pezkuwi-subxt/bridges/modules/messages/README.md

# Bridge Messages Pallet

The messages pallet is used to deliver messages from source chain to target chain. Message is
(almost) opaque to the module and the final goal is to hand message to the message dispatch
mechanism.

## Contents

- [Overview](#overview)
- [Message Workflow](#message-workflow)
- [Integrating Message Lane Module into Runtime](#integrating-messages-module-into-runtime)
- [Non-Essential Functionality](#non-essential-functionality)
- [Weights of Module Extrinsics](#weights-of-module-extrinsics)

## Overview

Message lane is an unidirectional channel, where messages are sent from source chain to the target
chain. At the same time, a single instance of messages module supports both outbound lanes and
inbound lanes. So the chain where the module is deployed (this chain), may act as a source chain for
outbound messages (heading to a bridged chain) and as a target chain for inbound messages (coming
from a bridged chain).

Messages module supports multiple message lanes. Every message lane is identified with a 4-byte
identifier. Messages sent through the lane are assigned unique (for this lane) increasing integer
value that is known as nonce ("number that can only be used once"). Messages that are sent over the
same lane are guaranteed to be delivered to the target chain in the same order they're sent from
the source chain. In other words, message with nonce `N` will be delivered right before delivering a
message with nonce `N+1`.

Single message lane may be seen as a transport channel for single application (onchain, offchain or
mixed). At the same time the module itself never dictates any lane or message rules. In the end, it
is the runtime developer who defines what message lane and message mean for this runtime.

In our [Kusama<>Polkadot bridge](../../docs/polkadot-kusama-bridge-overview.md) we are using lane
as a channel of communication between two parachains of different relay chains. For example, lane
`[0, 0, 0, 0]` is used for Statemint <> Statemine communications. Other lanes may be used to bridge
another parachains.

## Message Workflow

The pallet is not intended to be used by end users and provides no public calls to send the message.
Instead, it provides runtime-internal method that allows other pallets (or other runtime code) to queue
outbound messages.

The message "appears" when some runtime code calls the `send_message()` method of the pallet.
The submitter specifies the lane that they're willing to use and the message itself. If some fee must
be paid for sending the message, it must be paid outside of the pallet. If a message passes all checks
(that include, for example, message size check, disabled lane check, ...), the nonce is assigned and
the message is stored in the module storage. The message is in an "undelivered" state now.

We assume that there are external, offchain actors, called relayers, that are submitting module
related transactions to both target and source chains. The pallet itself has no assumptions about
relayers incentivization scheme, but it has some callbacks for paying rewards. See
[Integrating Messages Module into runtime](#Integrating-Messages-Module-into-runtime)
for details.

Eventually, some relayer would notice this message in the "undelivered" state and it would decide to
deliver this message. Relayer then crafts `receive_messages_proof()` transaction (aka delivery
transaction) for the messages module instance, deployed at the target chain. Relayer provides
its account id at the source chain, the proof of message (or several messages), the number of
messages in the transaction and their cumulative dispatch weight. Once a transaction is mined, the
message is considered "delivered".

Once a message is delivered, the relayer may want to confirm delivery back to the source chain.
There are two reasons why it would want to do that. The first is that we intentionally limit number
of "delivered", but not yet "confirmed" messages at inbound lanes
(see [What about other Constants in the Messages Module Configuration Trait](#What-about-other-Constants-in-the-Messages-Module-Configuration-Trait) for explanation).
So at some point, the target chain may stop accepting new messages until relayers confirm some of
these. The second is that if the relayer wants to be rewarded for delivery, it must prove the fact
that it has actually delivered the message. And this proof may only be generated after the delivery
transaction is mined. So relayer crafts the `receive_messages_delivery_proof()` transaction (aka
confirmation transaction) for the messages module instance, deployed at the source chain. Once
this transaction is mined, the message is considered "confirmed".

The "confirmed" state is the final state of the message. But there's one last thing related to the
message - the fact that it is now "confirmed" and reward has been paid to the relayer (or at least
callback for this has been called), must be confirmed to the target chain. Otherwise, we may reach
the limit of "unconfirmed" messages at the target chain and it will stop accepting new messages. So
relayer sometimes includes a nonce of the latest "confirmed" message in the next
`receive_messages_proof()` transaction, proving that some messages have been confirmed.

## Integrating Messages Module into Runtime

As it has been said above, the messages module supports both outbound and inbound message lanes.
So if we will integrate a module in some runtime, it may act as the source chain runtime for
outbound messages and as the target chain runtime for inbound messages. In this section, we'll
sometimes refer to the chain we're currently integrating with, as "this chain" and the other
chain as "bridged chain".

Messages module doesn't simply accept transactions that are claiming that the bridged chain has
some updated data for us. Instead of this, the module assumes that the bridged chain is able to
prove that updated data in some way. The proof is abstracted from the module and may be of any kind.
In our Substrate-to-Substrate bridge we're using runtime storage proofs. Other bridges may use
transaction proofs, Substrate header digests or anything else that may be proved.

**IMPORTANT NOTE**: everything below in this chapter describes details of the messages module
configuration. But if you're interested in well-probed and relatively easy integration of two
Substrate-based chains, you may want to look at the
[bridge-runtime-common](../../bin/runtime-common/) crate. This crate is providing a lot of
helpers for integration, which may be directly used from within your runtime. Then if you'll decide
to change something in this scheme, get back here for detailed information.

### General Information

The messages module supports instances. Every module instance is supposed to bridge this chain
and some bridged chain. To bridge with another chain, using another instance is suggested (this
isn't forced anywhere in the code, though). Keep in mind, that the pallet may be used to build
virtual channels between multiple chains, as we do in our [Polkadot <> Kusama bridge](../../docs/polkadot-kusama-bridge-overview.md).
There, the pallet actually bridges only two parachains - Kusama Bridge Hub and Polkadot
Bridge Hub. However, other Kusama and Polkadot parachains are able to send (XCM) messages to their
Bridge Hubs. The messages will be delivered to the other side of the bridge and routed to the proper
destination parachain within the bridged chain consensus.

Message submitters may track message progress by inspecting module events. When Message is accepted,
the `MessageAccepted` event is emitted. The event contains both message lane identifier and nonce that
has been assigned to the message. When a message is delivered to the target chain, the `MessagesDelivered`
event is emitted from the `receive_messages_delivery_proof()` transaction. The `MessagesDelivered` contains
the message lane identifier and inclusive range of delivered message nonces.

The pallet provides no means to get the result of message dispatch at the target chain. If that is
required, it must be done outside of the pallet. For example, XCM messages, when dispatched, have
special instructions to send some data back to the sender. Other dispatchers may use similar
mechanism for that.
### How to plug-in Messages Module to Send Messages to the Bridged Chain?

The `pallet_bridge_messages::Config` trait has 3 main associated types that are used to work with
outbound messages. The `pallet_bridge_messages::Config::TargetHeaderChain` defines how we see the
bridged chain as the target for our outbound messages. It must be able to check that the bridged
chain may accept our message - like that the message has size below maximal possible transaction
size of the chain and so on. And when the relayer sends us a confirmation transaction, this
implementation must be able to parse and verify the proof of messages delivery. Normally, you would
reuse the same (configurable) type on all chains that are sending messages to the same bridged
chain.

The `pallet_bridge_messages::Config::LaneMessageVerifier` defines a single callback to verify outbound
messages. The simplest callback may just accept all messages. But in this case you'll need to answer
many questions first. Who will pay for the delivery and confirmation transaction? Are we sure that
someone will ever deliver this message to the bridged chain? Are we sure that we don't bloat our
runtime storage by accepting this message? What if the message is improperly encoded or has some
fields set to invalid values? Answering all those (and similar) questions would lead to correct
implementation.

There's another thing to consider when implementing type for use in
`pallet_bridge_messages::Config::LaneMessageVerifier`. It is whether we treat all message lanes
identically, or they'll have different sets of verification rules? For example, you may reserve
lane#1 for messages coming from some 'wrapped-token' pallet - then you may verify in your
implementation that the origin is associated with this pallet. Lane#2 may be reserved for 'system'
messages and you may charge zero fee for such messages. You may have some rate limiting for messages
sent over the lane#3. Or you may just verify the same rules set for all outbound messages - it is
all up to the `pallet_bridge_messages::Config::LaneMessageVerifier` implementation.

The last type is the `pallet_bridge_messages::Config::DeliveryConfirmationPayments`. When confirmation
transaction is received, we call the `pay_reward()` method, passing the range of delivered messages.
You may use the [`pallet-bridge-relayers`](../relayers/) pallet and its
[`DeliveryConfirmationPaymentsAdapter`](../relayers/src/payment_adapter.rs) adapter as a possible
implementation. It allows you to pay fixed reward for relaying the message and some of its portion
for confirming delivery.

### I have a Messages Module in my Runtime, but I Want to Reject all Outbound Messages. What shall I do?

You should be looking at the `bp_messages::source_chain::ForbidOutboundMessages` structure
[`bp_messages::source_chain`](../../primitives/messages/src/source_chain.rs). It implements
all required traits and will simply reject all transactions, related to outbound messages.

### How to plug-in Messages Module to Receive Messages from the Bridged Chain?

The `pallet_bridge_messages::Config` trait has 2 main associated types that are used to work with
inbound messages. The `pallet_bridge_messages::Config::SourceHeaderChain` defines how we see the
bridged chain as the source of our inbound messages. When relayer sends us a delivery transaction,
this implementation must be able to parse and verify the proof of messages wrapped in this
transaction. Normally, you would reuse the same (configurable) type on all chains that are sending
messages to the same bridged chain.

The `pallet_bridge_messages::Config::MessageDispatch` defines a way on how to dispatch delivered
messages. Apart from actually dispatching the message, the implementation must return the correct
dispatch weight of the message before dispatch is called.

### I have a Messages Module in my Runtime, but I Want to Reject all Inbound Messages. What shall I do?

You should be looking at the `bp_messages::target_chain::ForbidInboundMessages` structure from
the [`bp_messages::target_chain`](../../primitives/messages/src/target_chain.rs) module. It
implements all required traits and will simply reject all transactions, related to inbound messages.

### What about other Constants in the Messages Module Configuration Trait?

Two settings that are used to check messages in the `send_message()` function. The
`pallet_bridge_messages::Config::ActiveOutboundLanes` is an array of all message lanes, that
may be used to send messages. All messages sent using other lanes are rejected. All messages that have
size above `pallet_bridge_messages::Config::MaximalOutboundPayloadSize` will also be rejected.

To be able to reward the relayer for delivering messages, we store a map of message nonces range =>
identifier of the relayer that has delivered this range at the target chain runtime storage. If a
relayer delivers multiple consequent ranges, they're merged into single entry. So there may be more
than one entry for the same relayer. Eventually, this whole map must be delivered back to the source
chain to confirm delivery and pay rewards. So to make sure we are able to craft this confirmation
transaction, we need to: (1) keep the size of this map below a certain limit and (2) make sure that
the weight of processing this map is below a certain limit. Both size and processing weight mostly
depend on the number of entries. The number of entries is limited with the
`pallet_bridge_messages::ConfigMaxUnrewardedRelayerEntriesAtInboundLane` parameter. Processing weight
also depends on the total number of messages that are being confirmed, because every confirmed
message needs to be read. So there's another
`pallet_bridge_messages::Config::MaxUnconfirmedMessagesAtInboundLane` parameter for that.

When choosing values for these parameters, you must also keep in mind that if proof in your scheme
is based on finality of headers (and it is the most obvious option for Substrate-based chains with
finality notion), then choosing too small values for these parameters may cause significant delays
in message delivery. That's because there are too many actors involved in this scheme: 1) authorities
that are finalizing headers of the target chain need to finalize header with non-empty map; 2) the
headers relayer then needs to submit this header and its finality proof to the source chain; 3) the
messages relayer must then send confirmation transaction (storage proof of this map) to the source
chain; 4) when the confirmation transaction will be mined at some header, source chain authorities
must finalize this header; 5) the headers relay then needs to submit this header and its finality
proof to the target chain; 6) only now the messages relayer may submit new messages from the source
to target chain and prune the entry from the map.

Delivery transaction requires the relayer to provide both number of entries and total number of
messages in the map. This means that the module never charges an extra cost for delivering a map -
the relayer would need to pay exactly for the number of entries+messages it has delivered. So the
best guess for values of these parameters would be the pair that would occupy `N` percent of the
maximal transaction size and weight of the source chain. The `N` should be large enough to process
large maps, at the same time keeping reserve for future source chain upgrades.

## Non-Essential Functionality

There may be a special account in every runtime where the messages module is deployed. This
account, named 'module owner', is like a module-level sudo account - he's able to halt and
resume all module operations without requiring runtime upgrade. Calls that are related to this
account are:
- `fn set_owner()`: current module owner may call it to transfer "ownership" to another account;
- `fn halt_operations()`: the module owner (or sudo account) may call this function to stop all
  module operations. After this call, all message-related transactions will be rejected until
  further `resume_operations` call'. This call may be used when something extraordinary happens with
  the bridge;
- `fn resume_operations()`: module owner may call this function to resume bridge operations. The
  module will resume its regular operations after this call.

If pallet owner is not defined, the governance may be used to make those calls.

## Messages Relay

We have an offchain actor, who is watching for new messages and submits them to the bridged chain.
It is the messages relay - you may look at the [crate level documentation and the code](../../relays/messages/).