Compiler Toolchain Overview
Last updated
Last updated
This section introduces the zkEVM LLVM-based compiler toolchain for smart contract languages with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) support. The toolchain works on top of existing compilers and requires their output, which typically includes intermediate representations (IRs), abstract syntax trees (ASTs), and auxiliary contract metadata and documentation.
At the time of writing, we support Solidity and Vyper.
The toolchain consists of the following:
: solc and vyper.
: zksolc and zkvyper.
with a zkEVM back end which emits zkEVM text assembly.
which produces the zkEVM bytecode from text assembly.
which set up the environment.
High-level source code is processed by third-party compilers. These compilers do the following:
Process and validate the high-level source code.
Translate the source code into IR and metadata.
Pass the IR and metadata to our IR compilers via the standard I/O streams.
We are using two high-level source code compilers at the time of writing:
Our toolchain includes LLVM front ends, written in Rust, that process the output of high-level source code compilers:
These IR compilers perform the following steps:
Receive the input, which is usually standard or combined JSON passed by the Hardhat plugin via standard input.
Save the relevant data, modify the input with zkEVM settings, and pass it to the underlying high-level source code compiler which is called as a child process.
Receive the IR and metadata from the underlying compiler.
Translate the IR into LLVM IR, resolving dependencies with the help of metadata.
Optimize the LLVM IR with the powerful LLVM framework optimizer and emit zkEVM text assembly.
Print the output matching the format of the input method the IR compiler is called with.
Our IR compilers leverage I/O mechanisms which already exist in the high-level source code compilers. They may modify the input and output to some extent, add data for features unique to zkEVM, and remove unsupported feature artifacts.
: the official Solidity compiler. For more info, see the latest .
: the official Vyper compiler. For more info, see the latest .
Security and best practices: Follow the to build smart contracts on ZKsync Era.
which calls solc as a child process. For more info, see the latest .
: which calls vyper as a child process. For more info, see the latest .
The , which is written in Rust, compiles zkEVM assembly to zkEVM bytecode. This tool is not a part of our LLVM back end as it uses several cryptographic libraries which are easier to maintain outside of the framework.
We recommend using our IR compilers via . Add these plugins to the Hardhat's config file to compile new projects or migrate existing ones to ZKsync Era. For a lower-level approach, download our compiler binaries via the links above and use their CLI interfaces.
Add the plugins below to the Hardhat's config file to compile new projects or migrate existing ones to ZKsync Era. For a lower-level approach, download our compiler binaries and use their CLI interfaces.
