What is an Object?

The Object Model can be viewed as a high-level abstraction representing digital assets as objects. These objects have their own type and associated behaviors, a unique identifier, and support native storage operations like transfer, share and freeze. Designed to be intuitive and easy to use, the Object Model enables a wide range of use cases to be implemented with ease.

Objects have the following properties:

• Type: Every object has a type, defining the structure and behavior of the object. Objects of different types cannot be mixed or used interchangeably, ensuring objects are used correctly according to their type system.

• Unique ID: Each object has a unique identifier, distinguishing it from other objects. This ID is generated upon the object’s creation and is immutable. It’s used to track and identify objects within the system.

• Owner: Every object is associated with an owner (which might be an address or another object), who has control over changes to the object. Ownership can be exclusive, shared across the network, or frozen, allowing read-only access without modification or transfer capabilities.

• Data: Objects encapsulate their data, simplifying management and manipulation. The data structure and operations are defined by the object’s type.

Warning

Ownership does not control the confidentiality of an object — it is always possible to read the contents of an on-chain object from outside of Move. You should never store unencrypted secrets inside of objects.

Note

Certain kind of object have a pre-computed ID called NamedId. It is possible to have two distinct objects with the same NameId. Those cases should be handled with care.