: 36,
  AND: 23,
  BYTE: 4,
  CALLDATACOPY: 1,
  CALLDATALOAD: 6,
  CALLDATASIZE: 2,
  CALLVALUE: 1,
  DIV: 9,
  DUP1: 29,
  DUP10: 2,
  DUP11: 1,
  DUP12: 3,
  DUP13: 2,
  ...
  }

State overrides

It is possible to give temporary state modifications to Geth in order to simulate the effects of eth_call. For example, some new byetcode could be deployed to some address temporarily just for the duration of the execution and then a transaction interacting with that address canm be traced. This can be used for scenario testing or determining the outcome of some hypothetical transaction before executing for real.

To do this, the tracer is written as normal, but the parameter stateOverrides is passed an address and some bytecode.

var code = //contract bytecode
var tracer = //tracer name
debug.traceCall({from: , to: , input: }, 'latest', {stateOverrides: {'0x...': {code: code}}, tracer: tracer})

Summary

This page showed how to use the tracers that come bundled with Geth. There are a set written in Go and a set written in Javascript. They are invoked by passing their names when calling an API method. State overrides can be used in combination with tracers to examine precisely what the EVM will do in some hypothetical scenarios.