Debugging

Debugging smart contract transactions is an indispensable step in ensuring their reliability and security before they are deployed on the blockchain as well as understanding them thoroughly in production when planning and developing the next version of the protocol.

When a transaction fails or behaves unexpectedly, developers need to trace the execution flow, inspect state changes, and examine gas consumption at each step. Blocktorch's local fork feature and step debugger provide environments where developers can simulate transactions, dig into call stacks, and interact with the contract's state. Furthermore, incorporating comprehensive logging (meaning adding relevant events that are emitted) within the contract can significantly aid in identifying issues quickly.

As smart contracts handle valuable assets and sensitive operations, thorough debugging is paramount to maintaining trust and functionality in decentralized applications.