Truffle has moved all modules to a monorepo at trufflesuite/truffle. See you over there!

truffle-contract uses a formally specified¹ JSON object format to represent Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contracts. This representation is intended to facilitate the use of general purpose smart contract abstractions (such as truffle-contract) by capturing relevant smart contract information in a persistent and portable manner.

Objects following this schema represent individual smart contracts as defined by their name and interface. Each object primarily includes a JSON array representing the contract's ABI², but extends to include any and all information related to the contract and its lifecycle(s). Objects in this schema may represent pre-compiled source code, compilation annotations such as source mappings, references to specified deployed instances on multiple networks, and/or links to external contracts.

A full property listing is below. Properties not marked "required" are not necessary to include in valid descriptions of contract objects, but functionally certain information must be present to allow the contract object representation to be useful (source/bytecode/etc. enable the deployment of new instances, networks listed with prior contract instance addresses enable interaction with deployed contracts on-chain)

1. JSON Schema http://json-schema.org

2. Ethereum Contract JSON ABI https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/Ethereum-Contract-ABI#json

Name used to identify the contract. Semi-alphanumeric string.

External programmatic description of contract's interface. The contract's ABI determines the means by which applications may interact with individual contract instances. Array of functions and events representing valid inputs and outputs for the instance.

not included in current version of this specification

Abstract Syntax Tree. A nested JSON object representation of contract source code, as output by compiler.

EVM instruction bytecode that runs as part of contract create transaction. Constructor code for new contract instance. Specified as a hexadecimal string, may include __-prefixed (double underscore) link references.

EVM instruction bytecode associated with contract that specifies behavior for incoming transactions/messages. Underlying implementation of ABI. Specified as a hexadecimal string, may include __-prefixed (double underscore) link references.

Uncompiled source code for contract. Text string.

File path for uncompiled source code.

Source mapping for bytecode, pairing contract creation transaction data bytes with origin statements in uncompiled source.

Source mapping for deployedBytecode, pairing contract program data bytes with origin statements in uncompiled source.

Version of this schema used by contract object representation.

Time at which contract object representation was generated/most recently updated.

Listing of contract instances. Object mapping network ID keys to network object values. Includes address information, links to other contract instances, and/or contract event logs.

Objects following this schema may include additional properties with x--prefixed keys.

0x-prefixed string representing compiled EVM machine language.

This string representation may indicate link references in place of linked instance addresses. Link references must begin with __ and be exactly 40 characters long (i.e., string length of an address in hexadecimal).