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Create a wallet with Celestia Node

This tutorial will go over using the cel-key utility to generate a wallet on celestia-node.

While this tutorial will go over installation process of cel-key, it is recommended that you complete the following prerequisites first:

Once you completed the prerequisite, you can proceed with this tutorial.

Using the cel-key utility​

Inside the celestia-node repository is a utility called cel-key that uses the key utility provided by Cosmos-SDK under the hood. The utility can be used to add, delete, and manage keys for any DA node type (bridge || full || light), or just keys in general.

Installation​

You need to first pull down the celestia-node repository:

git clone https://github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node.git
cd celestia-node/

It can be built using either of the following commands:

# dumps binary in current working directory, accessible via `./cel-key`
make cel-key

or

# installs binary in GOBIN path, accessible via `cel-key`
make install-key

For the purpose of this guide, we will use the make cel-key command.

Steps for generating node keys​

To generate a key for a Celestia bridge node, do the following:

./cel-key add <key-name> --keyring-backend test --node.type bridge --p2p.network <network>

This will load the key <key-name> into the directory of the bridge node.

Further flags you can use to customize your key are the following:

  • --node.store: Specifies a different directory you can use to save your node data and configurations. Expects a path to a directory.
  • --p2p.network: Specifies which network you want the key for. Values are arabica and mocha. Please note the default network will be mocha.

Keep in mind that your celestia-node will only pick up keys that are inside the node.store directory under /keys so you should make sure to point cel-key utility to the correct directory via the node.store or p2p.network flags if you have specified a custom directory or network other than Mocha.

Also keep in mind that if you do not specify a network with --p2p.network, the default one will always be mocha.

Steps for exporting node keys​

You can export a private key from the local keyring in encrypted and ASCII-armored format.

./cel-key export <key-name> --keyring-backend test --node.type bridge --p2p.network <network>

Steps for importing node keys​

Importing from a mnemonic:

./cel-key add <key-name> --recover --keyring-backend test --node.type bridge --p2p.network <network>

You will then be prompted to enter your bip39 mnemonic.

Example:

./cel-key add alice --recover --keyring-backend test --node.type bridge --p2p.network <network>

View all options for cel-key​

./cel-key --help

Docker and cel-key​

Prerequisites​

  • Docker installed on your machine
  • Understanding of the guide on how to run celestia-node with Docker.

Running your node​

Run the Docker image (in this example, we are using a light node):

docker run --name celestia-node -e NODE_TYPE=light -e P2P_NETWORK=mocha -p 26659:26659 \
ghcr.io/celestiaorg/celestia-node:sha-747c9e5 celestia light start \
--core.ip rpc-mocha.pops.one --p2p.network mocha
tip

Please refer to the ports section for information on which ports are required to be open on your machine.

List active containers in another window with:

docker ps

The response will look like:

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE           COMMAND                  CREATED          STATUS          PORTS      NAMES
<container_id>   celestia-node   "/entrypoint.sh cele…"   22 seconds ago   Up 21 seconds   2121/tcp   docker-compose-test-celestia-1

Interact with the container by replacing <container_id> for the container ID:

docker exec -ti <container_id> /bin/bash

Now, interact with cel-key to check for the key that was autogenerated when you started the node:

./cel-key list --keyring-backend test --node.type light

You can also export your key from the container. In the next section, you'll learn how to mount existing keys to the container.

Mounting existing keys to container​

In this example, we'll be mounting an existing key to the container. We're also using an existing image called celestia-node. This will mount the entire /.celestia-light-<p2p_network>/keys directory to your image.

Write a docker-compose.yml to accomplish this:

version: "3.8"
services:
  celestia:
    image: celestia-node
    environment:
      - NODE_TYPE=light
    command: celestia light start --core.ip rpc-mocha.pops.one --p2p.network mocha --keyring.accname my_celes_key
    volumes:
      - ${PWD}/keys:/root/.celestia-light-mocha-4/keys
    ports:
      - 26659:26659

Start the container by running the following command in the directory with your docker-compose.yml:

docker-compose up

List active containers in another window with:

docker ps

The response will look like:

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE           COMMAND                  CREATED          STATUS          PORTS      NAMES
<container_id>   celestia-node   "/entrypoint.sh cele…"   22 seconds ago   Up 21 seconds   2121/tcp   docker-compose-test-celestia-1

Interact with the container by replacing <container_id> for the container ID:

docker exec -ti <container_id> /bin/bash

Now, interact with cel-key to check your address matches the address you expect with the key you mounted:

root@<container_id>:/# ./cel-key list --keyring-backend test --node.type light
using directory:  ~/.celestia-light-mocha-4/keys
- address: celestia1wkhyhr7ngf0ayqlpnsnxg4d72hfs5453dvunm9
  name: my_celes_key
  pubkey: '{"@type":"/cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey","key":"A1/NsoY0RGL7Hqt4VWLg441GQKJsZ2fBUnZXipgns8oV"}'
  type: local