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Release 17.04.2025: migration guide

This release of =nil; improves the output of several =nil; CLI commands and makes minor adjustments to types in Nil.js. It also provides several quality-of-life improvements to the Cometa service and the =nil; wallet extension.

Summary of key changes​

General changes​

  • The =nil; repository now uses PNPM instead of NPM, which improves the speed and stability of package management across all JS/TS projects in the repo.
  • The =nil; wallet extension now allows for showing the private key associated with the currently active smart account.
  • The =nil; Playground can now import Solidity smart contracts from NPM packages.
  • The =nil; interactive tutorials now cache previously submitted solutions for completed tutorials. A cached solution is loaded automatically when a completed tutorial is opened.
  • It is now possible to specify the new solcStandardJson key inside the JSON task passed to the Cometa service:
{
  "contractName": "Test.sol:Foo",
  "compilerVersion": "0.8.28",
  "solcStandardJson": {
    "language": "Solidity",
    "sources": {
      "Test.sol": {
        "content": "// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT\npragma solidity >= 0.8.17;\ncontract Foo { constructor() payable {}\n function bar() public pure returns (uint) { return 42; } }\n"
      },
      "TestLib.sol": {
        "content": "// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT\npragma solidity >= 0.8.17;\ncontract Bar { constructor() {}\n function foo() public pure returns (uint) { return 43; } }\n"
      }
    },
...
  • Several UI adjustments were made to the =nil; block explorer, the Playground and interactive tutorials.
  • It is now possible to specify custom RPC URLs (e.g., http://localhost:8000) inside the =nil; Playground. This change allows for using the Playground with a locally run cluster or a cluster deployed on another custom host.
  • The AWAIT_CALL precompile has been removed

smart-contracts package changes​

  • The awaitCall() method has been removed from the Nil.sol contract
  • The sendTransaction() method has been removed from the Nil.sol contract
  • The send() method has been removed from the SmartAccount.sol contract

=nil; CLI changes​

  • The output of the nil debug command now includes additional fields:

    • FeeCredit
    • MaxFee
    • GasPrice
    • PriorityFee

  • The --log-level flag is now persistent for the nil debug command.

  • The nil contract command now also returns the contract hash and the contract storage root hash.

Nil.js changes​

  • The SmartAccount.sendTransaction() method now returns an instance of the Transaction class instead of the transaction hash.
  • An object of the Transaction class can now call the waitTillCompleted() method to await the transaction results.
  • The CometaClient.compileContract() and CometaClient.registerContract() methods now can accept an object representing the Cometa JSON input.
  • The CometaClient class now supports three new methods:
    • CometaClient.getAbi()
    • CometaClient.getSourceCode()
    • CometaClient.decodeTransactionCallData()

Migration of smart contracts​

  • Refactor and re-deploy contracts using the Nil.awaitCall(), Nil.sendTransaction() and the SmartAccount.send() methods.

=nil; no longer supports awaiting the results of an async call. As a result, any smart contract using the Nil.awaitCall() method needs to be refactored and re-deployed. The same should be done for any contracts using the Nil.sendTransaction() and the SmartAccount.send() methods.

Migration of =nil; CLI commands​

  • Remove repeated usages of the --log-level flag for the nil debug command.

As this flag has been made persistent, there is no need to specify it with every repeated usage of the nil debug command.

Migration of Nil.js scripts​

  • Adjust existing usages of the SmartAccount.sendTransaction() method.

This method now returns a Transaction object rather than a transaction hash. In addition, the waitTillCompleted() method can now be called directly from a Transaction object:

const tx = await wallet.sendTransaction({...});
await tx.waitTillCompleted();

Migration of Hardhat projects​

No specific changes have to be made to existing Hardhat projects.