The Registry

The Registry class (from @cosmjs/proto-signing) is the central type map that knows how to encode and decode Protobuf messages by type URL. When you call signAndBroadcast, the client uses its registry to serialize each EncodeObject into binary Protobuf wrapped in Any.

How It Works

  EncodeObject                         google.protobuf.Any
  +--------------------+               +------------------------+
  | typeUrl: string     |   Registry   | typeUrl: string         |
  | value:  object      | ---------->  | value:  Uint8Array      |
  +--------------------+   .encode()   +------------------------+
                                          (Protobuf bytes)

Internally, the Registry keeps a Map<string, GeneratedType> where each key is a type URL and each value is a Protobuf codec. A codec is any object with encode and decode methods — the exact shape depends on the code generator used:

Generator	Instance method	Notes
ts-proto (v1/v2)	`fromPartial` + `encode` + `decode`	Used by `cosmjs-types`
Telescope	`fromPartial` + `encode` + `decode`	Same interface as ts-proto
protobufjs	`create` + `encode` + `decode`	Slightly different API

All three are supported through the GeneratedType union:

type GeneratedType =
  | TsProtoGeneratedType
  | TsProto2GeneratedType
  | TelescopeGeneratedType
  | PbjsGeneratedType;

Default Types

When you create a SigningStargateClient without a custom registry, it uses defaultRegistryTypes — a list of all standard Cosmos SDK message types:

import { defaultRegistryTypes } from "@cosmjs/stargate";
import { Registry } from "@cosmjs/proto-signing";

const registry = new Registry(defaultRegistryTypes);

This includes messages from bank, staking, distribution, governance, authz, feegrant, group, IBC, and vesting modules.

Registering Custom Types

If your chain has custom modules, register their generated types on top of the defaults:

import { Registry } from "@cosmjs/proto-signing";
import { defaultRegistryTypes } from "@cosmjs/stargate";
import { MsgCreatePost } from "./generated/blog/tx";

const registry = new Registry(defaultRegistryTypes);
registry.register("/blog.v1.MsgCreatePost", MsgCreatePost);

Then pass the registry to the client:

const client = await SigningStargateClient.connectWithSigner(endpoint, wallet, {
  registry,
});

Registry API

Method	Description
`register(typeUrl, type)`	Add or overwrite a type URL mapping
`lookupType(typeUrl)`	Get the codec for a type URL (or `undefined`)
`encode(encodeObject)`	Encode an `EncodeObject` to Protobuf bytes
`encodeAsAny(encodeObject)`	Encode and wrap in `google.protobuf.Any`
`encodeTxBody(txBodyFields)`	Encode a full `TxBody` (wraps each message in `Any`)
`decode(decodeObject)`	Decode Protobuf bytes using the type URL
`decodeTxBody(bytes)`	Decode a `TxBody` and recursively decode its messages

Encoding Flow

When you call signAndBroadcast, this is what happens to your messages:

  EncodeObject[]
       |
       v  registry.encodeAsAny(msg) for each
  Any[] (typeUrl + Protobuf bytes)
       |
       v  TxBody.fromPartial({ messages, memo })
  TxBody
       |
       v  TxBody.encode(txBody).finish()
  bodyBytes (Uint8Array)
       |
       v  combined with authInfoBytes into SignDoc
  SignDoc
       |
       v  SignDoc.encode().finish()
  signBytes (Uint8Array) --> SHA-256 (Keccak-256 for EVM wallets) --> signature

Next Steps

Custom Types

Encode Objects

Understand the EncodeObject format.

CosmJS

Concepts

Guides

API Reference

How It Works

Default Types

Registering Custom Types

Registry API

Encoding Flow

Next Steps

Custom Types

Encode Objects

​How It Works

​Default Types

​Registering Custom Types

​Registry API

​Encoding Flow

​Next Steps

Custom Types

Encode Objects

How It Works

Default Types

Registering Custom Types

Registry API

Encoding Flow

Next Steps