compact-reviewer:best-practices

Use when reviewing Compact contracts for idiomatic patterns, learning recommended practices, or identifying common mistakes to avoid in Midnight smart contract development.

aaronbassett/midnight-knowledgebase·0installs0stars

SKILL.md

Full skill instructions

Best Practices Skill

Guidance on idiomatic Compact patterns and common mistakes to avoid.

When to Use

This skill activates for queries about:

Idiomatic Compact code
Best practices and conventions
Common mistakes
Recommended patterns
Library usage

Trigger words: best practices, idiomatic, convention, pattern, recommended, should, ought

Quick Reference

Idiomatic Patterns

Pattern	Good	Avoid
Authorization	`require_owner()` helper	Inline auth in every circuit
Constants	Named constants	Magic numbers
Error handling	Descriptive assertions	Silent failures
State access	Controlled via helpers	Direct ledger access everywhere
Naming	`verb_noun` for circuits	Cryptic abbreviations

Common Mistakes

// ❌ Missing language pragma
// Should be at the top of every file
export circuit example(): [] { }

// ✅ With pragma
pragma language_version >= 0.18.0;
export circuit example(): [] { }

// ❌ Not using Counter for counts
ledger count: Cell<Uint<64>>;
export circuit increment(): [] {
    count.write(count.read() + 1);
}

// ✅ Using Counter ADT
ledger count: Counter;
export circuit increment(): [] {
    count.increment(1);
}

Review Process

1. Pragma and Imports

Check file structure:

Pragma present and version specified
Imports at top (when supported)
Logical ordering of declarations

2. Type Choices

Verify appropriate types:

Counter for counts
Map for key-value pairs
Set for membership
Cell for single values
Vector for fixed-size arrays

3. Pattern Compliance

Check against idioms:

Authorization extracted to helpers
Constants defined at top
Consistent naming
Documented public interfaces

References

Idioms - Idiomatic patterns
Common Mistakes - Mistakes to avoid

Related Skills

code-quality - Code organization
compact-core/language-reference - Language features

Install skill

Copy and run in your terminal

npx -y skills add https://github.com/aaronbassett/midnight-knowledgebase --skill best-practices

View on GitHub

plugins/compact-reviewer/skills/best-practices/SKILL.md

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