diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f1d8fc01..7328b7f5 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "warp-contracts",
-  "version": "1.4.33",
+  "version": "1.4.34-beta.0",
   "description": "An implementation of the SmartWeave smart contract protocol.",
   "types": "./lib/types/index.d.ts",
   "main": "./lib/cjs/index.js",
diff --git a/src/__tests__/unit/evaluation-options.test.ts b/src/__tests__/unit/evaluation-options.test.ts
index 38877c16..fa9850cc 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/unit/evaluation-options.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/unit/evaluation-options.test.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ describe('Evaluation options evaluator', () => {
       stackTrace: {
         saveState: false
       },
+      strictSortKey: false,
       throwOnInternalWriteError: true,
       transactionsPagesPerBatch: null,
       unsafeClient: 'throw',
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ describe('Evaluation options evaluator', () => {
       stackTrace: {
         saveState: false
       },
+      strictSortKey: false,
       throwOnInternalWriteError: true,
       transactionsPagesPerBatch: null,
       unsafeClient: 'throw',
@@ -99,6 +101,7 @@ describe('Evaluation options evaluator', () => {
       stackTrace: {
         saveState: false
       },
+      strictSortKey: false,
       throwOnInternalWriteError: true,
       transactionsPagesPerBatch: null,
       unsafeClient: 'allow',
@@ -130,6 +133,7 @@ describe('Evaluation options evaluator', () => {
       stackTrace: {
         saveState: false
       },
+      strictSortKey: false,
       throwOnInternalWriteError: true,
       transactionsPagesPerBatch: null,
       unsafeClient: 'allow',
@@ -161,6 +165,7 @@ describe('Evaluation options evaluator', () => {
       stackTrace: {
         saveState: false
       },
+      strictSortKey: false,
       throwOnInternalWriteError: true,
       transactionsPagesPerBatch: null,
       unsafeClient: 'throw',
@@ -192,6 +197,7 @@ describe('Evaluation options evaluator', () => {
       stackTrace: {
         saveState: false
       },
+      strictSortKey: false,
       throwOnInternalWriteError: true,
       transactionsPagesPerBatch: null,
       unsafeClient: 'skip',
diff --git a/src/contract/Contract.ts b/src/contract/Contract.ts
index e33d6105..4d6da3c5 100644
--- a/src/contract/Contract.ts
+++ b/src/contract/Contract.ts
@@ -155,7 +155,8 @@ export interface Contract<State = unknown> {
     tags?: Tags,
     transfer?: ArTransfer,
     caller?: string,
-    signal?: AbortSignal
+    signal?: AbortSignal,
+    sortKey?: string
   ): Promise<InteractionResult<State, View>>;
 
   /**
@@ -186,13 +187,15 @@ export interface Contract<State = unknown> {
    * @param caller - an option to override the caller - if available, this value will overwrite the caller evaluated
    * from the wallet connected to this contract.
    * @param vrf - whether a mock VRF data should be generated
+   * @param sortKey - sortKey at which the state will be loaded prior to applying input
    */
   dryWrite<Input>(
     input: Input,
     caller?: string,
     tags?: Tags,
     transfer?: ArTransfer,
-    vrf?: boolean
+    vrf?: boolean,
+    sortKey?: string
   ): Promise<InteractionResult<State, unknown>>;
 
   applyInput<Input>(
diff --git a/src/contract/EvaluationOptionsEvaluator.ts b/src/contract/EvaluationOptionsEvaluator.ts
index 47d69184..4118fb11 100644
--- a/src/contract/EvaluationOptionsEvaluator.ts
+++ b/src/contract/EvaluationOptionsEvaluator.ts
@@ -108,14 +108,16 @@ export class EvaluationOptionsEvaluator {
     useKVStorage: (foreignOptions) => foreignOptions['useKVStorage'],
     useConstructor: (foreignOptions) => foreignOptions['useConstructor'],
     whitelistSources: () => this.rootOptions['whitelistSources'],
-    transactionsPagesPerBatch: () => this.rootOptions['transactionsPagesPerBatch']
+    transactionsPagesPerBatch: () => this.rootOptions['transactionsPagesPerBatch'],
+    strictSortKey: () => this.rootOptions['strictSortKey']
   };
 
   private readonly notConflictingEvaluationOptions: (keyof EvaluationOptions)[] = [
     'useKVStorage',
     'sourceType',
     'useConstructor',
-    'transactionsPagesPerBatch'
+    'transactionsPagesPerBatch',
+    'strictSortKey'
   ];
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/contract/HandlerBasedContract.ts b/src/contract/HandlerBasedContract.ts
index 556360b6..4de00042 100644
--- a/src/contract/HandlerBasedContract.ts
+++ b/src/contract/HandlerBasedContract.ts
@@ -281,14 +281,15 @@ export class HandlerBasedContract<State> implements Contract<State> {
     tags: Tags = [],
     transfer: ArTransfer = emptyTransfer,
     caller?: string,
-    signal?: AbortSignal
+    signal?: AbortSignal,
+    sortKey?: string
   ): Promise<InteractionResult<State, View>> {
     this.logger.info('View state for', this._contractTxId);
     return await this.callContract<Input, View>(
       input,
       'view',
       caller,
-      undefined,
+      sortKey,
       tags,
       transfer,
       false,
@@ -312,10 +313,11 @@ export class HandlerBasedContract<State> implements Contract<State> {
     caller?: string,
     tags?: Tags,
     transfer?: ArTransfer,
-    vrf?: boolean
+    vrf?: boolean,
+    sortKey?: string
   ): Promise<InteractionResult<State, unknown>> {
     this.logger.info('Dry-write for', this._contractTxId);
-    return await this.callContract<Input>(input, 'write', caller, undefined, tags, transfer, undefined, vrf);
+    return await this.callContract<Input>(input, 'write', caller, sortKey, tags, transfer, undefined, vrf);
   }
 
   async applyInput<Input>(
@@ -645,6 +647,9 @@ export class HandlerBasedContract<State> implements Contract<State> {
       >;
     }
     cachedState = cachedState || (await stateEvaluator.latestAvailableState<State>(contractTxId, upToSortKey));
+    if (upToSortKey && this.evaluationOptions().strictSortKey && cachedState?.sortKey != upToSortKey) {
+      throw new Error(`State not cached at the exact required ${upToSortKey} sortKey`);
+    }
 
     this.logger.debug('cache lookup', benchmark.elapsed());
     benchmark.reset();
diff --git a/src/core/modules/StateEvaluator.ts b/src/core/modules/StateEvaluator.ts
index 98fe638d..47502bbe 100644
--- a/src/core/modules/StateEvaluator.ts
+++ b/src/core/modules/StateEvaluator.ts
@@ -154,6 +154,8 @@ export class DefaultEvaluationOptions implements EvaluationOptions {
   whitelistSources = [];
 
   transactionsPagesPerBatch = null;
+
+  strictSortKey = false;
 }
 
 // an interface for the contract EvaluationOptions - can be used to change the behaviour of some features.
@@ -243,9 +245,16 @@ export interface EvaluationOptions {
   // remote source for fetching most recent contract state, only applicable if remoteStateSyncEnabled is set to true
   remoteStateSyncSource: string;
 
+  // an array of source tx ids that are allowed to be evaluated by the SDK
   whitelistSources: string[];
 
+  // how many interactions pages are evaluated in a single evaluation batch
   transactionsPagesPerBatch: number;
+
+  // whether passing sortKey to some functions like viewState or readStateFor is strict
+  // - if it is, then we're requiring the SDK to have the state cached at this exact sortKey
+  // - so that SDK won't load and evaluated missing interactions
+  strictSortKey: boolean;
 }
 
 // https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/40678 duh...