ExperimentalCycles

Managing cycles within actors on the Internet Computer (IC).

The usage of the Internet Computer is measured, and paid for, in cycles. This library provides imperative operations for observing cycles, transferring cycles, and observing refunds of cycles.

WARNING: This low-level API is experimental and likely to change or even disappear. Dedicated syntactic support for manipulating cycles may be added to the language in future, obsoleting this library.

NOTE: Since cycles measure computational resources, the value of balance() can change from one call to the next.

Example for use on IC:

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

actor {
  public func main() : async() {
    Debug.print("Main balance: " # debug_show(Cycles.balance()));
    Cycles.add<system>(15_000_000);
    await operation(); // accepts 10_000_000 cycles
    Debug.print("Main refunded: " # debug_show(Cycles.refunded())); // 5_000_000
    Debug.print("Main balance: " # debug_show(Cycles.balance())); // decreased by around 10_000_000
  };

  func operation() : async() {
    Debug.print("Operation balance: " # debug_show(Cycles.balance()));
    Debug.print("Operation available: " # debug_show(Cycles.available()));
    let obtained = Cycles.accept<system>(10_000_000);
    Debug.print("Operation obtained: " # debug_show(obtained)); // => 10_000_000
    Debug.print("Operation balance: " # debug_show(Cycles.balance())); // increased by 10_000_000
    Debug.print("Operation available: " # debug_show(Cycles.available())); // decreased by 10_000_000
  }
}

Value balance

let balance : () -> (amount : Nat)

Returns the actor's current balance of cycles as amount.

Example for use on the IC:

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

actor {
  public func main() : async() {
    let balance = Cycles.balance();
    Debug.print("Balance: " # debug_show(balance));
  }
}

Value available

let available : () -> (amount : Nat)

Returns the currently available amount of cycles. The amount available is the amount received in the current call, minus the cumulative amount accepted by this call. On exit from the current shared function or async expression via return or throw, any remaining available amount is automatically refunded to the caller/context.

Example for use on the IC:

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

actor {
  public func main() : async() {
    let available = Cycles.available();
    Debug.print("Available: " # debug_show(available));
  }
}

Value accept

let accept : (amount : Nat) -> (accepted : Nat)

Transfers up to amount from available() to balance(). Returns the amount actually transferred, which may be less than requested, for example, if less is available, or if canister balance limits are reached.

Example for use on the IC (for simplicity, only transferring cycles to itself):

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

actor {
  public func main() : async() {
    Cycles.add<system>(15_000_000);
    await operation(); // accepts 10_000_000 cycles
  };

  func operation() : async() {
    let obtained = Cycles.accept<system>(10_000_000);
    Debug.print("Obtained: " # debug_show(obtained)); // => 10_000_000
  }
}

Value add

let add : (amount : Nat) -> ()

Indicates additional amount of cycles to be transferred in the next call, that is, evaluation of a shared function call or async expression. Traps if the current total would exceed 2 ** 128 cycles. Upon the call, but not before, the total amount of cycles added since the last call is deducted from balance(). If this total exceeds balance(), the caller traps, aborting the call.

Note: The implicit register of added amounts is reset to zero on entry to a shared function and after each shared function call or resume from an await.

Example for use on the IC (for simplicity, only transferring cycles to itself):

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";

actor {
  func operation() : async() {
    ignore Cycles.accept<system>(10_000_000);
  };

  public func main() : async() {
    Cycles.add<system>(15_000_000);
    await operation();
  }
}

Value refunded

let refunded : () -> (amount : Nat)

Reports amount of cycles refunded in the last await of the current context, or zero if no await has occurred yet. Calling refunded() is solely informational and does not affect balance(). Instead, refunds are automatically added to the current balance, whether or not refunded is used to observe them.

Example for use on the IC (for simplicity, only transferring cycles to itself):

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

actor {
  func operation() : async() {
    ignore Cycles.accept<system>(10_000_000);
  };

  public func main() : async() {
    Cycles.add<system>(15_000_000);
    await operation(); // accepts 10_000_000 cycles
    Debug.print("Refunded: " # debug_show(Cycles.refunded())); // 5_000_000
  }
}