compact-reviewerbest-practices

name	compact-reviewerbest-practices
description	Use when reviewing Compact contracts for idiomatic patterns, learning recommended practices, or identifying common mistakes to avoid in Midnight smart contract development.
metadata	{"author":"aaronbassett"}

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

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