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Realms

A realm refers to a specific instance of a smart contract that can be written in Gno. The potentials of realms are endless - you can create virtually any application in your mind with built-in composability, transparency, and censorship resistance. Here are some ideas of what you can build with realms:

  • Self-custodial financial exchanges (decentralized exchanges).
  • Lending platforms with better rates.
  • Transparent insurance systems.
  • Fair and accessible voting systems.
  • Logistics and supply chain networks.

Packages vs Realms​

Pure Packages​

  • A unit that contains functionalities and utilities that can be used in realms.
  • Packages are stateless.
  • The default import path is gno.land/p/~~~.
  • Can be imported to other realms or packages.
  • Cannot import realms.

Realms​

  • Smart contracts in Gno.
  • Realms are stateful.
  • Realms can own assets (tokens).
  • The default import path is gno.land/r/~~~.
  • Realms can implement Render(path string) string to simplify dapp frontend development by allowing users to request markdown renderings from validators and full nodes without a transaction.

A notable feature of realms is the Render() function.

package demo

func Render(path string) string {
    return "# Hello Gno!"
}

Upon calling the realm above, # Hello Gno! is printed with a string-typed path declared in an argument. It should be noted that while the path argument included in the sample code is not utilized, it serves the purpose of distinguishing the path during the rendering process.