Architecture Overview

AncientStorage is a tribe-gated shared storage extension for EVE Frontier's Smart Storage Units (SSUs). It allows members of the same tribe to pool resources in a communal inventory, while preventing outsiders from accessing the shared items.

The Three Inventory Types

Every SSU in EVE Frontier has three types of inventory slots:


┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Smart Storage Unit                       │
│                                                             │
│  ┌───────────────────────┐                                  │
│  │   Main Inventory      │  The SSU owner's personal slot.  │
│  │   (Owner only)        │  Keyed by OwnerCap. │
│  └───────────────────────┘                                  │
│                                                             │
│  ┌───────────────────────┐                                  │
│  │   Player Inventories  │  One per visiting player.        │
│  │   (Per-player)        │  Keyed by OwnerCap.   │
│  └───────────────────────┘                                  │
│                                                             │
│  ┌───────────────────────┐                                  │
│  │   Open Inventory      │  Shared/public slot.             │
│  │   (Extension-gated)   │  Requires extension auth (XAuth) │
│  └───────────────────────┘                                  │
│                                                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘



Main Inventory: Only the SSU owner can read/write. This is where the owner's personal items sit.
Player Inventories: Each player who docks at the SSU gets their own slot. Items dragged from ship to SSU in the game UI land here.
Open Inventory: A shared slot that requires an authorized extension to access. This is the communal tribe pool.

How the Extension Bridges Them

The AncientStorage extension moves items between these inventory types:


Player drags items      Extension calls           Extension calls
from ship to SSU        withdraw_by_owner()       deposit_to_open_inventory()

  Ship ──────────► Player Inventory ──────────► Open Inventory
                   (per-player slot)             (shared tribe pool)
                        share()

  Ship ◄──────── Player Inventory ◄──────────── Open Inventory
                   (per-player slot)             (shared tribe pool)
                        withdraw()

                  Extension calls               Extension calls
                  deposit_to_owned()             withdraw_from_open_inventory()



Sharing: Items flow from a player's personal slot into the open inventory. The extension uses the player's

OwnerCap to withdraw from their slot, then uses the XAuth

 witness to deposit into the open inventory.

Withdrawing: Items flow from the open inventory back to a player's personal slot. The extension uses

XAuth

 to withdraw from the open inventory, then deposits into the player's slot.

Module Structure

The extension consists of two Move modules:


contracts/tribe-storage-access/
├── Move.toml
└── sources/
    ├── config.move         # Shared config, AdminCap, XAuth witness
    └── tribe_storage.move  # Share/withdraw logic, tribe verification



config.move

Defines ExtensionConfig (shared object for storing rules)

Defines AdminCap (owned capability for admin operations)

Defines XAuth (witness type for SSU authorization)

Provides generic dynamic field helpers (has_rule, borrow_rule, set_rule, etc.)


tribe_storage.move

Defines TribeConfigKey and TribeConfig (dynamic field key-value for tribe gating)

Implements share(), share_from_main(), and withdraw() entry points

Implements verify_tribe() internal validation

Provides set_tribe_config() admin function


Data Flow Diagram


                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │   AdminCap   │  Owned by deployer
                    │  (key,store) │
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │ set_tribe_config()
                           ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            ExtensionConfig (shared)           │
│                                              │
│   Dynamic Fields:                            │
│   ┌──────────────┐  ┌────────────────────┐   │
│   │TribeConfigKey│──│TribeConfig{tribe:5}│   │
│   └──────────────┘  └────────────────────┘   │
│                                              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘
         │                              │
    verify_tribe()                 verify_tribe()
         │                              │
    ┌────▼──────┐                 ┌─────▼─────┐
    │  share()  │                 │ withdraw() │
    └───────────┘                 └────────────┘



Authorization Requirements

For the extension to work, three authorizations must be in place:

Extension authorization: The SSU owner must call authorize_extension on their SSU.

Admin configuration: The AdminCap holder must call set_tribe_config to set the allowed tribe ID.

Tribe membership: Each player calling share() or withdraw() must belong to the configured tribe.



If any of these is missing, the transaction will abort with an error.

Key Takeaways

AncientStorage uses the SSU's open inventory as a communal tribe pool.

Items move from player inventories to the open inventory (share) and back (withdraw).

The extension has two modules: config for infrastructure and tribe_storage` for business logic.
Three layers of authorization protect the system: extension auth, admin config, and tribe verification.
The SSU owner's main inventory and each player's personal slot remain private and unaffected by the extension.

The Scriptorium

Architecture Overview

The Three Inventory Types

How the Extension Bridges Them

Module Structure

config.move

tribe_storage.move

Data Flow Diagram

Authorization Requirements

Key Takeaways