ethereumjs-wallet

What is ethereumjs-wallet?

The ethereumjs-wallet package is a JavaScript library that provides tools for creating and managing Ethereum wallets. It allows developers to generate new wallets, import wallets from private keys or mnemonic phrases, and manage wallet data securely.

What are ethereumjs-wallet's main functionalities?

Generate a new wallet

This feature allows you to generate a new Ethereum wallet. The code sample demonstrates how to create a new wallet instance and retrieve its address.

const Wallet = require('ethereumjs-wallet').default;
const wallet = Wallet.generate();
console.log(wallet.getAddressString());

Import wallet from private key

This feature allows you to import an Ethereum wallet using a private key. The code sample shows how to create a wallet instance from a given private key and retrieve its address.

const Wallet = require('ethereumjs-wallet').default;
const privateKey = Buffer.from('yourprivatekeyhex', 'hex');
const wallet = Wallet.fromPrivateKey(privateKey);
console.log(wallet.getAddressString());

Export wallet to JSON

This feature allows you to export a wallet to a JSON format, which can be used for secure storage. The code sample demonstrates how to export a wallet to a JSON object using a password for encryption.

const Wallet = require('ethereumjs-wallet').default;
const wallet = Wallet.generate();
const json = wallet.toV3('password');
console.log(json);

Other packages similar to ethereumjs-wallet

ethers

The ethers.js library is a complete and compact library for interacting with the Ethereum blockchain. It provides similar wallet functionalities, such as creating and managing wallets, but also includes additional features for interacting with smart contracts and the Ethereum network. Compared to ethereumjs-wallet, ethers.js offers a broader range of tools for Ethereum development.

web3

Web3.js is a popular library for interacting with the Ethereum blockchain. It includes wallet management features similar to ethereumjs-wallet, such as creating and importing wallets. However, web3.js is more comprehensive, providing extensive functionalities for interacting with Ethereum nodes, smart contracts, and decentralized applications. It is often used in conjunction with ethereumjs-wallet for more specialized wallet management.

README

ethereumjs-wallet

A lightweight wallet implementation. At the moment it supports key creation and conversion between various formats.

It is complemented by the following packages:

• @ethereumjs/tx to sign transactions
• ethereumjs-icap to manipulate ICAP addresses
• store.js to use browser storage

Motivations are:

• be lightweight
• work in a browser
• use a single, maintained version of crypto library (and that should be in line with ethereumjs-util and @ethereumjs/tx)
• support import/export between various wallet formats
• support BIP32 HD keys

Features not supported:

• signing transactions
• managing storage (neither in node.js or the browser)

Wallet API

For information about the Wallet's API, please go to ./docs/classes/wallet.md.

You can import the Wallet class like this

Node.js / ES5:

const Wallet = require('ethereumjs-wallet').default

ESM / TypeScript:

import Wallet from 'ethereumjs-wallet'

Thirdparty API

Importing various third party wallets is possible through the thirdparty submodule:

Node.js / ES5:

const { thirdparty } = require('ethereumjs-wallet')

ESM / TypeScript:

import { thirdparty } from 'ethereumjs-wallet'

Please go to ./docs/README.md for more info.

HD Wallet API

To use BIP32 HD wallets, first include the hdkey submodule:

Node.js / ES5:

const { hdkey } = require('ethereumjs-wallet')

ESM / TypeScript:

import { hdkey } from 'ethereumjs-wallet'

Please go to ./docs/classes/ethereumhdkey.md for more info.

Provider Engine

Provider Engine is not very actively maintained and support has been removed along v1.0.0 release, see issue #115 for context.

You can use the the old src/provider-engine.ts code (see associated PR) as some boilerplate for your own integration if needed.

Remarks about toV3

The options is an optional object hash, where all the serialization parameters can be fine tuned:

• uuid - UUID. One is randomly generated.
• salt - Random salt for the kdf. Size must match the requirements of the KDF (key derivation function). Random number generated via crypto.getRandomBytes if nothing is supplied.
• iv - Initialization vector for the cipher. Size must match the requirements of the cipher. Random number generated via crypto.getRandomBytes if nothing is supplied.
• kdf - The key derivation function, see below.
• dklen - Derived key length. For certain cipher settings, this must match the block sizes of those.
• cipher - The cipher to use. Names must match those of supported by OpenSSL, e.g. aes-128-ctr or aes-128-cbc.

Depending on the kdf selected, the following options are available too.

For pbkdf2:

• c - Number of iterations. Defaults to 262144.
• prf - The only supported (and default) value is hmac-sha256. So no point changing it.

For scrypt:

• n - Iteration count. Defaults to 262144.
• r - Block size for the underlying hash. Defaults to 8.
• p - Parallelization factor. Defaults to 1.

The following settings are favoured by the Go Ethereum implementation and we default to the same:

• kdf: scrypt
• dklen: 32
• n: 262144
• r: 8
• p: 1
• cipher: aes-128-ctr

EthereumJS

See our organizational documentation for an introduction to EthereumJS as well as information on current standards and best practices.

If you want to join for work or do improvements on the libraries have a look at our contribution guidelines.

License

MIT License

Copyright (C) 2016 Alex Beregszaszi

Changelog

[1.0.2] - 2021-10-08

• Updated dependencies to latest, added browser build, PR #157

Included Source Files

Source files from the src folder are now included in the distribution build. This allows for a better debugging experience in debug tools like Chrome DevTools by having working source map references to the original sources available for inspection.