Ethereum Virtual Machine implementation from scratch in Zig. Bytecode interpreter with 256-bit stack machine.
zig build runRequires Zig 0.13+.
- 256-bit stack machine (PUSH, POP, DUP, SWAP)
- Arithmetic operations (ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV, MOD)
- Comparison (LT, GT, EQ, ISZERO)
- Bitwise operations (AND, OR, XOR, NOT, SHL, SHR)
- Memory operations (MLOAD, MSTORE)
- Storage (SLOAD, SSTORE)
- Control flow (JUMP, JUMPI, PC)
- Environment opcodes (CALLER, CALLVALUE, BLOCKHASH)
- Call semantics (CALL, DELEGATECALL, STATICCALL)
// Simple bytecode: PUSH1 0x05 PUSH1 0x03 ADD
const bytecode = [_]u8{ 0x60, 0x05, 0x60, 0x03, 0x01 };
var evm = EVM.init(allocator);
try evm.execute(&bytecode);
// Stack: [0x08]| Opcode | Hex | Description |
|---|---|---|
| STOP | 0x00 | Halt execution |
| ADD | 0x01 | Addition |
| MUL | 0x02 | Multiplication |
| SUB | 0x03 | Subtraction |
| DIV | 0x04 | Integer division |
| PUSH1 | 0x60 | Push 1 byte |
| PUSH2 | 0x61 | Push 2 bytes |
| DUP1 | 0x80 | Duplicate 1st |
| SWAP1 | 0x90 | Swap top 2 |
See evm.codes for full opcode reference.
[User Input] [System Boundary: zevm] [EVM Spec]
┌──────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐
│ Terminal │ │ Ethereum │
│ │ │ Yellow Paper │
│ $ zig build │ │ │
│ run -- │ │ evm.codes │
│ contract │ └───────┬───────┘
│ .bin │ │
└──────┬───────┘ │
│ │
│ Bytecode Input │
▼ │
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ EVM Implementation (Zig) │ │
│ │ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │
│ │ Bytecode Loader │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ Read contract.bin │ │ │
│ │ Parse opcodes │ │ │
│ └──────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │
│ ▼ │ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │
│ │ 256-bit Stack Machine │ │◀────────┘
│ │ │ │ Opcode Spec
│ │ Stack: [u256; 1024] │ │
│ │ Operations: │ │
│ │ PUSH1..PUSH32 → Push bytes to stack │ │
│ │ POP → Remove top item │ │
│ │ DUP1..DUP16 → Duplicate stack item │ │
│ │ SWAP1..SWAP16 → Swap stack items │ │
│ └──────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Execution Engine │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Arithmetic: ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV, MOD, EXP │ │
│ │ Comparison: LT, GT, EQ, ISZERO │ │
│ │ Bitwise: AND, OR, XOR, NOT, SHL, SHR │ │
│ │ Memory: MLOAD, MSTORE, MSTORE8 │ │
│ │ Storage: SLOAD, SSTORE │ │
│ │ Control: JUMP, JUMPI, PC, JUMPDEST │ │
│ │ Environment: CALLER, CALLVALUE, BLOCKHASH │ │
│ │ Calls: CALL, DELEGATECALL, STATICCALL │ │
│ └──────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Gas Metering │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Track gas consumption per opcode │ │
│ │ Halt on gas limit exceeded │ │
│ └──────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │ │
└─────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
Execution Result
(Stack state, Gas used)
Language: Zig 0.13 • Spec: Ethereum Yellow Paper • Ref: revm, py-evm
- Ethereum Yellow Paper — Formal specification
- evm.codes — Interactive opcode reference
- revm — Rust implementation
- py-evm — Python implementation
Execute smart contract bytecode:
zig build run -- contract.binSupports full EVM opcode set with gas metering.
MIT