21 KiB
Grin - Basic Wallet
Wallet Files
A Grin wallet maintains its state in an LMDB database, with the master seed stored in a separate file. When creating a new wallet, the file structure should be:
~/[Wallet Directory]
-wallet_data/
-db/
-/lmdb
wallet.seed
grin-wallet.toml
grin-wallet.log
-
grin-wallet.tomlcontains configuration information for the wallet. You can modify values within to change ports, the address of your grin node, or logging values. -
wallet_data/wallet.seedis your master seed file. You must back this file up somewhere in order to be able to recover or restore your wallet (along with its password, if given).
Data Directory
By default grin will create all wallet files in the hidden directory .grin under your home directory (i.e. ~/.grin).
You can also create and use a wallet with data files in the current directory, as explained in the grin wallet init
command below.
Logging + Output
Logging configuration for the wallet is read from grin-wallet.toml.
Switches common to all wallet commands
Grin Node Address
The wallet generally needs to talk to a running grin node in order to remain up-to-date and verify its contents. By default, the wallet
tries to contact a node at 127.0.0.1:13413. To change this, modify the value in the wallet's grin_wallet.toml file. Alternatively,
you can provide the -a switch to the wallet command, e.g.:
[host]$ grin wallet -a "http://192.168.0.2:1341" info
If commands that need to update from a grin node can't find one, they will generally inform you that the node couldn't be reached and the results verified against the latest chain information.
Password
All keys generated by your wallet are combinations of the master seed + a password. If no password is provided, it's assumed this
password is blank. If you do provide a password, all operations will use the seed+password and you will need the password to view or
spend any generated outputs. The password is specified with -p
[host]$ grin wallet -p mypassword info
Basic Wallet Commands
grin wallet --help will display usage info and all flags.
grin wallet help [command] will display flags specific to the command, e.g grin wallet help listen
init
Before using a wallet a new grin-wallet.toml configuration file, seed file wallet.seed and storage database need
to be generated via the init command as follows:
By default this will place your wallet files into ~/.grin. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you back up the ~/.grin/wallet_data/wallet.seed
file somewhere safe and private, and ensure you somehow remember the password used to generate the wallet.
Alternatively, if you'd like to run a wallet in a directory other than the default, you can run:
[host]$ grin wallet [-p password] init -h
This will create a grin-wallet.toml file in the current directory configured to use the data files in the current directory,
as well as all needed data files. When running any grin wallet command, grin will check the current directory to see if
a grin-wallet.toml file exists. If not it will use the default in ~/.grin
info
A summary of the wallet's contents can be retrieved from the wallet using the info command. Note that the Total sum may appear
inflated if you have a lot of unconfirmed outputs in your wallet (especially ones where a transaction is initiated by other parties
who then never it by posting to the chain). Currently Spendable is the most accurate field to look at here.
____ Wallet Summary Info as of 49 ____
Total | 3000.000000000
Awaiting Confirmation | 60.000000000
Immature Coinbase | 180.000000000
Currently Spendable | 2760.000000000
--------- | ---------
(Locked by previous transaction) | 0.000000000
listen
This opens a listener on the specified port, which will listen for:
- Coinbase Transaction from a mining server
- Transactions initiated by other parties
By default the listen commands runs in a manner that only allows access from the local machine. To open this port up
to other machines, use the -e switch:
[host]$ grin wallet -e listen
To change the port on which the wallet is listening, either configure grin-wallet.toml or use the -l flag, e.g:
[host]$ grin wallet -l 14000 listen
The wallet will listen for requests until the process is cancelled with <Ctrl-C>. Note that external ports/firewalls need to be configured
properly if you're expecting requests from outside your local network (well out of the scope of this document).
send
This builds a transaction interactively with another running wallet, then posts the final transaction to the chain. As the name suggests, this is how you send Grins to another party.
The most important fields here are the destination (-d) and the amount itself. To send an amount to another listening wallet:
[host]$ grin wallet send -d "http://192.168.0.10:13415" 60.00
This will create a transaction with the other wallet listening at 192.168.0.10, port 13415 which credits the other wallet 60 grins while debiting the 60 Grin + fees from your wallet.
It's important to understand exactly what happens during a send command, so at a very basic level the send interaction goes as follows:
- Your wallet selects a number of unspent inputs from your wallet, enough to cover the 60 grins + fees.
- Your wallet locks these inputs so as not to select them for other transactions, and creates a change output in your wallet for the difference.
- Your wallet adds these inputs and outputs to a transaction, and sends the transaction to the recipient.
- The recipient adds their output for 60 grins to the transaction, and returns it to the sender.
- The sender completes signing of the transaction.
- The sender posts the transaction to the chain.
Outputs in your wallet will appear as unconfirmed or locked until the transaction hits the chain and is mined and validated.
Other flags here are:
-s'Selection strategy', which can be 'all' or 'smallest'. Since it's advantageous for outputs to be removed from the Grin chain, the default strategy for selecting inputs in Step 1 above is to use as many outputs as possible to consolidate your balance into a couple of outputs. This also drastically reduces your wallet size, so everyone wins. The downside is that the entire contents of your wallet remains locked until the transaction is mined validated on the chain. To instead only select just enough inputs to cover the amount you want to send + fees, use:
[host]$ grin wallet send -d "http://192.168.0.10:13415" -s smallest 60.00
-f'Fluff' Grin uses a protocol called 'Dandelion' which bounces your transaction directly through several listening nodes in a 'Stem Phase' before randomly 'Fluffing', i.e. broadcasting it to the entire network. This reduces traceability at the cost of lengthening the time before your transaction appears on the chain. To ignore the stem phase and broadcast immediately:
[host]$ grin wallet send -f -d "http://192.168.0.10:13415" 60.00
outputs
Simply displays all the the outputs in your wallet: e.g:
[host]$ grin wallet outputs
Wallet Outputs - Block Height: 49
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Key Id Child Key Index Block Height Locked Until Status Is Coinbase? Num. of Confirmations Value Transaction
================================================================================================================================================
13aea76c742ec6298360 2 1 4 Unspent true 49 60.000000000 37
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ef619c4cdda170f9a4eb 3 2 5 Unspent true 48 60.000000000 38
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
be5a6f68db3ff4b88786 4 3 6 Unspent true 47 60.000000000 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
753a4086bf73246f8206 5 4 7 Unspent true 46 60.000000000 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b2bf4c3e64a67158989f 6 5 8 Unspent true 45 60.000000000 4
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
db427d890fe59824ee64 7 6 9 Unspent true 44 60.000000000 11
Spent outputs are not shown by default. To show them, provide the -s flag.
[host]$ grin wallet -s outputs
txs
Every time an operation is performed in your wallet (receive coinbase, send, receive), an entry is added to an internal transaction log
containing vital information about the transaction. Because the Mimblewimble chain contains no identifying information whatsoever,
this transaction log is necessary in order to allow your wallet to keep track of what was sent and received. To view the contents of the
transaction log, use the txs
[host]$ grin wallet txs
Transaction Log - Block Height: 49
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Id Type Shared Transaction Id Creation Time Confirmed? Confirmation Time Num. Inputs Num. Outputs Amount Credited Amount Debited Fee Net Difference
==========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
1 Confirmed Coinbase None 2018-07-20 19:46:45.658263284 UTC true 2018-07-20 19:46:45.658264768 UTC 0 1 60.000000000 0.000000000 None 60.000000000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Confirmed Coinbase None 2018-07-20 19:46:45.658424352 UTC true 2018-07-20 19:46:45.658425102 UTC 0 1 60.000000000 0.000000000 None 60.000000000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Confirmed Coinbase None 2018-07-20 19:46:45.658541297 UTC true 2018-07-20 19:46:45.658542029 UTC 0 1 60.000000000 0.000000000 None 60.000000000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 Confirmed Coinbase None 2018-07-20 19:46:45.658657246 UTC true 2018-07-20 19:46:45.658657970 UTC 0 1 60.000000000 0.000000000 None 60.000000000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 Confirmed Coinbase None 2018-07-20 19:46:45.658864074 UTC true 2018-07-20 19:46:45.658864821 UTC 0 1 60.000000000 0.000000000 None 60.000000000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 Received Tx 03715cf6-f29b-4a3a-bda5-b02cba6bf0d9 2018-07-20 19:46:46.120244904 UTC false None 0 1 60.000000000 0.000000000 None 60.000000000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To see the inputs/outputs associated with a particular transaction, use the -i switch providing the Id of the given transaction, e.g:
[host]$ grin wallet txs -i 6
Transaction Log - Block Height: 49
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Id Type Shared Transaction Id Creation Time Confirmed? Confirmation Time Num. Inputs Num. Outputs Amount Credited Amount Debited Fee Net Difference
===========================================================================================================================================================================================================
6 Received Tx 03715cf6-f29b-4a3a-bda5-b02cba6bf0d9 2018-07-20 19:46:46.120244904 UTC false None 0 1 60.000000000 0.000000000 None 60.000000000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wallet Outputs - Block Height: 49
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Key Id Child Key Index Block Height Locked Until Status Is Coinbase? Num. of Confirmations Value Transaction
================================================================================================================================================
a7aebee71fdd78396ae6 9 5 0 Unconfirmed false 0 60.000000000 6
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cancel
Everything before Step 6 in the send phase above happens completely locally in the wallets' data storage and separately from the chain.
Since it's very easy for a sender, (through error or malice,) to fail to post a transaction to the chain, it's very possible for the contents
of a wallet to become locked, with all outputs unable to be selected because the wallet is waiting for a transaction that will never hit
the chain to complete. For example, in the output from grin wallet txs -i 6 above, the transaction is showing as confirmed == false
meaning the wallet has not seen any of the associated outputs on the chain. If it's evident that this transaction will never be posted, locked
outputs can be unlocked and associate unconfirmed outputs removed with the cancel command.
Running against the data above:
[host]$ grin wallet cancel -i 6
[host]$ grin wallet txs -i 6
Transaction Log - Block Height: 49
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Id Type Shared Transaction Id Creation Time Confirmed? Confirmation Time Num. Inputs Num. Outputs Amount Credited Amount Debited Fee Net Difference
=======================================================================================================================================================================================================================
6 Received Tx - Cancelled 03715cf6-f29b-4a3a-bda5-b02cba6bf0d9 2018-07-20 19:46:46.120244904 UTC false None 0 1 60.000000000 0.000000000 None 60.000000000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note that the Receive transaction has been cancelled, and the corresponding output was removed from the wallet. If I were the sender, my change output would have been deleted, and any outputs that were locked for the transaction would again be available for use in another transaction.
Be sure to use this command with caution, as there are many edge cases and possible attacks that still need to be dealt with, particularly if you're
the recipient of a transaction. For the time being please be 100% certain that the relevant transaction is never, ever going to be posted before
running grin wallet cancel
restore
If for some reason the wallet cancel commands above don't work, or you need to restore from a backed up wallet.seed file and password, you can perform a full wallet restore.
To do this, generate an empty wallet somewhere with:
grin wallet init -h
Delete the newly generated wallet data directory and seed file:
[host@new_wallet_dir]# rm -rf wallet_data/db
[host@new_wallet_dir]# rm wallet_data/wallet.seed
Then copy your backed up wallet.seed file into the new wallet_data directory, ensuring it's called wallet.seed
[host@new_wallet_dir]# cp OLD_WALLET.seed wallet_data/wallet.seed
Then ensure that you're running a grin node, and makes sure nothing is attempting to mine into your wallet. Then, in the wallet directory:
grin wallet restore
Note this operation can potentially take a long time. Once it's done, your wallet outputs should be restored, and you can transact with your restored wallet as before the backup.