@quantovainc/qcore 0.4.1 → 0.4.3

package/pkg-node/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+# QCore.js
+
+[![ci](https://github.com/Quantova/QCore.js/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/Quantova/QCore.js/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
+[![npm version](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/@quantovainc/qcore)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@quantovainc/qcore)
+
+The post quantum client core for Quantova. It signs with ML-DSA-65, builds Q1 addresses, and runs the same compiled core in the browser and in Node.
+
+**This npm account and this package belong to Quantova Inc. It is the official Quantova client SDK. Any similarly named package published under a different account is not this one and is not from Quantova.**
+
+## Install
+
+```
+npm install @quantovainc/qcore
+```
+
+## Quickstart
+
+```js
+const { Client, Network, core, generateSeed } = require('@quantovainc/qcore');
+
+const GATEWAY = 'https://rpc-testnet.quantova.org';
+
+async function main() {
+  // Create an account. The seed is the only backup and it never leaves the device.
+  const seed = generateSeed();
+  const phrase = core.mnemonicFromSeed(seed);
+
+  // Derive the Q1 address for account index zero, and a recipient at index one.
+  const from = core.address(seed, 0n);
+  const to = core.address(seed, 1n);
+  console.log('from', from);
+
+  // Open a client against a node you trust. The address above is the public testnet
+  // gateway. A remote gateway must be https, plaintext http is allowed only to a loopback node.
+  const client = new Client(GATEWAY, { network: Network.testnet() });
+
+  // A fixed ceiling your app is willing to pay in fees, chosen here and never read back from the gateway.
+  const MAX_FEE_QUON = '2000';
+
+  // A new account holds nothing, so take testnet funds before anything else.
+  // The faucet sends 10, 50 or 100 TQTOV to one address at a time.
+  await fetch(GATEWAY + '/faucet/api/claim', {
+    method: 'POST',
+    headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
+    body: JSON.stringify({ address: from, amount: 10 }),
+  });
+
+  // The faucet pays you with a transaction, so wait for the balance to arrive before spending it.
+  for (let i = 0; i < 40; i += 1) {
+    const funded = await client.account(from).catch(() => null);
+    if (funded && BigInt(funded.balance || 0) > 0n) break;
+    await new Promise((wake) => setTimeout(wake, 1500));
+  }
+
+  // An account publishes its key once before it is allowed to send. This happens a single
+  // time for each account and it pays a fee like any other transaction.
+  await client.register(seed, 0, MAX_FEE_QUON);
+
+  // Registration is itself a transaction, so wait for the key to be on chain.
+  for (let i = 0; i < 30; i += 1) {
+    const ready = await client.account(from).catch(() => null);
+    if (ready && ready.has_key) break;
+    await new Promise((wake) => setTimeout(wake, 1500));
+  }
+
+  // Amounts and the ceiling are decimal strings or BigInt values, never JavaScript numbers.
+  const { signed, outcome } = await client.transfer(seed, 0, to, '1000', MAX_FEE_QUON);
+  console.log('submitted', signed.tx_id, outcome.verdict);
+}
+
+main().catch((err) => { console.error(err.message); process.exit(1); });
+```
+
+A runnable copy of this lives in [examples/quickstart.js](examples/quickstart.js).
+
+## Security posture
+
+Every signature is ML-DSA-65 as standardised in FIPS 204, and addresses and transaction digests are built with SHA-3. There is no elliptic curve anywhere in this package, no secp256k1 and no ECDSA. When you send through the Client you pass a maximum fee that you choose yourself, and the Client refuses to sign when the gateway reports a fee above it, so a hostile gateway cannot inflate the fee and drain the balance. The Client also refuses an unsafe transport. A remote gateway must be reached over https, and plaintext http is allowed only to a loopback node, because a fee and a nonce read back over plaintext could be rewritten on the wire. This package is at the testnet and pre audit stage, so please do not read it as audited.
+
+## What this library is for
+
+Any browser app, extension, or Node service that holds a Quantova account, reads the chain, and sends signed transactions. A wallet, a dApp, a block explorer front end, or a faucet page. Your code does the network fetch it prefers and QCore.js derives the key, signs the transaction, and builds the request body, so nothing about the cryptography or the byte layout of a transaction is written in JavaScript. A second implementation of the signing would be a second chance to be wrong with a user's money, so there is only ever the one.
+
+## The post quantum cryptography it handles
+
+Quantova is post quantum from the ground. There is no elliptic curve anywhere in it, no secp256k1, no ECDSA, no Ethereum address, and no Substrate envelope. Every primitive below is Quantova's own from scratch implementation in the Q Crypto library, carrying no third party cryptography dependency, compiled into the core module that ships with this package.
+
+1. Key derivation. Your app holds one master seed of thirty two bytes. QCore.js grows a per account seed from it with SHAKE256 over the master seed, the scheme byte, and the account index, then derives a module lattice key pair from that seed. The node runs the identical derivation, so the account a key signs from is the account that holds the funds.
+
+2. The signing scheme. The default is the module lattice signature ML-DSA-65 as standardised in FIPS 204, carried on the wire as scheme one. The hash based signature SLH-DSA as standardised in FIPS 205 is scheme two. Signing is deterministic, so one transaction body always signs to one exact run of bytes, which makes a signed transaction reproducible and testable in a browser.
+
+3. The address. A Quantova address is the Bech32m Q1 string that renders the SHA3 256 hash of the scheme byte together with the whole module lattice public key of one thousand nine hundred fifty two bytes. The entire public key is bound into the address. Nothing is truncated to a twenty byte hash and there is no key recovery from a signature, so one address names exactly one post quantum key.
+
+4. The transaction. A transaction body carries the sender, the nonce, the meter limit, the fee, and the call. The bytes a signature stands over are the SHA3 256 hash of the canonical body, and a fixed Quantova transaction domain tag is bound in as the post quantum signing context, so a transaction signature can never be replayed as another kind of signed message. QCore.js assembles the body, signs the digest inside the compiled core, and returns the wrapper bytes and the transaction id ready for the gateway.
+
+5. The payable call. `core.signPayableCall` carries a native value and an explicit chain id alongside the sender, the nonce, the meter limit, the fee, and the call, so a call to a contract can move value in the same signed body a transfer does, and the same signature can be pinned to one network. The sender and the target never enter that signature as the rendered Q1 string, since a display convention can change over time. Each is parsed back to its raw thirty two byte payload first, and that payload, never the string, is what the preimage carries, so the signature stays bound to the account and never to how an address happened to be printed.
+
+## How it is customised to Quantova and inherits nothing from the industry
+
+Quantova shares no wire, no address, and no unit with any other chain, and QCore.js speaks only Quantova. The address is a Q1 Bech32m string over a full post quantum key, never a hex twenty byte address and never an SS58 string. Money is counted in Quon, the smallest unit, at one million Quon to one QTOV, and it always crosses the wire as a decimal string. You pass an amount as a decimal string or a BigInt and never as a JavaScript number, because a number silently rounds above 2^53 and would sign a wrong amount. The wire is the Quantova gateway, an HTTP POST to a named method under a version prefix with a flat JSON body, not Ethereum JSON RPC and not a Substrate WebSocket. The transaction encoding is Quantova's own canonical codec, not RLP and not SCALE. The signatures come from Q Crypto, Quantova's own implementation of the lattice and hash standards written from scratch, not a borrowed library. There is no ethers, no web3, and no polkadot here.
+
+## Creating a wallet
+
+```js
+const { generateSeed, core } = require('@quantovainc/qcore');
+
+const seed = generateSeed();                 // thirty two random bytes in a Uint8Array from the platform source
+const phrase = core.mnemonicFromSeed(seed);  // the only backup, shown once and kept on the device
+```
+
+`core.seedFromMnemonic(phrase)` restores the seed from the twenty five words as a Uint8Array. It ignores
+case and extra spacing and folds full width and other compatibility letters through a fixed table before it
+looks a word up, so a phrase pasted with capitals,
+non breaking spaces, or full width letters restores the same seed. A standard BIP-39 phrase from another
+wallet is refused with its own error, since a Quantova phrase carries a SHA3 checksum and cannot be restored
+from it.
+
+Every seed is a Uint8Array. Call `seed.fill(0)` when you are done with it, and never print or log any part of
+it. The WASM core wipes its own copies of a seed before it frees them.
+
+## Using it
+
+The last argument to a Client signing call, transfer, register, call, or callSignedOrder, is a fee
+ceiling, the most you are ever willing to pay in fees for one transaction. You choose it yourself, as a
+fixed number your app decides on its own, before you sign. The Client reads the gateway's reported fee,
+compares it to your ceiling, and refuses to sign when the reported fee is above the ceiling, so an
+independently chosen ceiling is the one limit standing between a hostile gateway and your balance. It
+protects you only when you pick the number yourself. If you read the gateway's own reported fee and hand
+that back as the ceiling, you have set the ceiling to whatever the gateway asked for and you have no
+protection at all. Pass the ceiling as a decimal string or a BigInt, never a JavaScript number, for the
+same reason as the amount, because a number silently rounds above 2^53 and could set the ceiling higher
+than you intended.
+
+This comparison lives in the Client and only in the Client. The raw core.* signing functions, such as
+core.sign_transfer, take the actual fee that goes on the wire, not a ceiling, and do no gateway
+comparison at all. A developer who calls core.* directly has no fee cap, so reach for the Client whenever
+a gateway you do not control reports the fee.
+
+A contract call pays one transfer fee for every started 1210 units of its meter limit, and the chain
+refuses a call that pays less. The raw call signers, core.sign_call, core.signPayableCall, and
+core.signAssetCall, take the transfer fee the gateway reports as their last argument and refuse to sign a
+fee below `vmCallFee(transferFee, meterLimit)`, a meter limit outside 1210 to 12500000, or call arguments
+above 128 KiB. Every raw signer also refuses a validity deadline of zero, which would never expire, and
+core.sign_transfer refuses a transfer to the sending account itself. Numbers passed to core.* are decimal
+digit strings, non negative BigInt values, or non negative safe integers, and anything else is refused
+before the seed reaches the compiled core.
+
+A Client opened for a plain url with no network signs only for a private chain. It refuses the public
+testnet and any `Q-main-net-` chain until you name the network, with `Network.testnet()`, a mainnet
+network and `acknowledgeMainnet: true`, or `expectedChainId`. An expected nonce you pass must be the
+nonce the gateway reports, because the chain admits only the next nonce of an account.
+
+```js
+const { Client, generateSeed } = require('@quantovainc/qcore');
+
+const client = new Client('http://127.0.0.1:8645');
+const seed = generateSeed();
+const to = client.address(seed, 1);
+
+// A fixed ceiling your app is willing to pay, chosen here and never read back from the gateway.
+const MAX_FEE_QUON = '2000';
+
+// The amount is a decimal string or a BigInt, never a JavaScript number.
+const { signed, outcome } = await client.transfer(seed, 0, to, '1000', MAX_FEE_QUON);
+const status = await client.transaction(signed.tx_id);
+```
+
+The Client insists on a safe transport. A remote gateway must be reached over https, and plaintext
+http is allowed only to a loopback node such as `127.0.0.1`, `localhost`, or `[::1]`. A base that points
+plaintext http at any other host is refused when the Client is built, because a fee and a nonce read
+back over plaintext are unauthenticated and rewritable on the wire and could be turned to drain funds.
+
+An account funded by a transfer, such as a faucet claim, arrives with a balance but no key on the
+chain, so it registers its key once before its first send. After that it sends as above.
+
+```js
+// Once, after the account is funded and before its first send.
+await client.register(seed, 0, MAX_FEE_QUON);
+```
+
+A call that also moves value, such as a payable contract call, reaches for `core.signPayableCall`
+directly. It takes the value and the chain id as explicit arguments, the value as a decimal string or a
+BigInt for the same reason as an amount, and the chain id from `core.localChainId()`,
+`core.mainnetChainId()`, or `core.testnetChainId()` so the network is never a magic number. It also
+takes the validity deadline, the height after which the chain drops the transaction, from `validUntil`,
+and the transfer fee the gateway reports so the call fee can be checked against the meter limit.
+
+```js
+const { core, validUntil, vmCallFee } = require('@quantovainc/qcore');
+
+const info = await client.nodeInfo();
+const transferFee = info.fee.transfer_quon;
+const fee = vmCallFee(transferFee, meterLimit);
+const signed = JSON.parse(
+  core.signPayableCall(seed, 0n, contract, argsHex, nonce, meterLimit, fee, '1000', core.testnetChainId(), validUntil(info), transferFee),
+);
+```
+
+## The compiled core
+
+The compiled core in this package is only the shipping form of the one Rust core, built so the same key derivation, signing, and wire code runs in a browser and in Node. It is not a virtual machine and it is not what the chain runs. The Quantova chain executes only the QVM, the container machine that runs contracts. The compiled core here is a client side build artifact and nothing more.
+
+## TypeScript
+
+The package ships TypeScript types in `index.d.ts`, so the Client, the core functions, and the Network helpers are all typed with no extra install.
+
+## Builds
+
+The package ships one guarded surface, the Client with the fee cap and the amount guard, over two
+builds of the one core, and every default entry hands you that same Client. Node resolves to
+the node entry, which loads the nodejs build from `pkg-node`, reads it from disk, needs no
+experimental flag, works on every supported Node for both require and import, and is the build the tests
+run against. A browser, or a bundler such as webpack or Vite, resolves through the exports map to the
+browser entry, which wraps the bundler build in `pkg` in the identical Client, so a browser wallet gets
+the fee cap and the amount guard and never the bare signing functions.
+
+The raw builds are still reachable on their own subpaths, `@quantovainc/qcore/pkg` for the bundler build
+and `@quantovainc/qcore/pkg-node` for the nodejs build. Those export only the core.* functions, with no
+Client, no fee cap, and no amount guard, and are for an advanced caller who assembles the fee comparison
+alone. The default browser, import, node, and require resolutions never reach them.
+
+To build both from source, run `npm run build`, which produces the bundler build in `pkg` and the node
+build in `pkg-node`.
+
+The offline test scripts run with `npm test`, and they need no network and no running gateway.
+
+## Conformance vectors
+
+The frozen conformance vectors live in the [conformance](conformance) folder of this repository. The address derivation is in `conformance/address.derivation.json`, the transfer in `conformance/transaction.transfer.json`, and the payable call in `conformance/transaction.payable.json`. The frozen transactions were signed with a validity deadline of zero, which the binding now refuses, so each transaction vector also carries a `bounded` companion signed at a real deadline. The offline test `test-conformance.js` signs from these vectors, checks the binding matches the bounded transaction byte for byte, and checks its body is the frozen body with only the deadline moved, so a change that would move a signed transaction fails the test.
+
+## Examples
+
+The [examples](examples) folder holds a runnable quickstart that mirrors the one above. For fuller starters, see the Q-Scaffold and the Q-Forge repositories under the Quantova org, at https://github.com/Quantova/Q-Scaffold and https://github.com/Quantova/Q-Forge.
+
+## Releases and provenance
+
+Releases are published from CI by the publish workflow in `.github/workflows/publish.yml`, which runs on a pushed git tag. It runs the offline tests and publishes with npm provenance, so the published tarball carries a provenance badge that ties it to this exact public commit. The compiled client core is built from the Rust source and committed to the repository, so confirming that the shipped build matches the source means rebuilding it from this commit and comparing the bytes. Nothing is published to a registry without an explicit tag. This package handles a user's keys and a published version cannot be taken back.
+
+For the provenance publish to run, the maintainer configures npm trusted publishing for the package, so the workflow authenticates over OIDC with no stored token.
+
+## Security
+
+To report a vulnerability, please disclose it privately to the Quantova team rather than through a public issue.
+
+## Ownership and license
+
+QCore.js is built and owned by Quantova Inc, and the signing lives in one compiled core and is never rewritten in JavaScript. It carries none of the industry stack and inherits nothing from it. It is dual licensed under the Apache 2.0 and MIT licenses so any wallet, explorer, or service may build on it, and the copyright stays with Quantova Inc.

package/pkg-node/package.json

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "qcore-js",
   "description": "The JavaScript binding for the Quantova client core, generated over QCore with wasm-bindgen. The core does the key derivation, the post quantum signing, and the wire, the page does the fetch.",
-  "version": "0.4.1",
+  "version": "0.4.3",
   "license": "Apache-2.0 OR MIT",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",

package/shared.js

@@ -31,12 +31,19 @@ function accountNonce(nonce) {
 const VALIDITY_BLOCKS = 300n;
 const ORDER_HOLD_UNTIL = 1n << 62n;
 const MAX_PLAUSIBLE_HEAD = 1n << 40n;
-const HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC = 4n;
-const HEAD_SLACK_SECS = 60n;
+const HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC = 20n;
+const HEAD_SLACK_BLOCKS = 240n;
 const GENESIS_FLOOR_SECS = 1735689600n;
+const TESTNET_GENESIS_SECS = 1791082813n;
 const U64_MAX = 0xffffffffffffffffn;
 const U128_MAX = (1n << 128n) - 1n;
 
+function monotonicSecs() {
+  const clock = globalThis.performance;
+  const ms = clock && typeof clock.now === 'function' ? clock.now() : Date.now();
+  return BigInt(Math.floor(ms / 1000));
+}
+
 function wholeNumber(value, label, max) {
   let n;
   if (typeof value === 'bigint') {
@@ -128,7 +135,7 @@ function validUntil(info) {
   }
   let h;
   try {
-    h = BigInt(head);
+    h = wholeNumber(head, 'head height', U64_MAX);
   } catch {
     throw new Error('the gateway reported a head height that is not a whole number');
   }
@@ -372,14 +379,15 @@ function makeClient(core) {
       let held = this._signedNonces.get(key);
       if (!held) { held = new Map(); this._signedNonces.set(key, held); }
       const head = until - VALIDITY_BLOCKS;
+      const now = monotonicSecs();
       for (const [slotKey, entry] of held) {
-        if (head > entry.until) held.delete(slotKey);
+        if (head > entry.until && (now - entry.at) * HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC >= VALIDITY_BLOCKS) held.delete(slotKey);
       }
       const seen = held.get(String(slot));
       if (!explicit && seen != null && seen.txHex !== txHex) {
         throw new Error(`a different transaction was already signed for nonce ${slot} in this session and was neither rejected nor expired; one nonce carries one signature, pass the nonce explicitly to replace one that never landed`);
       }
-      held.set(String(slot), { txHex, until });
+      held.set(String(slot), { txHex, until, at: now });
     }
 
     _remember(key, used, outcome) {
@@ -396,27 +404,29 @@ function makeClient(core) {
       const until = validUntil(info);
       const head = until - VALIDITY_BLOCKS;
       const now = BigInt(Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000));
-      if (now > GENESIS_FLOOR_SECS) {
-        const maxHead = (now - GENESIS_FLOOR_SECS + HEAD_SLACK_SECS) * HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC;
+      const genesis = info && info.chain_id === 'Q-test-net-1' ? TESTNET_GENESIS_SECS : GENESIS_FLOOR_SECS;
+      if (now > genesis) {
+        const maxHead = (now - genesis) * HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC + HEAD_SLACK_BLOCKS;
         if (head > maxHead) throw new Error(`the gateway reports head ${head} further ahead than wall-clock time allows, refusing to sign`);
       }
       if (this._headFloor) {
         const { height, at } = this._headFloor;
         if (head < height) throw new Error(`the gateway reports head ${head} below the ${height} it reported earlier, refusing to sign`);
-        const elapsed = now > at ? now - at : 0n;
-        const allowed = (elapsed + HEAD_SLACK_SECS) * HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC;
+        const tick = monotonicSecs();
+        const elapsed = tick > at ? tick - at : 0n;
+        const allowed = elapsed * HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC + HEAD_SLACK_BLOCKS;
         if (head > height + allowed) throw new Error(`the gateway head leapt from ${height} to ${head} faster than blocks are made, refusing to sign`);
       }
       core.checkValidUntil(until, head);
-      if (!this._headFloor || head > this._headFloor.height) this._headFloor = { height: head, at: now };
+      if (!this._headFloor || head > this._headFloor.height) this._headFloor = { height: head, at: monotonicSecs() };
       return until;
     }
     transaction(txId) { return this._call('get_transaction', core.transaction_body(txId)); }
-    block(height) { return this._call('get_block', core.block_by_height_body(BigInt(height))); }
+    block(height) { return this._call('get_block', core.block_by_height_body(wholeNumber(height, 'height', U64_MAX))); }
     submit(txHex) { return this._call('submit_transaction', core.submit_body(txHex)); }
     container(address) { return this._call('get_container', JSON.stringify({ address })); }
     storage(address) { return this._call('get_storage', JSON.stringify({ address })); }
-    events(height) { return this._call('get_events', core.eventsBody(BigInt(height))); }
+    events(height) { return this._call('get_events', core.eventsBody(wholeNumber(height, 'height', U64_MAX))); }
 
     address(seedHex, index) { return core.address(seedHex, accountIndex(index)); }
 
@@ -564,7 +574,7 @@ function makeClient(core) {
     }
 
     async contractScalar(contract, slot) {
-      return this._slotValue(contract, core.scalarSlotKey(BigInt(slot)));
+      return this._slotValue(contract, core.scalarSlotKey(wholeNumber(slot, 'slot', U64_MAX)));
     }
 
     async callSignedOrder(callerSeedHex, callerIndex, contract, selectorHex, orderSpec, ownerSeedHex, ownerIndex, meterLimit, maxFeeQuon, expectedOrderNonce, expectedNonce) {
@@ -584,7 +594,7 @@ function makeClient(core) {
       const signer = core.orderSigner(ownerSeedHex, accountIndex(ownerIndex));
       const orderKey = contract + '/' + signer;
       const reportedOrder = await this.contractNonce(contract, signer);
-      if (expectedOrderNonce != null && BigInt(expectedOrderNonce) !== reportedOrder) {
+      if (expectedOrderNonce != null && wholeNumber(expectedOrderNonce, 'expected order nonce', U64_MAX) !== reportedOrder) {
         throw new Error(
           `the gateway reported order nonce ${reportedOrder} but you expected ${expectedOrderNonce}, refusing to sign`
         );
@@ -594,9 +604,9 @@ function makeClient(core) {
         chainId,
         contract,
         selectorHex,
-        BigInt(orderSpec.schemeOff),
-        BigInt(orderSpec.ptrOff),
-        BigInt(orderSpec.regionOff || 0),
+        wholeNumber(orderSpec.schemeOff, 'scheme offset', U64_MAX),
+        wholeNumber(orderSpec.ptrOff, 'pointer offset', U64_MAX),
+        orderSpec.regionOff == null ? 0n : wholeNumber(orderSpec.regionOff, 'region offset', U64_MAX),
         JSON.stringify(orderSpec.fields || [], (k, v) => {
           if (typeof v !== 'bigint') return v;
           if (k === 'value') return v.toString();

package/shared.mjs

@@ -31,12 +31,19 @@ function accountNonce(nonce) {
 const VALIDITY_BLOCKS = 300n;
 const ORDER_HOLD_UNTIL = 1n << 62n;
 const MAX_PLAUSIBLE_HEAD = 1n << 40n;
-const HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC = 4n;
-const HEAD_SLACK_SECS = 60n;
+const HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC = 20n;
+const HEAD_SLACK_BLOCKS = 240n;
 const GENESIS_FLOOR_SECS = 1735689600n;
+const TESTNET_GENESIS_SECS = 1791082813n;
 const U64_MAX = 0xffffffffffffffffn;
 const U128_MAX = (1n << 128n) - 1n;
 
+function monotonicSecs() {
+  const clock = globalThis.performance;
+  const ms = clock && typeof clock.now === 'function' ? clock.now() : Date.now();
+  return BigInt(Math.floor(ms / 1000));
+}
+
 function wholeNumber(value, label, max) {
   let n;
   if (typeof value === 'bigint') {
@@ -128,7 +135,7 @@ function validUntil(info) {
   }
   let h;
   try {
-    h = BigInt(head);
+    h = wholeNumber(head, 'head height', U64_MAX);
   } catch {
     throw new Error('the gateway reported a head height that is not a whole number');
   }
@@ -372,14 +379,15 @@ function makeClient(core) {
       let held = this._signedNonces.get(key);
       if (!held) { held = new Map(); this._signedNonces.set(key, held); }
       const head = until - VALIDITY_BLOCKS;
+      const now = monotonicSecs();
       for (const [slotKey, entry] of held) {
-        if (head > entry.until) held.delete(slotKey);
+        if (head > entry.until && (now - entry.at) * HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC >= VALIDITY_BLOCKS) held.delete(slotKey);
       }
       const seen = held.get(String(slot));
       if (!explicit && seen != null && seen.txHex !== txHex) {
         throw new Error(`a different transaction was already signed for nonce ${slot} in this session and was neither rejected nor expired; one nonce carries one signature, pass the nonce explicitly to replace one that never landed`);
       }
-      held.set(String(slot), { txHex, until });
+      held.set(String(slot), { txHex, until, at: now });
     }
 
     _remember(key, used, outcome) {
@@ -396,27 +404,29 @@ function makeClient(core) {
       const until = validUntil(info);
       const head = until - VALIDITY_BLOCKS;
       const now = BigInt(Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000));
-      if (now > GENESIS_FLOOR_SECS) {
-        const maxHead = (now - GENESIS_FLOOR_SECS + HEAD_SLACK_SECS) * HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC;
+      const genesis = info && info.chain_id === 'Q-test-net-1' ? TESTNET_GENESIS_SECS : GENESIS_FLOOR_SECS;
+      if (now > genesis) {
+        const maxHead = (now - genesis) * HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC + HEAD_SLACK_BLOCKS;
         if (head > maxHead) throw new Error(`the gateway reports head ${head} further ahead than wall-clock time allows, refusing to sign`);
       }
       if (this._headFloor) {
         const { height, at } = this._headFloor;
         if (head < height) throw new Error(`the gateway reports head ${head} below the ${height} it reported earlier, refusing to sign`);
-        const elapsed = now > at ? now - at : 0n;
-        const allowed = (elapsed + HEAD_SLACK_SECS) * HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC;
+        const tick = monotonicSecs();
+        const elapsed = tick > at ? tick - at : 0n;
+        const allowed = elapsed * HEAD_BLOCKS_PER_SEC + HEAD_SLACK_BLOCKS;
         if (head > height + allowed) throw new Error(`the gateway head leapt from ${height} to ${head} faster than blocks are made, refusing to sign`);
       }
       core.checkValidUntil(until, head);
-      if (!this._headFloor || head > this._headFloor.height) this._headFloor = { height: head, at: now };
+      if (!this._headFloor || head > this._headFloor.height) this._headFloor = { height: head, at: monotonicSecs() };
       return until;
     }
     transaction(txId) { return this._call('get_transaction', core.transaction_body(txId)); }
-    block(height) { return this._call('get_block', core.block_by_height_body(BigInt(height))); }
+    block(height) { return this._call('get_block', core.block_by_height_body(wholeNumber(height, 'height', U64_MAX))); }
     submit(txHex) { return this._call('submit_transaction', core.submit_body(txHex)); }
     container(address) { return this._call('get_container', JSON.stringify({ address })); }
     storage(address) { return this._call('get_storage', JSON.stringify({ address })); }
-    events(height) { return this._call('get_events', core.eventsBody(BigInt(height))); }
+    events(height) { return this._call('get_events', core.eventsBody(wholeNumber(height, 'height', U64_MAX))); }
 
     address(seedHex, index) { return core.address(seedHex, accountIndex(index)); }
 
@@ -564,7 +574,7 @@ function makeClient(core) {
     }
 
     async contractScalar(contract, slot) {
-      return this._slotValue(contract, core.scalarSlotKey(BigInt(slot)));
+      return this._slotValue(contract, core.scalarSlotKey(wholeNumber(slot, 'slot', U64_MAX)));
     }
 
     async callSignedOrder(callerSeedHex, callerIndex, contract, selectorHex, orderSpec, ownerSeedHex, ownerIndex, meterLimit, maxFeeQuon, expectedOrderNonce, expectedNonce) {
@@ -584,7 +594,7 @@ function makeClient(core) {
       const signer = core.orderSigner(ownerSeedHex, accountIndex(ownerIndex));
       const orderKey = contract + '/' + signer;
       const reportedOrder = await this.contractNonce(contract, signer);
-      if (expectedOrderNonce != null && BigInt(expectedOrderNonce) !== reportedOrder) {
+      if (expectedOrderNonce != null && wholeNumber(expectedOrderNonce, 'expected order nonce', U64_MAX) !== reportedOrder) {
         throw new Error(
           `the gateway reported order nonce ${reportedOrder} but you expected ${expectedOrderNonce}, refusing to sign`
         );
@@ -594,9 +604,9 @@ function makeClient(core) {
         chainId,
         contract,
         selectorHex,
-        BigInt(orderSpec.schemeOff),
-        BigInt(orderSpec.ptrOff),
-        BigInt(orderSpec.regionOff || 0),
+        wholeNumber(orderSpec.schemeOff, 'scheme offset', U64_MAX),
+        wholeNumber(orderSpec.ptrOff, 'pointer offset', U64_MAX),
+        orderSpec.regionOff == null ? 0n : wholeNumber(orderSpec.regionOff, 'region offset', U64_MAX),
         JSON.stringify(orderSpec.fields || [], (k, v) => {
           if (typeof v !== 'bigint') return v;
           if (k === 'value') return v.toString();