Skip to main content

CLEOS Wallet Overview

Telos native wallets are applications that let you interact with your Telos native accounts. CLEOS is a command line tool that interfaces with the REST API exposed by nodeos. You can use cleos to deploy and test Antelope smart contracts. The wallet acts a container that is used to store key pairs/accounts for the blockchain.

Telos wallets are unique as you can store multiple accounts and keys unlike MetaMask.

Simply create a Development Wallet with Cleos commands

Step 1: Create a Wallet​

Using Cleos to create the wallet: This example will use the --to-console command for simplicity. If you are creating a wallet in production, use --to-file to ensure your wallet password is not recorded in your bash history.

cleos wallet create --to-console

Cleos will return a password, save this password somewhere as you will likely need it later on in the tutorial.

CleosPassword

About Wallets A common misconception in cryptocurrency regarding wallets is that they store tokens. However, a wallet is used to store private keys in an encrypted file to sign transactions. Wallets do not serve as a storage medium for tokens. Private keys are used for authentication (proof of ownership over a public address) and signing transactions/messages.

A user builds a transaction object usually through an interface and sends that object to the wallet to be signed. The wallet then returns the transaction object with a signature which is then broadcast to the network. When/if the network confirms that the transaction is valid, it is included into a block on the blockchain.

Step 2: Wallet commands​

  1. Check that the wallet is created and initialized.
cleos wallet list

CleosWalletList

UNLOCK WALLET​

Enter wallet command and name of wallet

cleos wallet unlock -n WalletName

It will then prompt you to enter wallet password

unlockWallet

Wallet will unlock

Check if wallet has keys

cleos wallet keys

New Wallet Output

[] //Wallet is empty orivate keys have yet to be imported.

Step 3: Key Generation​

You can use the CLEOS CLI Or Telos Signup to generate your keys

Generate keys with Cleos CLI​

cleos create key --to-console // Print private/public keys to console

OR Save to File

cleos create key --file FILENAME // Save output in specified file

Generate Keys and Account on Telos Signup​

Step 4: Import Keys​

Import private key or keys into wallet. 

cleos wallet import

The command asks for the private key. Enter:

5KDNWQvY2seBPVUz7MiiaEDGTwACfuXu78bwZu7w2UDM9A3u3Fs

Example Output

private key: imported private key for: EOS5zG7PsdtzQ9achTdRtXwHieL7yyigBFiJDRAQonqBsfKyL3XhC

Import private key to named wallet

cleos wallet import --name my_wallet --private-key 5KDNWQvY2seBPVUz7MiiaEDGTwACfuXu78bwZu7w2UDM9A3u3Fs

Example Output

imported private key for: EOS5zG7PsdtzQ9achTdRtXwHieL7yyigBFiJDRAQonqBsfKyL3XhC