Stable Memory & Canister Upgrades

What This Is

Stable memory is persistent storage on Internet Computer that survives canister upgrades. Heap memory (regular variables) is wiped on every upgrade. Any data you care about MUST be in stable memory, or it will be lost the next time the canister is deployed.

Prerequisites

For Motoko: mops with
```
core = "2.0.0"
```
in mops.toml
For Rust:
```
ic-stable-structures = "0.7"
```
in Cargo.toml

Canister IDs

No external canister dependencies. Stable memory is a local canister feature.

Mistakes That Break Your Build

Using
thread_local! { RefCell<T> }
for user data (Rust) -- This is heap memory. It is wiped on every canister upgrade. All user data, balances, settings stored this way will vanish after
```
icp deploy
```
. Use
```
StableBTreeMap
```
instead.
Forgetting
#[post_upgrade]
handler (Rust) -- Without a
```
post_upgrade
```
function, the canister may silently reset state or behave unexpectedly after upgrade. Always define both
```
#[init]
```
and
```
#[post_upgrade]
```
.
Using
stable
keyword in persistent actors (Motoko) -- In mo:core
```
persistent actor
```
, all
```
let
```
and
```
var
```
declarations are automatically stable. Writing
```
stable let
```
produces warning M0218 and
```
stable var
```
is redundant. Just use
```
let
```
and
```
var
```
.
Confusing heap memory limits with stable memory limits (Rust) -- Heap (Wasm linear) memory is limited to 4GB for wasm32 and 6GB for wasm64. Stable memory can grow up to hundreds of GB (the subnet storage limit). The real danger: if you use
```
pre_upgrade
```
/
```
post_upgrade
```
hooks to serialize heap data to stable memory and deserialize it back, you are limited by the heap memory size AND by the instruction limit for upgrade hooks. Large datasets will trap during upgrade, bricking the canister. The solution is to use stable structures (
```
StableBTreeMap
```
,
```
StableCell
```
, etc.) that read/write directly to stable memory, bypassing the heap entirely. Use
```
MemoryManager
```
to partition stable memory into virtual memories so multiple structures can coexist without overwriting each other.
Changing record field types between upgrades (Motoko) -- Altering the type of a persistent field (e.g.,
```
Nat
```
to
```
Int
```
, or renaming a record field) will trap on upgrade and data is unrecoverable. Only ADD new optional fields. Never remove or rename existing ones.
Serializing large data in pre_upgrade (Rust) --
```
pre_upgrade
```
has a fixed instruction limit. If you serialize a large HashMap to stable memory in pre_upgrade, it will hit the limit and trap, bricking the canister. Use
```
StableBTreeMap
```
which writes directly to stable memory and needs no serialization step.
Using
actor { }
instead of
persistent actor { }
(Motoko) -- Plain
```
actor
```
in mo:core requires explicit
```
stable
```
annotations and pre/post_upgrade hooks.
```
persistent actor
```
makes everything stable by default. Always use
```
persistent actor
```
.

Implementation

Motoko

With mo:core 2.0,

persistent actor

makes stable storage trivial. All

let

and

var

declarations inside the actor body are automatically persisted across upgrades.

motoko

import Map "mo:core/Map";
import List "mo:core/List";
import Nat "mo:core/Nat";
import Text "mo:core/Text";
import Time "mo:core/Time";

persistent actor {

  // Types -- must be inside actor body
  type User = {
    id : Nat;
    name : Text;
    created : Int;
  };

  // These survive upgrades automatically -- no "stable" keyword needed
  let users = Map.empty<Nat, User>();
  var userCounter : Nat = 0;
  let tags = List.empty<Text>();

  // Transient data -- reset to initial value on every upgrade
  transient var requestCount : Nat = 0;

  public func addUser(name : Text) : async Nat {
    let id = userCounter;
    Map.add(users, Nat.compare, id, {
      id;
      name;
      created = Time.now();
    });
    userCounter += 1;
    requestCount += 1;
    id
  };

  public query func getUser(id : Nat) : async ?User {
    Map.get(users, Nat.compare, id)
  };

  public query func getUserCount() : async Nat {
    Map.size(users)
  };

  // requestCount resets to 0 after every upgrade
  public query func getRequestCount() : async Nat {
    requestCount
  };
}

Key rules for Motoko persistent actors:

```
let
```
for Map, List, Set, Queue -- auto-persisted, no serialization
```
var
```
for simple values (Nat, Text, Bool) -- auto-persisted
```
transient var
```
for caches, counters that should reset on upgrade
NO
```
pre_upgrade
```
/
```
post_upgrade
```
needed -- the runtime handles it
NO
```
stable
```
keyword -- it is redundant and produces warnings

mops.toml

toml

[package]
name = "my-project"
version = "0.1.0"

[dependencies]
core = "2.0.0"

Rust

Rust canisters use

ic-stable-structures

for persistent storage. The

MemoryManager

partitions stable memory (up to hundreds of GB, limited by subnet storage) into virtual memories, each backing a different data structure.

Cargo.toml

toml

[package]
name = "stable_memory_backend"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"

[lib]
crate-type = ["cdylib"]

[dependencies]
ic-cdk = "0.19"
ic-stable-structures = "0.7"
candid = "0.10"
serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
ciborium = "0.2"

Single Stable Structure (Simple Case)

rust

use ic_stable_structures::{
    memory_manager::{MemoryId, MemoryManager, VirtualMemory},
    storable::{Bound, Storable},
    DefaultMemoryImpl, StableBTreeMap,
};
use ic_cdk::{init, post_upgrade, query, update};
use candid::CandidType;
use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
use std::borrow::Cow;
use std::cell::RefCell;

type Memory = VirtualMemory<DefaultMemoryImpl>;

// -- Implement Storable for custom types --
// StableBTreeMap keys need Storable + Ord, values need Storable.
// Storable defines how a type is serialized to/from bytes in stable memory.
// Use CBOR (via ciborium) for serialization -- compact binary format, faster than candid.

#[derive(CandidType, Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
struct User {
    id: u64,
    name: String,
    created: u64,
}

impl Storable for User {
    // Recommended: prefer Unbounded to avoid backwards compatibility issues when adding new fields.
    // Bounded requires a fixed max_size -- adding a field that increases the size will break existing data.
    const BOUND: Bound = Bound::Unbounded;

    fn to_bytes(&self) -> Cow<'_, [u8]> {
        let mut buf = vec![];
        ciborium::into_writer(self, &mut buf).expect("Failed to encode User");
        Cow::Owned(buf)
    }

    fn into_bytes(self) -> Vec<u8> {
        let mut buf = vec![];
        ciborium::into_writer(&self, &mut buf).expect("Failed to encode User");
        buf
    }

    fn from_bytes(bytes: Cow<'_, [u8]>) -> Self {
        ciborium::from_reader(bytes.as_ref()).expect("Failed to decode User")
    }
}
// Bound::Bounded { max_size, is_fixed_size: true } exists for fixed-size types but is NOT
// recommended -- adding a new field later will exceed max_size and break deserialization.

// Stable storage -- survives upgrades
thread_local! {
    static MEMORY_MANAGER: RefCell<MemoryManager<DefaultMemoryImpl>> =
        RefCell::new(MemoryManager::init(DefaultMemoryImpl::default()));

    static USERS: RefCell<StableBTreeMap<u64, User, Memory>> =
        RefCell::new(StableBTreeMap::init(
            MEMORY_MANAGER.with(|m| m.borrow().get(MemoryId::new(0)))
        ));

    // Counter stored in stable memory via StableCell
    static COUNTER: RefCell<ic_stable_structures::StableCell<u64, Memory>> =
        RefCell::new(ic_stable_structures::StableCell::init(
            MEMORY_MANAGER.with(|m| m.borrow().get(MemoryId::new(1))),
            0u64,
        ));
}

#[init]
fn init() {
    // Any one-time initialization
}

#[post_upgrade]
fn post_upgrade() {
    // Stable structures auto-restore -- no deserialization needed
    // Re-init timers or other transient state here
}

#[update]
fn add_user(name: String) -> u64 {
    let id = COUNTER.with(|c| {
        let mut cell = c.borrow_mut();
        let current = *cell.get();
        cell.set(current + 1);
        current
    });

    let user = User {
        id,
        name,
        created: ic_cdk::api::time(),
    };

    USERS.with(|users| {
        users.borrow_mut().insert(id, user);
    });

    id
}

#[query]
fn get_user(id: u64) -> Option<User> {
    USERS.with(|users| users.borrow().get(&id))
}

#[query]
fn get_user_count() -> u64 {
    USERS.with(|users| users.borrow().len())
}

ic_cdk::export_candid!();

Multiple Stable Structures with MemoryManager

rust

use ic_stable_structures::{
    memory_manager::{MemoryId, MemoryManager, VirtualMemory},
    DefaultMemoryImpl, StableBTreeMap, StableCell, StableLog,
};
use std::cell::RefCell;

type Memory = VirtualMemory<DefaultMemoryImpl>;

// Each structure gets its own MemoryId -- NEVER reuse IDs
const USERS_MEM_ID: MemoryId = MemoryId::new(0);
const POSTS_MEM_ID: MemoryId = MemoryId::new(1);
const COUNTER_MEM_ID: MemoryId = MemoryId::new(2);
const LOG_INDEX_MEM_ID: MemoryId = MemoryId::new(3);
const LOG_DATA_MEM_ID: MemoryId = MemoryId::new(4);

thread_local! {
    static MEMORY_MANAGER: RefCell<MemoryManager<DefaultMemoryImpl>> =
        RefCell::new(MemoryManager::init(DefaultMemoryImpl::default()));

    static USERS: RefCell<StableBTreeMap<u64, Vec<u8>, Memory>> =
        RefCell::new(StableBTreeMap::init(
            MEMORY_MANAGER.with(|m| m.borrow().get(USERS_MEM_ID))
        ));

    static POSTS: RefCell<StableBTreeMap<u64, Vec<u8>, Memory>> =
        RefCell::new(StableBTreeMap::init(
            MEMORY_MANAGER.with(|m| m.borrow().get(POSTS_MEM_ID))
        ));

    static COUNTER: RefCell<StableCell<u64, Memory>> =
        RefCell::new(StableCell::init(
            MEMORY_MANAGER.with(|m| m.borrow().get(COUNTER_MEM_ID)),
            0u64,
        ));

    static AUDIT_LOG: RefCell<StableLog<Vec<u8>, Memory, Memory>> =
        RefCell::new(StableLog::init(
            MEMORY_MANAGER.with(|m| m.borrow().get(LOG_INDEX_MEM_ID)),
            MEMORY_MANAGER.with(|m| m.borrow().get(LOG_DATA_MEM_ID)),
        ));
}

Key rules for Rust stable structures:

```
MemoryManager
```
partitions stable memory -- each structure gets a unique
```
MemoryId
```
NEVER reuse a
```
MemoryId
```
for two different structures -- they will corrupt each other
```
StableBTreeMap
```
keys must implement
```
Storable
```
+
```
Ord
```
, values must implement
```
Storable
```
Implement
```
Storable
```
for custom types: define
```
BOUND
```
,
```
to_bytes
```
,
```
into_bytes
```
, and
```
from_bytes
```
. Use
```
ciborium::into_writer
```
/
```
ciborium::from_reader
```
for CBOR serialization (compact, fast). Prefer
```
Bound::Unbounded
```
-- it avoids backwards compatibility breakage when adding new fields.
```
Bound::Bounded
```
exists but is not recommended because exceeding
```
max_size
```
after a schema change breaks deserialization
Primitive types (
```
u64
```
,
```
bool
```
,
```
f64
```
, etc.),
```
String
```
,
```
Vec<u8>
```
, and
```
Principal
```
already implement
```
Storable
```
-- no manual impl needed
```
StableCell
```
for single values (counters, config)
```
StableLog
```
for append-only logs (needs two memory regions: index + data)
```
thread_local! { RefCell<StableBTreeMap<...>> }
```
is the correct pattern -- the RefCell wraps the stable structure, not a heap HashMap
No
```
pre_upgrade
```
/
```
post_upgrade
```
serialization needed -- data is already in stable memory

Deploy & Test

Motoko: Verify Persistence Across Upgrades

bash

# Start local replica
icp network start -d

# Deploy
icp deploy backend

# Add data
icp canister call backend addUser '("Alice")'
# Expected: (0 : nat)

icp canister call backend addUser '("Bob")'
# Expected: (1 : nat)

# Verify data exists
icp canister call backend getUserCount '()'
# Expected: (2 : nat)

icp canister call backend getUser '(0)'
# Expected: (opt record { id = 0 : nat; name = "Alice"; created = ... })

# Now upgrade the canister (simulates code change + redeploy)
icp deploy backend

# Verify data survived the upgrade
icp canister call backend getUserCount '()'
# Expected: (2 : nat) -- STILL 2, not 0

icp canister call backend getUser '(1)'
# Expected: (opt record { id = 1 : nat; name = "Bob"; created = ... })

Rust: Verify Persistence Across Upgrades

bash

icp network start -d

icp deploy backend

icp canister call backend add_user '("Alice")'
# Expected: (0 : nat64)

icp canister call backend get_user_count '()'
# Expected: (1 : nat64)

# Upgrade
icp deploy backend

# Verify persistence
icp canister call backend get_user_count '()'
# Expected: (1 : nat64) -- data survived

icp canister call backend get_user '(0)'
# Expected: (opt record { id = 0 : nat64; name = "Alice"; created = ... })

Verify It Works

The definitive test for stable memory: data survives upgrade.

bash

# 1. Deploy and add data
icp deploy backend
icp canister call backend addUser '("TestUser")'

# 2. Record the count
icp canister call backend getUserCount '()'
# Note the number

# 3. Upgrade (redeploy)
icp deploy backend

# 4. Check count again -- must be identical
icp canister call backend getUserCount '()'
# Must match step 2

# 5. Verify transient data DID reset
icp canister call backend getRequestCount '()'
# Expected: (0 : nat) -- transient var resets on upgrade

If the count drops to 0 after step 3, your data is NOT in stable memory. Review your storage declarations.

stable-memory

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Stable Memory & Canister Upgrades

What This Is

Prerequisites

Canister IDs

Mistakes That Break Your Build

Implementation

Motoko

mops.toml

Rust

Cargo.toml

Single Stable Structure (Simple Case)

Multiple Stable Structures with MemoryManager

Deploy & Test

Motoko: Verify Persistence Across Upgrades

Rust: Verify Persistence Across Upgrades

Verify It Works