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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 bridge 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

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

Steps for generating full node keys​

To generate a key for a celestia full node, do the following:

./cel-key add <key_name> --keyring-backend test --node.type full

This will load the key <key_name> into the directory of the full node.

Steps for generating light node keys​

To generate a key for a celestia light node, do the following:

./cel-key add <key_name> --keyring-backend test --node.type light

This will load the key <key_name> into the directory of the light node.

Steps for exporting light node keys​

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

./cel-key export <key-name> --keyring-backend test --node.type light

You can then import your key with celestia-appd:

celestia-appd keys import <new-key-name> <key-file-location>