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Version: 11.1.0

Examples demonstrating delegation for the various address types

In Tezos, a delegation operation will set the delegate of an address.

When the Babylon/proto005 protocol amendment came into effect, it changed how delegation from KT1 addresses work. Calling the KT1's smart contract do method is required to set the delegate for a KT1 account. The do method takes a lambda function, and it is the logic of this function that causes the desired delegation to happen.

Delegate from an implicit tz1 address​

This scenario is the simplest delegation scenario.

// const Tezos = new TezosToolkit('https://YOUR_PREFERRED_RPC_URL');


await Tezos.contract.setDelegate({ source: 'tz1_source', delegate: 'tz1_baker' });

Register as a delegate

// const Tezos = new TezosToolkit('https://YOUR_PREFERRED_RPC_URL');


await Tezos.contract.registerDelegate({});

Delegation involving "originated" KT1 addresses​

Pre-Babylon/proto005, it was common to have "script-less" KT1 addresses. This circumstance changed when the Tezos blockchain migrated to the new Babylon/proto005 protocol.

During the migration from proto004 to proto005, all KT1 addresses that migrated got a contract called manager.tz. As a result, there are no longer any "script-less" KT1 addresses in Tezos.

A call to the KT1's smart contract's do method must be made to delegate to a KT1 address with the new manager.tz contract. The do method takes a lambda function, and it is this lambda function that causes changes to occur in the KT1 address.

The examples following apply only to KT1 addresses that were migrated as part of the Babylon/proto005 upgrade. Delegations involving other types of smart-contracts will depend on those contracts specifically.

Why doesn't Taquito abstract KT1 manager accounts so I can just call setDelegate()

For the time being, we regard KT1 manager accounts as a regular smart contract. It is possible to have a smart contract that is not following the manager.tz conventions, and that also delegates to a baker. The correct lambda to pass to a contract to delegate is application/wallet specific. Therefore Taquito does not make any assumption on the KT1.

Example of delegation for a KT1 on Florence/Proto009​

// const Tezos = new TezosToolkit('https://YOUR_PREFERRED_RPC_URL');


const contract = await Tezos.contract.at('kt1...');
await contract.methods.do(setDelegate('tz1_delegate')).send();

Where setDelegate is a function that returns the necessary Michelson lambda. It looks like this:

const setDelegate = (key: string) => {
  return [
    { prim: 'DROP' },
    { prim: 'NIL', args: [{ prim: 'operation' }] },
    {
      prim: 'PUSH',
      args: [{ prim: 'key_hash' }, { string: key }],
    },
    { prim: 'SOME' },
    { prim: 'SET_DELEGATE' },
    { prim: 'CONS' },
  ];
};

How to withdraw delegate

It is possible to undelegate by executing a new setDelegate operation and not specifying the delegate property.

// const Tezos = new TezosToolkit('https://YOUR_PREFERRED_RPC_URL');


await Tezos.contract.setDelegate({ source: 'tz1_source'});