x/epochs

Abstract

Often in the SDK, we would like to run certain code every-so often. The purpose of epochs module is to allow other modules to set that they would like to be signaled once every period. So another module can specify it wants to execute code once a week, starting at UTC-time = x. epochs creates a generalized epoch interface to other modules so that they can easily be signaled upon such events.

Contents

1. Concept
2. State
3. Events
4. Keeper
5. Hooks
6. Queries

Concepts

The epochs module defines on-chain timers that execute at fixed time intervals. Other SDK modules can then register logic to be executed at the timer ticks. We refer to the period in between two timer ticks as an "epoch".

Every timer has a unique identifier. Every epoch will have a start time, and an end time, where end time = start time + timer interval. On mainnet, we only utilize one identifier, with a time interval of one day.

The timer will tick at the first block whose block time is greater than the timer end time, and set the start as the prior timer end time. (Notably, it's not set to the block time!) This means that if the chain has been down for a while, you will get one timer tick per block, until the timer has caught up.

State

The Epochs module keeps a single EpochInfo per identifier. This contains the current state of the timer with the corresponding identifier. Its fields are modified at every timer tick. EpochInfos are initialized as part of genesis initialization or upgrade logic, and are only modified on begin blockers.

Events

The epochs module emits the following events:

BeginBlocker

Type	Attribute Key	Attribute Value
epoch_start	epoch_number	{epoch_number}
epoch_start	start_time	{start_time}

EndBlocker

Type	Attribute Key	Attribute Value
epoch_end	epoch_number	{epoch_number}

Keepers

Keeper functions

Epochs keeper module provides utility functions to manage epochs.

Hooks

  // the first block whose timestamp is after the duration is counted as the end of the epoch
  AfterEpochEnd(ctx sdk.Context, epochIdentifier string, epochNumber int64)
  // new epoch is next block of epoch end block
  BeforeEpochStart(ctx sdk.Context, epochIdentifier string, epochNumber int64)

How modules receive hooks

On hook receiver function of other modules, they need to filter epochIdentifier and only do executions for only specific epochIdentifier. Filtering epochIdentifier could be in Params of other modules so that they can be modified by governance.

This is the standard dev UX of this:

func (k MyModuleKeeper) AfterEpochEnd(ctx sdk.Context, epochIdentifier string, epochNumber int64) {
    params := k.GetParams(ctx)
    if epochIdentifier == params.DistrEpochIdentifier {
    // my logic
  }
}

Panic isolation

If a given epoch hook panics, its state update is reverted, but we keep proceeding through the remaining hooks. This allows more advanced epoch logic to be used, without concern over state machine halting, or halting subsequent modules.

This does mean that if there is behavior you expect from a prior epoch hook, and that epoch hook reverted, your hook may also have an issue. So do keep in mind "what if a prior hook didn't get executed" in the safety checks you consider for a new epoch hook.

Queries

The Epochs module provides the following queries to check the module's state.

service Query {
  // EpochInfos provide running epochInfos
  rpc EpochInfos(QueryEpochsInfoRequest) returns (QueryEpochsInfoResponse) {}
  // CurrentEpoch provide current epoch of specified identifier
  rpc CurrentEpoch(QueryCurrentEpochRequest) returns (QueryCurrentEpochResponse) {}
}

Epoch Infos

Query the currently running epochInfos

<appd> query epochs epoch-infos

:::details Example

An example output:

epochs:
- current_epoch: "183"
  current_epoch_start_height: "2438409"
  current_epoch_start_time: "2021-12-18T17:16:09.898160996Z"
  duration: 86400s
  epoch_counting_started: true
  identifier: day
  start_time: "2021-06-18T17:00:00Z"
- current_epoch: "26"
  current_epoch_start_height: "2424854"
  current_epoch_start_time: "2021-12-17T17:02:07.229632445Z"
  duration: 604800s
  epoch_counting_started: true
  identifier: week
  start_time: "2021-06-18T17:00:00Z"

:::

Current Epoch

Query the current epoch by the specified identifier

<appd> query epochs current-epoch [identifier]

:::details Example

Query the current day epoch:

<appd> query epochs current-epoch day

Which in this example outputs:

current_epoch: "183"

:::