Aptos Move L1 Development

Aptos is a Layer 1 blockchain built on Move, the language originally developed for Meta's Diem project. It achieves high throughput via Block-STM, a parallel execution engine that processes transactions optimistically and re-executes on conflicts. Smart contracts are called modules, and data is stored as resources at account addresses in a global storage model.

What You Probably Got Wrong

AI agents trained on Sui Move or Solidity make critical errors when generating Aptos Move code. Fix these first.

• Aptos Move uses global storage, NOT Sui's object model — Resources are stored at addresses using move_to, move_from, borrow_global, and borrow_global_mut. There is no object::ObjectID or sui::object::UID. When you want to store data, you move_to<T>(signer, resource) to place it at the signer's address. To read it, you borrow_global<T>(address).

• Resource accounts are NOT regular accounts — A resource account is a special account with no private key, controlled by its creating module. You create one with account::create_resource_account(origin, seed). The module publishes to the resource account's address. This is how protocols deploy immutable, admin-less contracts.

• Token V1 is deprecated — use Token V2 (Digital Assets) — The aptos_token module (V1) is legacy. Use aptos_token_objects (V2), which uses the Move Object model. V2 tokens are stored as objects at their own addresses, not in a creator's TokenStore. Collections and tokens are first-class objects.

• @aptos-labs/ts-sdk replaces the old aptos package — The npm package aptos is deprecated. Use @aptos-labs/ts-sdk. The entry point is new Aptos(new AptosConfig({ network: Network.MAINNET })). Do not import from aptos.

• Coin standard is NOT ERC-20 — Aptos uses aptos_framework::coin with generics. A coin type is Coin<CoinType> where CoinType is a phantom type parameter defined by the deploying module. There is no approval/allowance pattern — coins are moved directly.

• signer is not msg.sender — In Aptos Move, the signer is passed as a function parameter. A function must explicitly accept &signer to access the caller's address and perform operations on their account. Use signer::address_of(account) to get the address.