Managing self-custody wallet accounts with Clef
• 11 minute read
ethereum, cryptocurrency
Table of contents
According to the primary documentation, Clef is an external signer. It ensures that every transaction and balance check requires your explicit approval. Let's dive into a real-world example with a practical project. We are going to create an Ethereum proof-of-stake development network locally using Docker. It's easier to create ethers—there's no need for a faucet. Download the project, and let's start it. 🏃
Initializing Clef and the network
The project is a modified version of OffchainLabs/eth-pos-devnet. Refer to its main article for more details. The key distinction is that instead of using Geth to manage accounts, we're employing Clef. First, we must initialize Clef. Execute the following command:
docker compose run gethtools shExecute clef init and configure the master seed. If you want to use the current masterseed.json, its password is 1234567890. Then you can start the Clef service:
clef --chainid 32382 --loglevel 6 --http --http.addr=0.0.0.0The chain ID configured in the file execution/genesis.json must be the same. That is why we used 32382. Take the container's IP address with the command docker inspect CONTAINER_ID | grep IPAddress and replace the placeholder CLEF_CONTAINER_IP_ADDRESS in the file docker-compose.yaml. If the IP is 192.168.80.2, the line will be --signer=http://192.168.80.2:8550.
Now, we can spin up the Ethereum proof of stake development network. Execute the following command:
docker compose up validator beacon-chain gethWe can proceed to interact with it.
How to create an account
Execute the following command:
docker compose run gethtools shThen issue the following command:
clef --chainid 32382 newaccountListing account
Execute the following command:
docker compose run geth --datadir /execution attachList all the accounts executing:
eth.accountsOn the Clef terminal, you'll see a message like this:
A request has been made to list all accounts.
You can select which accounts the caller can see
[x] 0x123463a4B065722E99115D6c222f267d9cABb524
URL: keystore:///root/.ethereum/keystore/UTC--2022-08-19T17-38-31.257380510Z--123463a4b065722e99115d6c222f267d9cabb524
[x] 0x25815ef1C6Eb80D88A5E31412022B8870B7B1C43
URL: keystore:///root/.ethereum/keystore/UTC--2024-05-30T21-30-23.388457648Z--25815ef1c6eb80d88a5e31412022b8870b7b1c43
[x] 0x646a916f656F39e1EFA98d4D8eBA2BBdb7C6779B
URL: keystore:///root/.ethereum/keystore/UTC--2024-05-30T21-31-02.131044750Z--646a916f656f39e1efa98d4d8eba2bbdb7c6779b
[x] 0xC0802Cace6c5Ed6a58b8D27E9991aDeD3BD0e546
URL: keystore:///root/.ethereum/keystore/UTC--2024-05-31T16-00-49.547032179Z--c0802cace6c5ed6a58b8d27e9991aded3bd0e546
-------------------------------------------
Request context:
192.168.80.4:40264 -> http -> 192.168.80.2:8550
Additional HTTP header data, provided by the external caller:
User-Agent: "Go-http-client/1.1"
Origin: ""
Approve? [y/N]:Type y and press Enter. The accounts are now listed.
Checking balance
Know how much ether we have:
web3.fromWei(eth.getBalance(eth.accounts[0]), "ether")
web3.fromWei(eth.getBalance(eth.accounts[1]), "ether")
web3.fromWei(eth.getBalance(eth.accounts[2]), "ether")We'll have to approve the request on the Clef terminal for each command.
Sending ether
Send some ether to another account:
eth.getTransaction(
web3.eth.sendTransaction(
{
from: eth.accounts[0],
to: eth.accounts[1],
value: web3.toWei(0.5, 'ether')
}
)
)The account eth.accounts[0] password is an empty string. Approve the request again on the Clef terminal. The key blockNumber will be null until the transaction is mined. Example:
{
"accessList": [],
"blockHash": null,
"blockNumber": null,
"chainId": "0x7e7e",
"from": "0x123463a4b065722e99115d6c222f267d9cabb524",
"gas": 21000,
"gasPrice": 3000000000,
"hash": "0xf7a2c5ec2b44f99b159876efb0254ba87f8def7e43a2afcc29232544cbe16691",
"input": "0x",
"maxFeePerGas": 3000000000,
"maxPriorityFeePerGas": 1000000000,
"nonce": 0,
"r": "0x25101edad9141ebe5305df494627afc079c0d6298277038084a89916e6dd4925",
"s": "0x2a4c75f595abd8f6d6f4cdbd2bdcdf5634ac75d011ff4c71fa6e724ea1b87d14",
"to": "0x25815ef1c6eb80d88a5e31412022b8870b7b1c43",
"transactionIndex": null,
"type": "0x2",
"v": "0x0",
"value": 500000000000000000,
"yParity": "0x0"
}The key blockNumber will have the block number as soon as it's mined. If we execute:
eth.getTransaction("0xf7a2c5ec2b44f99b159876efb0254ba87f8def7e43a2afcc29232544cbe16691")We'll get the following, for example:
{
"accessList": [],
"blockHash": "0x6a62924efeecc56af3bebb1244995973de0c4202f2c94b05b6b38b1318d76477",
"blockNumber": 1,
"chainId": "0x7e7e",
"from": "0x123463a4b065722e99115d6c222f267d9cabb524",
"gas": 21000,
"gasPrice": 1875000000,
"hash": "0xf7a2c5ec2b44f99b159876efb0254ba87f8def7e43a2afcc29232544cbe16691",
"input": "0x",
"maxFeePerGas": 3000000000,
"maxPriorityFeePerGas": 1000000000,
"nonce": 0,
"r": "0x25101edad9141ebe5305df494627afc079c0d6298277038084a89916e6dd4925",
"s": "0x2a4c75f595abd8f6d6f4cdbd2bdcdf5634ac75d011ff4c71fa6e724ea1b87d14",
"to": "0x25815ef1c6eb80d88a5e31412022b8870b7b1c43",
"transactionIndex": 0,
"type": "0x2",
"v": "0x0",
"value": 500000000000000000,
"yParity": "0x0"
}You can also check the transaction receipt when it's mined:
eth.getTransactionReceipt("0xf7a2c5ec2b44f99b159876efb0254ba87f8def7e43a2afcc29232544cbe16691")Sample output:
{
"blockHash": "0x6a62924efeecc56af3bebb1244995973de0c4202f2c94b05b6b38b1318d76477",
"blockNumber": 1,
"contractAddress": null,
"cumulativeGasUsed": 21000,
"effectiveGasPrice": 1875000000,
"from": "0x123463a4b065722e99115d6c222f267d9cabb524",
"gasUsed": 21000,
"logs": [],
"logsBloom": "0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
"status": "0x1",
"to": "0x25815ef1c6eb80d88a5e31412022b8870b7b1c43",
"transactionHash": "0xf7a2c5ec2b44f99b159876efb0254ba87f8def7e43a2afcc29232544cbe16691",
"transactionIndex": 0,
"type": "0x2"
}Sending ether from an account that requires a password
If we do the following:
web3.eth.sendTransaction(
{
from: eth.accounts[1],
to: eth.accounts[2],
value: web3.toWei(0.02, 'ether')
}
)The password for the account eth.accounts[1] is in the file account-manager/keystore/25815-pass.txt. Approve the request on the Clef terminal again.
Bonus: Using web3py to send transaction
Your proof of stake development network must be running. If so, execute poetry install, and then you can run the file account_operations.py. Change how it interacts with the network by modifying the file. Then execute:
poetry run python account_operations.pySample output:
Is connected to the network: True
Middleware injected because some specific protocols given some ExtraBytes in the response.
Gathering all accounts details
Account 0x123463a4B065722E99115D6c222f267d9cABb524 has been loaded. Current balance: 19999.500020429262021 ETH
Account 0x25815ef1C6Eb80D88A5E31412022B8870B7B1C43 has been loaded. Current balance: 0.489978999999853 ETH
Account 0x646a916f656F39e1EFA98d4D8eBA2BBdb7C6779B has been loaded. Current balance: 0.01 ETH
Get and determine gas parameters
Defining the transaction parameters
Explorer link Mainnet: https://etherscan.io/tx/0x5dcd1eafe355d703401f3e8e2cac5ad1d169f60125605b7b11433e1052b4638e
Transaction receipt: AttributeDict({'blockHash': HexBytes('0x10d3efbda638eabfbb3a230410c703bb0a742201a60be5047842ce243dfd5f61'), 'blockNumber': 818, 'contractAddress': None, 'cumulativeGasUsed': 21000, 'effectiveGasPrice': 1000000007, 'from': '0x123463a4B065722E99115D6c222f267d9cABb524', 'gasUsed': 21000, 'logs': [], 'logsBloom': HexBytes('0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000'), 'status': 1, 'to': '0x646a916f656F39e1EFA98d4D8eBA2BBdb7C6779B', 'transactionHash': HexBytes('0x5dcd1eafe355d703401f3e8e2cac5ad1d169f60125605b7b11433e1052b4638e'), 'transactionIndex': 0, 'type': 2})
Get and determine gas parameters
Defining the transaction parameters
Explorer link Mainnet: https://etherscan.io/tx/0x49116b6f365f56903062b52b8a6390cb0d0ef0abe5d97ab88cfa0ba514eb22c3
Transaction receipt: AttributeDict({'blockHash': HexBytes('0x45ca254db2a48d5fb5a0128c21a2321e64b785031da4a9a61a65b0e8785f2e9e'), 'blockNumber': 819, 'contractAddress': None, 'cumulativeGasUsed': 21000, 'effectiveGasPrice': 1000000007, 'from': '0x123463a4B065722E99115D6c222f267d9cABb524', 'gasUsed': 21000, 'logs': [], 'logsBloom': HexBytes('0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000'), 'status': 1, 'to': '0x646a916f656F39e1EFA98d4D8eBA2BBdb7C6779B', 'transactionHash': HexBytes('0x49116b6f365f56903062b52b8a6390cb0d0ef0abe5d97ab88cfa0ba514eb22c3'), 'transactionIndex': 0, 'type': 2})
Get and determine gas parameters
Defining the transaction parameters
Explorer link Mainnet: https://etherscan.io/tx/0xa258f78d34f3d25c063ee4cc4987c1d138d3937dbcf42edfce94a0e3ae9827e2
Transaction receipt: AttributeDict({'blockHash': HexBytes('0xa055ac00bf9108026b8f259b4079a12ddad20c669ab1e635133637e25f401ed6'), 'blockNumber': 820, 'contractAddress': None, 'cumulativeGasUsed': 21000, 'effectiveGasPrice': 1000000007, 'from': '0x123463a4B065722E99115D6c222f267d9cABb524', 'gasUsed': 21000, 'logs': [], 'logsBloom': HexBytes('0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000'), 'status': 1, 'to': '0x646a916f656F39e1EFA98d4D8eBA2BBdb7C6779B', 'transactionHash': HexBytes('0xa258f78d34f3d25c063ee4cc4987c1d138d3937dbcf42edfce94a0e3ae9827e2'), 'transactionIndex': 0, 'type': 2})Destroy the network
To stop all services execute:
docker compose down -t 0Run the script clean.sh to remove all files created by the network. If an error Permission denied occurs, execute sudo chown -R YOUR_OWNER:YOUR_GROUP . and then rerun the script.
Conclusion
Self-custody is no joke at all. It seems easy to use external tools that abstract all issues from you, though are they trustworthy? While self-custody requires effort, the financial freedom and security it offers are invaluable. Consider exploring self-custody options like Clef to take control of your crypto assets. Don't just trust, verify! For example, we can adapt this project to use Infura or Chainstack to explore further.
See everything we did here on GitHub.
Posted listening to Chico Mineiro, Tonico & Tinoco 🎶.