PlaintextTx

Unencrypted transaction view for debugging

Unencrypted transaction view returned by debug writes.

Overview

PlaintextTx contains the same fields as a shielded transaction but with plaintext calldata (before AES-GCM encryption). It's returned by .dwrite methods for debugging and inspection.

Definition

@dataclass(frozen=True)
class PlaintextTx:
    """Unencrypted transaction view returned by debug writes.

    Contains the same fields as the shielded transaction but with
    plaintext calldata (before AES-GCM encryption).
    """
    to: ChecksumAddress | None
    data: HexBytes
    nonce: int
    gas: int
    gas_price: int
    value: int

Fields

Field	Type	Description
to	ChecksumAddress | None	Recipient address, or None for contract creation
data	HexBytes	Plaintext calldata (before encryption)
nonce	int	Sender's transaction count
gas	int	Gas limit
gas_price	int	Gas price in wei
value	int	Amount of wei to transfer

Examples

Get from Debug Write

from seismic_web3 import create_wallet_client, ShieldedContract

w3 = create_wallet_client(...)
contract = ShieldedContract(w3, contract_address, abi)

# Debug write returns plaintext view
result = await contract.dwrite.transfer(recipient, 1000)

# Access plaintext transaction
plaintext = result.plaintext_tx
print(f"To: {plaintext.to}")
print(f"Plaintext data: {plaintext.data.to_0x_hex()}")
print(f"Gas: {plaintext.gas}")
print(f"Value: {plaintext.value} wei")

Compare with Shielded Transaction

result = await contract.dwrite.transfer(recipient, 1000)

# Plaintext calldata (readable)
plaintext_data = result.plaintext_tx.data
print(f"Plaintext: {plaintext_data.to_0x_hex()}")

# Encrypted calldata (ciphertext)
encrypted_data = result.shielded_tx.data
print(f"Encrypted: {encrypted_data.to_0x_hex()}")

# They have different values!
assert plaintext_data != encrypted_data

Inspect Function Call

from eth_abi import decode

result = await contract.dwrite.transfer(recipient, 1000)

# Decode plaintext calldata
plaintext_data = result.plaintext_tx.data

# Extract function selector (first 4 bytes)
selector = plaintext_data[:4]
print(f"Function selector: {selector.to_0x_hex()}")

# Decode parameters (after selector)
params = plaintext_data[4:]
decoded = decode(['address', 'uint256'], params)
print(f"Decoded params: {decoded}")

Gas Estimation

result = await contract.dwrite.transfer(recipient, 1000)

# Check estimated gas
plaintext = result.plaintext_tx
print(f"Gas estimate: {plaintext.gas}")

# Compare with actual gas used after execution
receipt = w3.eth.wait_for_transaction_receipt(result.tx_hash)
print(f"Gas used: {receipt['gasUsed']}")

Field Details

data (Plaintext Calldata)

The data field contains plaintext calldata:

• Function selector (4 bytes) + encoded parameters

• Not encrypted - readable and inspectable

• Matches what would be sent in a standard Ethereum transaction

This contrasts with UnsignedSeismicTx.data, which contains the encrypted version.

to

• Standard checksummed Ethereum address

• None for contract creation

gas

• Estimated gas limit for the transaction

• Fetched from eth_estimateGas with plaintext calldata

gas_price

• Gas price in wei

• Fetched from eth_gasPrice or configured value

value

• Amount of native currency to transfer in wei

• Can be 0 for pure function calls

Properties

• Immutable - Cannot be modified after construction (frozen=True)

• Plaintext - Data is not encrypted

• Debug only - Used for inspection, not for actual execution

Use Cases

Debugging Encryption

result = await contract.dwrite.someMethod(args)

# Verify plaintext is correct before encryption
plaintext = result.plaintext_tx
print(f"Plaintext calldata: {plaintext.data.to_0x_hex()}")

Testing Function Encoding

result = await contract.dwrite.transfer(recipient, 1000)

# Verify function selector and parameter encoding
plaintext_data = result.plaintext_tx.data
expected_selector = w3.keccak(text="transfer(address,uint256)")[:4]

assert plaintext_data[:4] == expected_selector

Gas Optimization

# Compare gas estimates for different approaches
result1 = await contract.dwrite.method1(args)
result2 = await contract.dwrite.method2(args)

print(f"Method 1 gas: {result1.plaintext_tx.gas}")
print(f"Method 2 gas: {result2.plaintext_tx.gas}")

Warnings

• Never broadcast PlaintextTx - It's unencrypted and invalid for Seismic

• Debug only - Only use .dwrite for testing, not production

• Already broadcast - .dwrite sends the shielded transaction, not plaintext

Notes

• Part of DebugWriteResult

• Only available with .dwrite namespace, not .write

• The actual broadcast transaction uses encrypted data from shielded_tx

• Useful for debugging calldata encoding issues

See Also

• DebugWriteResult - Contains PlaintextTx

• UnsignedSeismicTx - Shielded version with encrypted data

• ShieldedContract - Provides .dwrite namespace