referrerpolicy=no-referrer-when-downgrade
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
// Copyright Parity Technologies (UK) Ltd.
// This file is part of Polkadot.

// Polkadot is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
// (at your option) any later version.

// Polkadot is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
// GNU General Public License for more details.

// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
// along with Polkadot.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

//! # XCM Fundamentals
//!
//! XCM standardizes usual actions users take in consensus systems, for example
//! dealing with assets locally, on other chains, and locking them.
//! XCM programs can both be executed locally or sent to a different consensus system.
//! Examples of consensus systems are blockchains and smart contracts.
//!
//! The goal of XCM is to allow multi-chain ecosystems to thrive via specialization.
//! Very specific functionalities can be abstracted away and standardized in this common language.
//! Then, every member of the ecosystem can implement the subset of the language that makes sense
//! for them.
//!
//! The language evolves over time to accomodate the needs of the community
//! via the [RFC process](https://github.com/paritytech/xcm-format/blob/master/proposals/0032-process.md).
//!
//! XCM is the language, it deals with interpreting and executing programs.
//! It does not deal with actually **sending** these programs from one consensus system to another.
//! This responsibility falls to a transport protocol.
//! XCM can even be interpreted on the local system, with no need of a transport protocol.
//! However, automatic and composable workflows can be achieved via the use of one.
//!
//! At the core of XCM lies the XCVM, the Cross-Consensus Virtual Machine.
//! It's the virtual machine that executes XCM programs.
//! It is a specification that comes with the language.
//!
//! For these docs, we'll use a Rust implementation of XCM and the XCVM, consisting of the following
//! parts:
//! - [`XCM`](xcm): Holds the definition of an XCM program, the instructions and main concepts.
//! - [`Executor`](xcm_executor): Implements the XCVM, capable of executing XCMs. Highly
//!   configurable.
//! - [`Builder`](xcm_builder): A collection of types used to configure the executor.
//! - [`XCM Pallet`](pallet_xcm): A FRAME pallet for interacting with the executor.
//! - [`Simulator`](xcm_simulator): A playground to tinker with different XCM programs and executor
//!   configurations.
//!
//! XCM programs are composed of Instructions, which reference Locations and Assets.
//!
//! ## Locations
//!
//! Locations are XCM's vocabulary of places we want to talk about in our XCM programs.
//! They are used to reference things like 32-byte accounts, governance bodies, smart contracts,
//! blockchains and more.
//!
//! Locations are hierarchical.
//! This means some places in consensus are wholly encapsulated in other places.
//! Say we have two systems A and B.
//! If any change in A's state implies a change in B's state, then we say A is interior to B.
#![doc = simple_mermaid::mermaid!("../mermaid/location_hierarchy.mmd")]
//!
//! Parachains are interior to their Relay Chain, since a change in their state implies a change in
//! the Relay Chain's state.
//!
//! Because of this hierarchy, the way we represent locations is with both a number of **parents**,
//! times we move __up__ the hierarchy, and a sequence of **junctions**, the steps we take __down__
//! the hierarchy after going up the specified number of parents.
//!
//! In Rust, this is specified with the following datatype:
//! ```ignore
//! pub struct Location {
//!   parents: u8,
//!   interior: Junctions,
//! }
//! ```
//!
//! Many junctions are available; parachains, pallets, 32 and 20 byte accounts, governance bodies,
//! and arbitrary indices are the most common.
//! A full list of available junctions can be found in the [format](https://github.com/paritytech/xcm-format#interior-locations--junctions)
//! and [Junction enum](xcm::v4::prelude::Junction).
//!
//! We'll use a file system notation to represent locations, and start with relative locations.
//! In the diagram, the location of parachain 1000 as seen from all other locations is as follows:
//! - From the relaychain: `Parachain(1000)`
//! - From parachain 1000 itself: `Here`
//! - From parachain 2000: `../Parachain(1000)`
//!
//! Relative locations are interpreted by the system that is executing an XCM program, which is the
//! receiver of a message in the case where it's sent.
//!
//! Locations can also be absolute.
//! Keeping in line with our filesystem analogy, we can imagine the root of our filesystem to exist.
//! This would be a location with no parents, that is also the parent of all systems that derive
//! their own consensus, say Polkadot or Ethereum or Bitcoin.
//! Such a location does not exist concretely, but we can still use this definition for it.
//! This is the **universal location**.
//! We need the universal location to be able to describe locations in an absolute way.
#![doc = simple_mermaid::mermaid!("../mermaid/universal_location.mmd")]
//!
//! Here, the absolute location of parachain 1000 would be
//! `GlobalConsensus(Polkadot)/Parachain(1000)`.
//!
//! ## Assets
//!
//! We want to be able to reference assets in our XCM programs, if only to be able to pay for fees.
//! Assets are represented using locations.
//!
//! The native asset of a chain is represented by the location of that chain.
//! For example, DOT is represented by the location of the Polkadot relaychain.
//! If the interpreting chain has its own asset, it would be represented by `Here`.
//!
//! How do we represent other assets?
//! The asset hub system parachain in Polkadot, for example, holds a lot of assets.
//! To represent each of them, it uses the indices we mentioned, and it makes them interior to the
//! assets pallet instance it uses.
//! USDT, an example asset that lives on asset hub, is identified by the location
//! `Parachain(1000)/PalletInstance(53)/GeneralIndex(1984)`, when seen from the Polkadot relaychain.
#![doc = simple_mermaid::mermaid!("../mermaid/usdt_location.mmd")]
//!
//! Asset Hub also has another type of assets called `ForeignAssets`.
//! These assets are identified by the XCM Location to their origin.
//! Two such assets are a Parachain asset, like Moonbeam's GLMR, and KSM, from the cousin Kusama
//! network. These are represented as `../Parachain(2004)/PalletInstance(10)` and
//! `../../GlobalConsensus(Kusama)` respectively.
//!
//! The whole type can be seen in the [format](https://github.com/paritytech/xcm-format#6-universal-asset-identifiers)
//! and [rust docs](xcm::v4::prelude::Asset).
//!
//! ## Instructions
//!
//! Given the vocabulary to talk about both locations -- chains and accounts -- and assets, we now
//! need a way to express what we want the consensus system to do when executing our programs.
//! We need a way of writing our programs.
//!
//! XCM programs are composed of a sequence of instructions.
//!
//! All available instructions can be seen in the [format](https://github.com/paritytech/xcm-format#5-the-xcvm-instruction-set)
//! and the [Instruction enum](xcm::v4::prelude::Instruction).
//!
//! A very simple example is the following:
//!
//! ```ignore
//! let message = Xcm(vec![
//!   TransferAsset { assets, beneficiary },
//! ]);
//! ```
//!
//! This instruction is enough to transfer `assets` from the account of the **origin** of a message
//! to the `beneficiary` account. However, because of XCM's generality, fees need to be paid
//! explicitly. This next example sheds more light on this:
//!
//! ```ignore
//! let message = Xcm(vec![
//!   WithdrawAsset(assets),
//!   BuyExecution { fees: assets, weight_limit },
//!   DepositAsset { assets: AssetFilter(Wild(All)), beneficiary },
//! ]);
//! ```
//!
//! Here we see the process of transferring assets was broken down into smaller instructions, and we
//! add the explicit fee payment step in the middle.
//! `WithdrawAsset` withdraws assets from the account of the **origin** of the message for usage
//! inside this message's execution. `BuyExecution` explicitly buys execution for this program using
//! the assets specified in `fees`, with a sanity check of `weight_limit`. `DepositAsset` uses a
//! wildcard, specifying all remaining `assets` after subtracting the fees and a `beneficiary`
//! account.
//!
//! ## Next steps
//!
//! Continue with the [guides](crate::guides) for step-by-step tutorials on XCM,
//! or jump to the [cookbook](crate::cookbook) to see examples.
//!
//! The [glossary](crate::glossary) can be useful if some of the terms are confusing.