perf(l1): avoid opening tries (#5145)

**Motivation**

Currently to get a storage we are:

* getting the block header to obtain the state root
* getting the account to get the storage root
* reading the value

The first step isn't needed because the state root is the same through
the block, and the second isn't needed because since we're using a
path-based DB we can directly get the value (without even using the
trie, if the FKVs are computed).

**Description**

We make the VM database ask by state_root instead of block hash
(skipping step 1), and we skip reading the account storage root when the
FlatKeyValues are computed for it.

---------

Co-authored-by: Ivan Litteri <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Javier Chatruc <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Javier Rodríguez Chatruc <[email protected]>

Author: 3 people

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 ## Perf
 
 ### 2025-10-31
-
+- Reduce overhead of trie opening [#5145](https://github.com/lambdaclass/ethrex/pull/5145)
 - Improved discovery and peer initialization [#5147](https://github.com/lambdaclass/ethrex/pull/5147)
 
 ### 2025-10-30

crates/blockchain/blockchain.rs

@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ impl Blockchain {
         // Validate the block pre-execution
         validate_block(block, &parent_header, &chain_config, ELASTICITY_MULTIPLIER)?;
 
-        let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(self.storage.clone(), block.header.parent_hash);
+        let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(self.storage.clone(), parent_header);
         let mut vm = self.new_evm(vm_db)?;
 
         let execution_result = vm.execute_block(block)?;
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ impl Blockchain {
         validate_block(block, &parent_header, &chain_config, ELASTICITY_MULTIPLIER)?;
         let block_validated_instant = Instant::now();
 
-        let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(self.storage.clone(), block.header.parent_hash);
+        let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(self.storage.clone(), parent_header.clone());
         let mut vm = self.new_evm(vm_db)?;
 
         let exec_merkle_start = Instant::now();
@@ -532,14 +532,19 @@ impl Blockchain {
 
         for (i, block) in blocks.iter().enumerate() {
             let parent_hash = block.header.parent_hash;
+            let parent_header = self
+                .storage
+                .get_block_header_by_hash(parent_hash)
+                .map_err(ChainError::StoreError)?
+                .ok_or(ChainError::ParentNotFound)?;
 
             // This assumes that the user has the necessary state stored already,
             // so if the user only has the state previous to the first block, it
             // will fail in the second iteration of this for loop. To ensure this,
             // doesn't fail, later in this function we store the new state after
             // re-execution.
             let vm_db: DynVmDatabase =
-                Box::new(StoreVmDatabase::new(self.storage.clone(), parent_hash));
+                Box::new(StoreVmDatabase::new(self.storage.clone(), parent_header));
 
             let logger = Arc::new(DatabaseLogger::new(Arc::new(Mutex::new(Box::new(vm_db)))));
 
@@ -1007,9 +1012,14 @@ impl Blockchain {
         // Cache block hashes for the full batch so we can access them during execution without having to store the blocks beforehand
         let block_hash_cache = blocks.iter().map(|b| (b.header.number, b.hash())).collect();
 
+        let parent_header = self
+            .storage
+            .get_block_header_by_hash(first_block_header.parent_hash)
+            .map_err(|e| (ChainError::StoreError(e), None))?
+            .ok_or((ChainError::ParentNotFound, None))?;
         let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new_with_block_hash_cache(
             self.storage.clone(),
-            first_block_header.parent_hash,
+            parent_header,
             block_hash_cache,
         );
         let mut vm = self.new_evm(vm_db).map_err(|e| (e.into(), None))?;

crates/blockchain/payload.rs

@@ -235,7 +235,11 @@ impl PayloadBuildContext {
                 .unwrap_or_default(),
         );
 
-        let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(storage.clone(), payload.header.parent_hash);
+        let parent_header = storage
+            .get_block_header_by_hash(payload.header.parent_hash)
+            .map_err(|e| EvmError::DB(e.to_string()))?
+            .ok_or_else(|| EvmError::DB("parent header not found".to_string()))?;
+        let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(storage.clone(), parent_header);
         let vm = new_evm(blockchain_type, vm_db)?;
 
         let payload_size = payload.encode_to_vec().len() as u64;

crates/blockchain/tracing.rs

@@ -102,9 +102,13 @@ impl Blockchain {
             .iter()
             .map(|b| (b.header.number, b.hash()))
             .collect();
+        let parent_header = self
+            .storage
+            .get_block_header_by_hash(parent_hash)?
+            .ok_or(ChainError::ParentNotFound)?;
         let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new_with_block_hash_cache(
             self.storage.clone(),
-            parent_hash,
+            parent_header,
             block_hash_cache,
         );
         let mut vm = self.new_evm(vm_db)?;

crates/blockchain/vm.rs

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use ethrex_common::{
     Address, H256, U256,
     constants::EMPTY_KECCACK_HASH,
-    types::{AccountState, BlockHash, BlockNumber, ChainConfig, Code},
+    types::{AccountState, BlockHash, BlockHeader, BlockNumber, ChainConfig, Code},
 };
 use ethrex_storage::Store;
 use ethrex_vm::{EvmError, VmDatabase};
@@ -16,26 +16,29 @@ pub struct StoreVmDatabase {
     // We use this when executing blocks in batches, as we will only add the blocks at the end
     // And may need to access hashes of blocks previously executed in the batch
     pub block_hash_cache: HashMap<BlockNumber, BlockHash>,
+    pub state_root: H256,
 }
 
 impl StoreVmDatabase {
-    pub fn new(store: Store, block_hash: BlockHash) -> Self {
+    pub fn new(store: Store, block_header: BlockHeader) -> Self {
         StoreVmDatabase {
             store,
-            block_hash,
+            block_hash: block_header.hash(),
             block_hash_cache: HashMap::new(),
+            state_root: block_header.state_root,
         }
     }
 
     pub fn new_with_block_hash_cache(
         store: Store,
-        block_hash: BlockHash,
+        block_header: BlockHeader,
         block_hash_cache: HashMap<BlockNumber, BlockHash>,
     ) -> Self {
         StoreVmDatabase {
             store,
-            block_hash,
+            block_hash: block_header.hash(),
             block_hash_cache,
+            state_root: block_header.state_root,
         }
     }
 }
@@ -44,14 +47,14 @@ impl VmDatabase for StoreVmDatabase {
     #[instrument(level = "trace", name = "Account read", skip_all)]
     fn get_account_state(&self, address: Address) -> Result<Option<AccountState>, EvmError> {
         self.store
-            .get_account_state_by_hash(self.block_hash, address)
+            .get_account_state_by_root(self.state_root, address)
             .map_err(|e| EvmError::DB(e.to_string()))
     }
 
     #[instrument(level = "trace", name = "Storage read", skip_all)]
     fn get_storage_slot(&self, address: Address, key: H256) -> Result<Option<U256>, EvmError> {
         self.store
-            .get_storage_at_hash(self.block_hash, address, key)
+            .get_storage_at_root(self.state_root, address, key)
             .map_err(|e| EvmError::DB(e.to_string()))
     }
 

crates/l2/based/block_fetcher.rs

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use std::{cmp::min, collections::HashMap, sync::Arc, time::Duration};
 
+use ethrex_blockchain::error::ChainError;
 use ethrex_blockchain::{Blockchain, fork_choice::apply_fork_choice, vm::StoreVmDatabase};
 use ethrex_common::utils::keccak;
 use ethrex_common::{
@@ -359,7 +360,11 @@ impl BlockFetcher {
         // This is copied from the L1Committer, this should be reviewed.
         let mut acc_account_updates: HashMap<H160, AccountUpdate> = HashMap::new();
         for block in batch {
-            let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(self.store.clone(), block.header.parent_hash);
+            let parent_header = self
+                .store
+                .get_block_header_by_hash(block.header.parent_hash)?
+                .ok_or(BlockFetcherError::ChainError(ChainError::ParentNotFound))?;
+            let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(self.store.clone(), parent_header);
             let mut vm = self.blockchain.new_evm(vm_db)?;
             vm.execute_block(block)
                 .map_err(BlockFetcherError::EvmError)?;
@@ -378,8 +383,12 @@ impl BlockFetcher {
         }
 
         let parent_block_hash = first_block.header.parent_hash;
+        let parent_header = self
+            .store
+            .get_block_header_by_hash(parent_block_hash)?
+            .ok_or(BlockFetcherError::ChainError(ChainError::ParentNotFound))?;
 
-        let parent_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(self.store.clone(), parent_block_hash);
+        let parent_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(self.store.clone(), parent_header);
 
         let state_diff = prepare_state_diff(
             last_block.header.clone(),

crates/l2/sequencer/l1_committer.rs

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ use crate::{
 };
 use bytes::Bytes;
 use ethrex_blockchain::{
-    Blockchain, BlockchainOptions, BlockchainType, L2Config, vm::StoreVmDatabase,
+    Blockchain, BlockchainOptions, BlockchainType, L2Config, error::ChainError, vm::StoreVmDatabase,
 };
 use ethrex_common::{
     Address, H256, U256,
@@ -534,13 +534,14 @@ impl L1Committer {
                     "Could not find execution cache result for block {}, falling back to re-execution",
                     last_added_block_number + 1
                 );
+                let parent_header = self
+                    .store
+                    .get_block_header_by_hash(potential_batch_block.header.parent_hash)?
+                    .ok_or(CommitterError::ChainError(ChainError::ParentNotFound))?;
 
                 // Here we use the checkpoint store because we need the previous
                 // state available (i.e. not pruned) for re-execution.
-                let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(
-                    checkpoint_store.clone(),
-                    potential_batch_block.header.parent_hash,
-                );
+                let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(checkpoint_store.clone(), parent_header);
 
                 let fee_config = self
                     .rollup_store
@@ -603,9 +604,14 @@ impl L1Committer {
                 ))?
                 .parent_hash;
 
+            let parent_header = self
+                .store
+                .get_block_header_by_hash(parent_block_hash)?
+                .ok_or(CommitterError::ChainError(ChainError::ParentNotFound))?;
+
             // Again, here the VM database should be instantiated from the checkpoint
             // store to have access to the previous state
-            let parent_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(checkpoint_store.clone(), parent_block_hash);
+            let parent_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(checkpoint_store.clone(), parent_header);
 
             let acc_privileged_txs_len: u64 = acc_privileged_txs.len().try_into()?;
             if acc_privileged_txs_len > PRIVILEGED_TX_BUDGET {

crates/networking/rpc/eth/account.rs

@@ -136,8 +136,7 @@ impl RpcHandler for GetStorageAtRequest {
 
         let storage_value = context
             .storage
-            .get_storage_at(block_number, self.address, self.storage_slot)
-            .await?
+            .get_storage_at(block_number, self.address, self.storage_slot)?
             .unwrap_or_default();
         let storage_value = H256::from_uint(&storage_value);
         serde_json::to_value(format!("{storage_value:#x}"))

crates/networking/rpc/eth/transaction.rs

@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ impl RpcHandler for CreateAccessListRequest {
             _ => return Ok(Value::Null),
         };
 
-        let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(context.storage.clone(), header.hash());
+        let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(context.storage.clone(), header.clone());
         let mut vm = context.blockchain.new_evm(vm_db)?;
 
         // Run transaction and obtain access list
@@ -571,7 +571,7 @@ async fn simulate_tx(
     storage: Store,
     blockchain: Arc<Blockchain>,
 ) -> Result<ExecutionResult, RpcErr> {
-    let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(storage, block_header.hash());
+    let vm_db = StoreVmDatabase::new(storage, block_header.clone());
     let mut vm = blockchain.new_evm(vm_db)?;
 
     match vm.simulate_tx_from_generic(transaction, block_header)? {

crates/storage/api.rs

@@ -380,4 +380,8 @@ pub trait StoreEngine: Debug + Send + Sync + RefUnwindSafe {
     fn generate_flatkeyvalue(&self) -> Result<(), StoreError>;
 
     async fn create_checkpoint(&self, path: &Path) -> Result<(), StoreError>;
+
+    fn flatkeyvalue_computed(&self, _account: H256) -> Result<bool, StoreError> {
+        Ok(false)
+    }
 }