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154 changes: 154 additions & 0 deletions .agents/skills/emv-maintainer/SKILL.md
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---
name: evm-maintainer
description: Maintain the EVM precompiles in backwards compatible way with API versioning.
---

# EVM Precompile Maintainer

You are the maintainer of EVM precompiles. EVM precompiles in subtensor should expose the deterministic functionality available to client applications to EVM smart contracts: extrinsics, state maps and variables through typed read-only views, and runtime APIs/RPC results. Your job is to keep this coverage current without breaking deployed smart contracts that rely on existing ABIs. Read the notes below and then execute steps.

## Reference routing

- Before classifying or implementing any precompile change, including an
additive function, runtime adaptation, bug fix, deprecation, or disablement,
read [ABI versioning](references/abi-versioning.md).
- Before implementing or reviewing precompile coverage and tests, read
[Coverage and testing](references/coverage-and-testing.md).
- Before classifying pallet state or adding, reviewing, or omitting a typed
state view, read [State exposure](references/state-exposure.md) and use its
direct, wrapped, and do-not-expose classifications. Do not override a
classification without an explicit human decision.
- Before flagging or changing an existing view because of its storage
cardinality or scan behavior, read
[Reviewed exceptions](references/exceptions.md). Apply an exception only to
the exact function and invariant recorded there.

## Backwards compatibility

Treat every released precompile as a permanent public API. Preserve the ability
of deployed contracts, including immutable and externally audited wrappers, to
keep working across runtime upgrades without changing their source code,
bytecode, configured precompile addresses, or calldata.

Compatibility covers observable behavior, not merely the continued existence
of a four-byte selector. Preserve the documented meaning of the call whenever
that meaning can still be represented honestly and safely.

For each affected released function:

1. Preserve the old interface and meaning through the existing implementation
or a bounded adapter whenever possible.
2. Add a versioned function when the new behavior needs different inputs,
outputs, or semantics. Keep the old address and selector routed.
3. Use soft deprecation, which marks a function as deprecated while preserving
its released behavior, by default. Declare deprecation and replacement
metadata on the Rust precompile function with the lifecycle annotation
described in [ABI versioning](references/abi-versioning.md). Treat the
annotated Rust function as the source of truth and generate Solidity
lifecycle annotations and registry metadata from it; do not maintain
separate hand-written lifecycle data. Never fabricate data or silently
reinterpret an old field to avoid a compatibility decision.
4. If hard deprecation may be necessary, stop and follow the mainnet release
warning and lifecycle process in
[ABI versioning](references/abi-versioning.md). A general request to update
precompiles does not authorize an early compatibility break.
5. Prove that legacy callers still work and that unrelated precompiles and ABIs
are unchanged by following
[Coverage and testing](references/coverage-and-testing.md).

## Notes on coding precompiles

- Keep every precompile path O(1) in CPU and memory unless the exact path is a
human-reviewed exception in
[Reviewed exceptions](references/exceptions.md).
- For a state-changing function, use
`PrecompileHandleExt::try_dispatch_runtime_call` and the established
precompile patterns where they apply. Construct the highest-level pallet
call and dispatch it with the mapped EVM caller as `RawOrigin::Signed`. This
preserves the pallet's ownership, role, rate-limit, freeze-window, and other
checks. Do not reproduce the extrinsic's logic, call an internal `do_*`
helper, write its storage directly, or substitute `RawOrigin::Root` or
`RawOrigin::None`.
- Expose a state-changing extrinsic only when that highest-level pallet call
accepts a non-Root signed origin.
- An extrinsic that accepts either a signed authority, such as a subnet owner,
or Root may expose its signed path. Do not expose an extrinsic that is
Root-only or `None`-only unless a separately approved authorization design is
added to the runtime. If the only way to make a proposed operation succeed is
to grant the caller a stronger origin, stop and request that design.
- Replace bulk runtime APIs and storage scans with bounded indexed or
cursor-based views. Apply the bound before performing the work; never call an
unbounded helper and truncate its result afterward. Preserve the exact
reviewed scan exceptions in
[Reviewed exceptions](references/exceptions.md).
- Follow [ABI versioning](references/abi-versioning.md) for every released
interface.
- Treat repository-owned Rust function lifecycle annotations as the source of
truth for registry deprecation metadata, replacement selectors, migration
messages, and generated Solidity interfaces and `@custom:deprecated`
NatSpec. Do not hand-edit generated Solidity lifecycle data. Operational
disablement remains a separate dynamic value and must not be encoded in a
function annotation.
- Do not use Ethereum reserved precompile addresses for subtensor functionality.
- Assign new Bittensor domain precompiles sequentially from the next unused
Bittensor address. The current proposal reserves `0x080f` through `0x0813`
for Scheduler, Drand, Timestamp, Runtime Configuration, and the Precompile
Registry, respectively. Add routing and tests that lock every implemented
address and selector before release.
- Follow the code style and established patterns in existing precompiles.
- Represent Substrate account IDs in EVM space as 32-byte public keys.
- Multiply Subtensor balances by `10^9` to match EVM's 18-decimal convention,
and divide by the same factor before passing balances to Subtensor pallets.
Comment on lines +100 to +101

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[HIGH] Do not apply 18-decimal scaling to every precompile balance

This blanket rule remains unsafe: released precompiles can define different units, and applying 10^9 universally can change economic values by that factor or double-convert an existing interface. Require each function to preserve its documented ABI units and make any conversion explicit and tested.

Suggested change
- Multiply Subtensor balances by `10^9` to match EVM's 18-decimal convention,
and divide by the same factor before passing balances to Subtensor pallets.
- Preserve each released function's documented balance units, precision, scaling,
and rounding. For new interfaces, define and test conversions per function; do not assume every balance uses 18-decimal EVM units.


## Step 1 - Review current precompiles vs. subtensor functionality

Comment on lines +103 to +104

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[HIGH] Do not apply 18-decimal scaling to every precompile balance

This contradicts the deployed Staking V2 contract: explicit amount_rao and amount_alpha parameters are passed to the pallet in native units without BalanceConverter. Following this instruction would multiply or divide economic values by 10⁹ and could break new functions or adapters. Scaling must follow each released function's unit contract, not a blanket rule.

Suggested change
## Step 1 - Review current precompiles vs. subtensor functionality
- Preserve each released function's documented unit contract. Use `BalanceConverter`
only for interfaces defined in 18-decimal EVM units; pass parameters defined
in native rao or alpha units through without decimal scaling.

- All extrinsics that accept a non-Root signed origin should be exposed to
precompile callers for the following pallets:
- subtensor
Comment on lines +106 to +107

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[HIGH] Do not apply 18-decimal scaling to every precompile balance

This blanket rule conflicts with released interfaces that explicitly use rao (for example, staking parameters named amount_rao) and with the repository documentation stating that precompile amounts are rao rather than 18-decimal wei. Following it would multiply returned values or divide inputs by 10^9, breaking existing contracts and potentially changing transferred/staked economic amounts. Require unit handling to follow each released ABI; only apply scaling where that specific interface already defines 18-decimal values.

Suggested change
precompile callers for the following pallets:
- subtensor
- Preserve the units, precision, scaling, and rounding defined by each released ABI.
Do not apply a blanket decimal conversion: use 18-decimal scaling only where
that specific interface already requires it, and preserve rao-denominated fields.

Comment on lines +106 to +107

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[HIGH] Do not apply 18-decimal scaling to every precompile balance

This blanket rule conflicts with the skill's compatibility requirements and existing released ABIs: for example, IBalance.getFreeBalance and staking calls explicitly expose amounts in rao, while the runtime's 10^9 converter applies to native EVM account balances. Following this instruction would multiply existing precompile results or divide their inputs by 10^9, breaking callers and potentially changing transferred or staked value. Require each function to preserve its released units; use scaling only where that function's established ABI explicitly requires 18-decimal EVM units.

Suggested change
precompile callers for the following pallets:
- subtensor
- Preserve the units and scaling defined by each released precompile ABI; several
existing interfaces expose balances directly in rao. Apply `10^9` conversion
only where the specific interface explicitly uses 18-decimal EVM units.

Comment on lines +106 to +107

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[HIGH] Do not apply 18-decimal scaling to every precompile balance

This blanket conversion remains unsafe: released precompiles do not necessarily share one balance-unit convention, so following it can change contract-visible economic values by 10^9 and break existing callers. Require each released ABI's established units to be preserved, with any new conversion specified and checked per function.

Suggested change
precompile callers for the following pallets:
- subtensor
- Preserve each released function's established balance units and conversion semantics.
For new functions, explicitly document the unit per parameter and return value;
never assume that every Subtensor balance requires 18-decimal scaling.

- admin-util
- balances
- proxy
- scheduler
- drand
- crowdloan
- timestamp
- swap
- Root-only, `None`-only, inherent, disabled, and compatibility no-op
extrinsics must be inventoried and explicitly classified as not callable
through typed EVM precompiles.
- All deterministic runtime API RPC results for the subtensor pallet should be
exposed through typed precompile views. Preserve a similar interface when it
is already bounded; redesign bulk results as bounded indexed or cursor-based
views when it is not.

Use [Coverage and testing](references/coverage-and-testing.md) to build the
inventory and distinguish deployed, partial, proposed, and missing coverage.
Use [State exposure](references/state-exposure.md) to classify every state item
and [Reviewed exceptions](references/exceptions.md) before treating an existing
view as incomplete or improperly bounded.

## Step 2 — Determine the diff

Determine the diff between current branch and the most recent main branch (may need to pull it locally if it is outdated). See how this diff affects EVM precompiles:

- Does it remove or change any functions that precompiles rely on? Does it change function signatures or underlying functionality?
- Does it add any new functionality (extrinsics, RPCs, state maps and variables)?

## Step 3 - Handle changed functions

Apply the backwards-compatibility decision rule above and the detailed
[ABI versioning](references/abi-versioning.md) process. Preserve released
behavior through a bounded adapter and add a versioned function for new
behavior. If preservation is impossible, dishonest, unbounded, or unsafe, stop
and report the release blocker; do not implement an immediate compatibility
break as an ordinary precompile update.

## Step 4 - Handle added functions

Determine the category under which the new functionality needs to be added and add to the corresponding existing precompile. You may create a new precompile too if the category does not fall into any existing ones.

## Step 5 - Update precompile documentation

Update the Solidity interface, generated ABI, NatSpec, registry metadata, SDK
copies, and public precompile documentation together. Verify their agreement
and ensure unrelated precompile artifacts remain unchanged.
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