docs: comprehensive Rholang developer reference#479
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spreston8 merged 1 commit intorust/stagingfrom Apr 18, 2026
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19 topic files covering language fundamentals, types, collections, concurrency, system channels, registry, vaults, cost model, design patterns, testing, deployment, and real-world application patterns. All content verified against the Rust shard implementation: 28 system channels, 50 methods, and exact cost formulas from reduce.rs, costs.rs, and system_processes.rs. Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Summary
Adds a comprehensive, verified Rholang developer and AI agent reference under
docs/rholang/. 19 topic files organized for both linear reading and targeted lookup. All content is verified against the Rust shard implementation (not inherited from RChain-era Scala docs).Structure
Fundamentals
Types and Collections
5. Pattern Matching -- patterns, connectives, destructuring, type guards
6. Collections -- lists, tuples, sets, maps (all 50 methods verified)
7. PathMaps and Zippers -- hierarchical tries and cursor navigation
8. Numeric Types (file 15) -- Float, BigInt, BigRat, FixedPoint
Concurrency and State
9. Channels and Concurrency -- send/receive, persistent, peek, joins
10. Contracts and State -- cell pattern, CRUD, select, pitfalls
Platform
11. System Channels -- all 28
rho:*URIs with exact arities and calling conventions12. Registry -- registry operations, TreeHashMap, standard library URIs
13. Vaults and Tokens -- SystemVault, MakeMint, auth keys, transfers
14. Cost Model -- phlogiston accounting with exact formulas from costs.rs
Patterns and Practice
15. Design Patterns -- capability security, ECDSA auth, nonce replay protection, method dispatch, persistent library reference, latest pointer, multi-level TreeHashMap
16. Rhox Macros --
.rhoxtemplate format17. Testing with RhoSpec -- framework reference with real examples
18. Deployment Workflow -- CLI, HTTP, gRPC, WebSocket
Real-World
19. Real-World Applications -- Embers template-based contract generation, deploy flow, data model
Verification
Three verification passes against source code:
rholang/src/rust/interpreter/system_processes.rsandrho_runtime.rsreduce.rsmethod dispatchrholang/src/rust/interpreter/accounting/costs.rsChanges
docs/rholang/README.md(crate overview) tocrate-overview.mddocs/rholang/README.mdis now the indexdocs/rholang-language-analysis.mdintodocs/rholang/rholangtut.md,rholangmatchingtut.md,ollama.md) with index entries noting they are legacyTest plan
system_processes.rsreduce.rsmethod_tablecosts.rs