In the world of Ethereum development, hardhat-tracer stands out as a powerful tool that allows developers to visualize and understand the inner workings of their contracts while running tests. This blog post will guide you through installation, usage, and troubleshooting of hardhat-tracer to enhance your overall development experience.

Installation

To get started with hardhat-tracer, follow these simple steps:

• Step 1: Install the package using npm:

npm i hardhat-tracer

• Step 2: Add it to your hardhat.config.js file:

require('hardhat-tracer');

Usage

Once installed, you can leverage hardhat-tracer for your testing needs. Below is a rundown of the various commands you can use.

Running Tests

To run your tests with tracing enabled, you can utilize the following commands:

npx hardhat test --trace

This command prints calls for all transactions. You can also specify other flags to focus on failed transactions or storage operations. Here are a few examples:

• npx hardhat test --traceError – Prints calls for failed transactions.
• npx hardhat test --fulltrace – Prints calls and storage operations for all transactions.
• npx hardhat test --fulltraceError – Prints calls and storage operations for failed transactions.

Trace Transactions and Calls

This tool also allows you to trace mainnet transactions. Think of it as mapping out the journey of an Ethereum transaction through various contracts and functions.

For transaction tracing:

npx hardhat trace --hash 0xTransactionHash

For call tracing:

npx hardhat tracecall --to 0xAddr --data 0xData --from 0xAddr --value 123

Calldata Decoder

If you need to decode calldata or return data quickly, you can use:

npx hardhat decode --data 0x095ea7b3...

Address Name Tags and State Overrides

To make your logs clearer, you can assign readable names to unknown addresses:

hre.tracer.nameTags[this.arbitrager.address] = 'Arbitrager';

You can also set state overrides to simulate various realistic states:

tstracer: { stateOverrides: { 0xC02...: { balance: parseEther(2) } } }

Chai Utility

Integrating with Chai allows you to check whether the last transaction performed an internal message call:

expect(hre.tracer.lastTrace()).to.have.messageCall(...);

Programmatically Access Trace Info

You can programmatically access detailed information about previous traces:

const trace1 = hre.tracer.lastTrace();

Registering Custom Tasks with –trace

To run custom tasks with tracing, simply modify your hardhat.config.js:

tracer: { tasks: [ 'deploy', 'mycooltask' ] }

Print Debug Logs

If you need more insight into what’s happening, set the DEBUG environment variable:

DEBUG=hardhat-tracer:* npx hardhat test --trace

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues, consider these troubleshooting ideas:

• Ensure that you have correctly installed the package and required it in your configuration file.
• Check if you are running commands related to the Hardhat Network for effective tracing.
• Make sure that the transaction hashes or addresses you are using are correct.

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Conclusion

Using hardhat-tracer can significantly boost your Ethereum development workflow by providing clear visibility into transaction processes, state changes, and function calls. With this comprehensive guide, you should feel well-equipped to integrate hardhat-tracer into your development toolkit.