cardano-tx-lite

Simplified Cardano (Conway-era) transaction types, designed for web-API JSON I/O.

Types only — no CBOR, no signing, no balancing. The shape on the wire is what you'd hand off between a frontend and a tx-builder backend (e.g. one wrapping cardano-serialization-lib or whisky).

Conventions

Concern	Representation
Addresses	bech32 strings (`addr1…`, `stake1…`)
Hashes, key hashes	hex strings (no `0x`)
Asset names	hex strings
Lovelace / token qty	JSON string (avoids `2^53` JS precision loss)
Mint quantities	JSON string, can be negative
Field naming	`camelCase`
Enum discriminant	`"type"` field (or `"kind"` for `Script`)
`PlutusData`	CSL `DetailedSchema` — see below

Grouping principle

Everything a script needs to execute lives next to the action it authorizes — not in a separate witness-set sidecar that has to be cross-referenced by index. Inputs also carry their resolved address+value, matching whisky's tx_in shape, so backends don't need a sidecar UTxO map.

Action	Wrapper	Inline fields
Spending a UTxO	`TxInput`	`address`, `value`, `datum`, `redeemer`, `scriptRef`
Minting / burning	`MintPolicy`	`assets`, `script`, `redeemer`
Withdrawing	`Withdrawal`	`amount`, `script`, `redeemer`
Certificates	`CertEntry`	`cert`, `script`, `redeemer`

Redeemer tag and index are implicit from attachment site, so the Redeemer struct only carries data + exUnits.

PlutusData → whisky / CSL

PlutusData is laid out so that serde_json::to_string(&pd) produces exactly the JSON that csl::PlutusData::from_json(s, DetailedSchema) accepts. Pipe it straight into whisky:

use cardano_tx_lite::PlutusData;
use whisky::builder::data::WData;

let datum = PlutusData::constr(0, vec![
    PlutusData::bytes("deadbeef"),
    PlutusData::int(42_i64),
]);

let json = serde_json::to_string(&datum).unwrap();
let cbor_hex = WData::JSON(json).to_cbor().unwrap();   // ✓ parses

Module map

Module	Highlights
`primitives`	hex newtypes (`TxHash`, `ScriptHash`, `PolicyId`, …), `Lovelace`, big-int helpers
`address`	`Address`, `RewardAddress`, `Credential`
`value`	`Value` (`coin` + multi-asset bundle)
`plutus`	`PlutusData`, `PlutusInt`, `Redeemer`, `ExUnits`
`script`	`NativeScript`, `PlutusScript`, `Script`
`cert`	Conway certs: stake, pool, DRep, committee, combined delegations
`tx`	`TxInput`, `TxOutput`, `MintPolicy`, `Withdrawal`, `CertEntry`, `TxBody`

Quick example

use cardano_tx_lite::*;

// A script-locked input carries the full resolved UTxO info + spending context.
let spending_input = TxInput::new(
    "ee".repeat(32),
    1,
    "addr1qscriptlocked",
    Value::ada(5_000_000),
)
.with_inline_datum(PlutusData::int(99_i64))
.with_redeemer(Redeemer::new(
    PlutusData::unit(),
    ExUnits { mem: 1_400_000, steps: 500_000_000 },
))
.with_script_ref(Script::plutus(PlutusLanguage::V3, "5901aa..."));

let body = TxBody {
    inputs: vec![spending_input],
    outputs: vec![TxOutput::new("addr1q…", Value::ada(1_500_000))],
    fee: Lovelace(180_000),
    ..TxBody::new()
};

println!("{}", serde_json::to_string_pretty(&body).unwrap());

Each TxInput carries its resolved address and value, matching the shape whisky's tx_in(tx_hash, index, &[Asset], address) takes. A tx-builder backend can rebuild the tx straight from the body — no sidecar UTxO-resolution map needed.

See examples/full_tx.rs for every field populated.

Tests

cargo test

20 JSON shape / roundtrip tests, including PlutusData DetailedSchema compatibility, input-with-attached-context, script-controlled withdrawals, script-witnessed certs, and mint with grouped script + redeemer.

Cert coverage (Conway)

Pre-Conway: stakeRegistration, stakeDeregistration, stakeDelegation, poolRegistration, poolRetirement.

Conway additions: reg, unreg, voteDeleg, stakeVoteDeleg, stakeRegDeleg, voteRegDeleg, stakeVoteRegDeleg, authCommitteeHot, resignCommitteeCold, regDRep, unregDRep, updateDRep.

Out of scope for "simplified": voting procedures, proposal procedures, treasury & donation fields, full witness set, auxiliary-data body.

cardano-tx-lite 0.1.0