MovePackageService/GetDatatype - SUI

Example code for the MovePackageService/GetDatatype gRPC method. Complete guide on how to use MovePackageService/GetDatatype gRPC method in GetBlock Web3 documentation.

Returns the definition of a Move struct or enum — its fields, type parameters, and abilities (copy, drop, store, key). Useful for ABI introspection and decoding raw Move values.

Service: sui.rpc.v2.MovePackageService Proto file: sui/rpc/v2/move_package_service.proto Full method path: sui.rpc.v2.MovePackageService/GetDatatype

Request Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
package_id	ObjectId	Yes	32-byte package ID
module_name	string	Yes	Module name within the package
type_name	string	Yes	Datatype (struct or enum) name

Request Example

grpcurl

# Clone the official proto files first (one-time setup):
#   git clone https://github.com/MystenLabs/sui-apis.git && cd sui-apis

grpcurl \
  -import-path proto \
  -proto sui/rpc/v2/move_package_service.proto \
  -H "x-grpc-web: 1" \
  -d '{
    "package_id": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002",
    "module_name": "coin",
    "type_name": "Coin"
}' \
  go.getblock.io:443/<ACCESS-TOKEN> \
  sui.rpc.v2.MovePackageService/GetDatatype

TypeScript (@grpc/grpc-js)

import * as grpc from '@grpc/grpc-js';
import * as protoLoader from '@grpc/proto-loader';
import * as path from 'path';

const PROTO_PATH = path.join(__dirname, 'protos/proto/sui/rpc/v2/move_package_service.proto');
const ACCESS_TOKEN = '<ACCESS-TOKEN>';

const packageDef = protoLoader.loadSync(PROTO_PATH, {
    includeDirs: [path.join(__dirname, 'protos/proto')],
    keepCase: true, longs: String, enums: String, defaults: true,
});
const proto = grpc.loadPackageDefinition(packageDef) as any;
const ServiceClient = proto.sui.rpc.v2.MovePackageService;

const metadata = new grpc.Metadata();
metadata.add('authorization', `Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}`);

const client = new ServiceClient('go.getblock.io:443', grpc.credentials.createSsl());

const request = {
    "package_id": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002",
    "module_name": "coin",
    "type_name": "Coin"
};

client.GetDatatype(request, metadata, (err: any, response: any) => {
    if (err) {
        console.error('Error:', err);
        return;
    }
    console.log(JSON.stringify(response, null, 2));
});

Python (grpcio)

# First generate Python stubs from the proto files (one-time setup):
#   pip install grpcio grpcio-tools
#   python -m grpc_tools.protoc -I=proto --python_out=. --grpc_python_out=. \
#       proto/sui/rpc/v2/move_package_service.proto

import grpc
from sui.rpc.v2 import sui_rpc_v2_move_package_service_pb2, sui_rpc_v2_move_package_service_pb2_grpc
from google.protobuf.json_format import ParseDict, MessageToJson

ACCESS_TOKEN = '<ACCESS-TOKEN>'

channel = grpc.secure_channel('go.getblock.io:443', grpc.ssl_channel_credentials())
stub = sui_rpc_v2_move_package_service_pb2_grpc.MovePackageServiceStub(channel)

metadata = [('authorization', f'Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}')]

# Build the request message from a dict via ParseDict for readability
request_data = {
    "package_id": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002",
    "module_name": "coin",
    "type_name": "Coin"
}
request = ParseDict(request_data, sui_rpc_v2_move_package_service_pb2.MovePackageRequest())
# (Use the appropriate <Method>Request type — adjust as needed for the specific method.)

response = stub.GetDatatype(request, metadata=metadata)
print(response)

Rust (tonic)

// Add to Cargo.toml:
//   tonic = "0.12"
//   prost = "0.13"
//   tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
// Plus a build.rs invoking tonic_build on the Sui proto files.

use tonic::{transport::Channel, Request};
use sui_rpc_v2::move_package_service_client::MovePackageServiceClient;
// Plus the relevant <Method>Request type import from sui_rpc_v2.

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let channel = Channel::from_static("https://go.getblock.io").connect().await?;
    let mut client = MovePackageServiceClient::with_interceptor(channel, |mut req: Request<()>| {
        req.metadata_mut().insert("authorization", "Bearer <ACCESS-TOKEN>".parse().unwrap());
        Ok(req)
    });

    let request_json = r#"{
    "package_id": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002",
    "module_name": "coin",
    "type_name": "Coin"
}"#;
    let request = Request::new(serde_json::from_str(request_json)?);

    let response = client.get_datatype(request).await?;
    println!("Response: {:?}", response.into_inner());
    Ok(())
}

Response Example

Responses are encoded in Protocol Buffers binary format on the wire. The example below shows the protobuf JSON encoding for readability.

{
    "datatype": {
        "name": "Coin",
        "type_parameters": [
            {
                "constraints": [
                    "copy",
                    "drop",
                    "store"
                ]
            }
        ],
        "abilities": [
            "key",
            "store"
        ],
        "kind": "struct",
        "fields": [
            {
                "name": "id",
                "type": "0x2::object::UID"
            },
            {
                "name": "balance",
                "type": "0x2::balance::Balance<T>"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
datatype.name	string	Echoed type name
datatype.type_parameters	repeated TypeParameter	Generic type parameters with their constraints
datatype.abilities	repeated string	Move abilities — combinations of copy, drop, store, key
datatype.kind	string	struct or enum
datatype.fields	repeated Field	For structs: field name and type. For enums: variant info

Use Cases

• Decoding raw Move values returned from GetObject

• Move IDE auto-completion and type checking

• Building ABI viewers for deployed packages

Error Handling

gRPC uses status codes rather than JSON-RPC numeric error codes. The most relevant for this method:

Status Code	Numeric	Cause
UNAUTHENTICATED	16	Missing or invalid <ACCESS-TOKEN> in the URL path
INVALID_ARGUMENT	3	Request fields are missing, malformed, or fail validation
UNAVAILABLE	14	Node is overloaded or temporarily unable to handle the request — retry with backoff
DEADLINE_EXCEEDED	4	Request did not complete within the timeout window
RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED	8	Rate limit exceeded for your plan
NOT_FOUND	5	Package, module, or datatype not found

SDK Integration

@mysten/sui (TypeScript)

// The Mysten Labs TypeScript SDK provides higher-level wrappers around the
// gRPC API. Use @mysten/sui for typed client access:

import { SuiClient } from '@mysten/sui/client';

const client = new SuiClient({
    url: 'https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/'
});

// Refer to the @mysten/sui API reference for the typed wrapper of this method;
// raw gRPC call to sui.rpc.v2.MovePackageService/GetDatatype is available as shown in the
// Request Example tabs above.

pysui (Python)

# pysui is the community-maintained Python SDK for Sui (Mysten Labs does not
# yet publish an official Python SDK). For raw gRPC access, use grpcio with
# the generated proto stubs as shown in the Request Example tabs above.

from pysui import SuiConfig, SyncClient

config = SuiConfig.user_config(
    rpc_url='https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/'
)
client = SyncClient(config)

# Consult pysui docs for the wrapper of MovePackageService.GetDatatype.