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Set Up Alphabill CLI Wallet

This tutorial covers necessary steps to set up Alphabill command-line wallet (CLI wallet). The CLI wallet can do everything the browser wallet can, and then some more:

  • Manage more than one wallet (could be useful to test out various interactions and workflows from the comfort of your own workstation and primary user account).
  • Define your own custom token types, both fungible and non-fungible, and mint tokens of those custom types.
  • Transfer and receive tokens of all types, including the non-fungible ones not yet supported by the browser wallet.

You can use the CLI wallet to access either the local Alphabill instance or the public Alphabill testnet.

Prerequisites​

  • The Alphabill repository is private and visible only to GitHub users who have been given direct permission to see the repository. If you don't have access to the repository, sign up for Alphabill Discord using the invite link and request access on the #github-access channel.

  • To build Alphabill CLI binary, you must have following build dependencies installed on your system:

    • Go (version 1.21 and later). For installation instructions, see Go's installation guide.
    • C compiler, recent versions of GCC are recommended. In Debian and Ubuntu repositories, GCC is part of the build-essential package. If you are on macOS, you can install GCC with Homebrew.

Build Alphabill CLI Binary​

  1. Clone the remote Alphabill repository to create your local copy:

    git clone https://github.com/alphabill-org/alphabill

  2. Once you have cloned the repository, go to the new alphabill directory and run the make build command:

    make build

    This command will download all necessary build dependencies, run the tests, and build the alphabill binary. The output directory for the binary is /alphabill/build.

CLI Wallet Usage​

The CLI wallet has multiple commands for different operations. At any time, add the -h flag to the end of any command to see the most recent in-program documentation. All command-line options have a help menu available to assist in the use of the command.

./alphabill wallet -h
cli for managing alphabill wallet

Usage:
  alphabill wallet [command]

Available Commands:
  add-key      adds the next key in the series to the wallet
  bills        cli for managing alphabill wallet bills and proofs
  collect-dust consolidates bills
  create
  evm          interact with alphabill EVM partition
  fees         cli for managing alphabill wallet fees
  get-balance
  get-pubkeys
  send
  token        create and manage fungible and non-fungible tokens

Flags:
  -h, --help                     help for wallet
      --log-file string          log file path (default output to stderr)
      --log-level string         logging level (DEBUG, INFO, NOTICE, WARNING, ERROR) (default "INFO")
  -p, --password                 password (interactive from prompt)
      --pn string                password (non-interactive from args)
  -l, --wallet-location string   wallet home directory (default $AB_HOME/wallet)

Global Flags:
      --config string          config file URL (default is $AB_HOME/config.props)
      --home string            set the AB_HOME for this invocation (default is /home/user/.alphabill)
      --logger-config string   logger config file URL. Considered absolute if starts with '/'. Otherwise relative from $AB_HOME. (default "logger-config.yaml")
      --metrics                Enables metrics collection.

Use "alphabill wallet [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Wallet Setup​

Create a New Wallet​

To create a new wallet, use the following command:

./alphabill wallet create

This command returns mnemonic key you can use to recover your wallet. The mnemonic key, also known as a recovery phrase or a seed phrase, is a unique 12-word phrase that is generated when you create a new wallet. This phrase is the key to your wallet and controls access to all your funds.

Warning

Write down the phrase in the exact order in which you receive it, and keep it in a safe, offline place. You will only see this phrase once during the wallet creation. Never give your wallet's seed phrase to anyone, as it can be used to steal your wallet funds.

The wallet create command creates a database for keys that will be used by the wallet, located at ~/.alphabill/wallet/accounts.db.

Create a Second Wallet​

For testing purposes, it's useful to create a second wallet in addition to your default wallet by providing an alternative wallet location, using the --wallet-location flag:

./alphabill wallet create \
--wallet-location ~/.alphabill/wallet2

The command returns a 12-word recovery phrase for your second wallet. This wallet will be created at ~/.alphabill/wallet2.

Recover an Existing Wallet​

In case you have forgotten the password for your wallet or want to import an existing Alphabill wallet to a new device, you must have access to your wallet's 12-word secret recovery phrase.

Use the wallet create command followed by the --seed flag and wallet's 12-word recovery phrase:

./alphabill wallet create \
--seed "INSERT_YOUR_WALLET_MNEMONIC_KEY"
tip

If the account.db file already exists, use the --wallet-location flag and specify new location for the wallet you want to recover.

info

Alphabill wallet is a hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallet, so all keys are recoverable using the master seed phrase. If you lose your wallet data, you can recover all your public and private keys–you just need to re-add all the other keys after re-generating the first key.

Add New Public Key​

The public key is the address you can share with others to receive transactions. You can add as many public keys to your wallet as needed. To add a new public key to your wallet, use the wallet add-key command:

./alphabill wallet add-key
Example response:

Added key #2 0x03ddeb805aba6bb56b5f6351d51f44d11a374070032f95be5841e9b6420099a00a

Multiple public keys can be useful if you want to transfer tokens between your own accounts for testing purposes.

List Wallet Public Keys​

To list all public keys stored in your default wallet, use the wallet get-pubkeys command:

./alphabill wallet get-pubkeys
Example response:

#1 0x029871a8fbc1844d41ddd7cf0ceb292dbe33b8c29694c9675d13f8926f5deeb00b

To list public keys stored in your other wallet, use the --wallet-location flag followed by the wallet location, for example:

./alphabill wallet get-pubkeys \
--wallet-location ~/.alphabill/wallet2

Wallet Logging Configuration​

You can configure wallet logging only through CLI parameters, for example:

./alphabill wallet get-pubkeys \
--log-file ~/.alphabill/wallet.log \
--log-level=DEBUG

Default log output is stderr and default log level is INFO. Possible log level values are: ERROR, WARNING, NOTICE, INFO, DEBUG.

Next Steps​

After you have set up Alphabill CLI wallet, you are ready to start testing its functionalities on local devnet or public testnet.