docs/_site/core/cli.md

Blockstack CLI

Blockstack CLI is both a command-line interface (CLI) tool, a system service (daemon), and a client (Python library) for interacting with Blockstack. It talks to Blockstack Core and provides an interface for interacting with it.

Architecture Overview

Most of the complexity of Blockstack lives in its client library. Specifically, the library does the following:

• Generating and sending name operation transactions.
• Reading, writing, and deleting data in your storage providers (and reading other peoples' data from their storage providers).
• Handling data authenticity, encryption, and validation.
• Querying a Blockstack Server for blockchain-hosted information.

The CLI tool is a wrapper around the library. Most of its commands are thin wrappers around library functions.

In addition to a CLI tool and library, Blockstack CLI comes with a system service that runs in the background as a daemon. The daemon does the following:

• Acts as a personal registrar. It queues up all your name operation transactions, waits for them to be confirmed by the blockchain, sends them out, and replicates your zonefile and profile as needed.
• Hosts your wallet. Your wallet is never stored in plaintext; it only lives in the daemon's RAM (for when it needs to send out transactions).
• Allows programmatic access to a subset of CLI commands. This allows other programs on your computer to do things like look up Blockstack IDs, query their data, and so on. For security, the daemon will never serve the wallet via the API, nor does it expose any API call that can change data or send transactions (it is effectively a read-only API).

Files

These files are created by Blockstack CLI:

Files You Can Edit

These files define how the CLI behaves.

• ~/.blockstack/client.ini: This is the CLI config file. You can interactively modify it with blockstack configure.
• ~/.blockstack/wallet.json: This is your JSON-encoded wallet. It contains your password-encrypted keys.

Files You Can Read

These files are useful primarily for troubleshooting.

• ~/.blockstack/api_endpoint.log: This is the log for the system service that manages your wallet, sends your name operations, and accesses your profile and data. It's a great source for troubleshooting.
• ~/.blockstack/api_endpoint.pid: This contains the PID of the system service.
• ~/.blockstack/metadata/: This directory contains versioning information for mutable data from other profiles you have read. It gets used to stop malicious storage providers from serving you older versions of the data you've already seen.
• ~/.blockstack/storage-disk/: If you use the disk storage driver (it is activated by default), then this is where it holds your zonefiles, profiles, and data.

Files You Should NOT Edit

You shouldn't touch these files unless you're a developer, and even then, you should only do so at your own risk.

• ~/.blockstack/queues.db: This is a SQLite database that contains queued-up transactions for name operations. If you want to remove any stuck transactions, use blockstack unqueue in the advanced usage.
• ~/.blockstack/registrar.lock: This is a lockfile held by a thread in the registrar thread in the CLI daemon.
• ~/.blockstack/blockchain_headers.dat: SPV headers.
• ~/.blockstack/client.uuid: Used for anonymous statistics gathering purposes (which you can disable using blockstack configure). If you remove it, a new one will be generated.

Getting Help

If you ever need help with these instructions or want to learn more, please join the Blockstack Slack and drop us a line on the #cli channel.

Installation

Installing the command line interface and client library:

Debian + Ubuntu

Via APT:

$ curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blockstack/packaging/master/repo-key.pub | sudo apt-key add -
$ sudo sh -c "echo \"deb http://packages.blockstack.com/repositories/ubuntu xenial main\" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/blockstack.list"
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install blockstack

Via pip:

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y python-pip python-dev libssl-dev libffi-dev rng-tools
$ sudo pip install blockstack --upgrade

OS X

$ brew install libffi openssl
$ sudo pip install blockstack --upgrade

We recommend installing the CLI inside of a virtual environment, in which case you can drop the "sudo" at the beginning like so:

$ pip install blockstack --upgrade

If the installation command above fails, see the troubleshooting section.

Windows Subsystem for Linux

Installation will mirror Debian + Ubuntu, above, with an additional package.

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y python-pip python-dev libssl-dev libffi-dev

$ sudo pip install functools32
$ sudo pip install blockstack

Command-Line Reference

Listing All Commands

$ blockstack
usage: blockstack [-h]
                  ...

Blockstack cli version 0.14.0
positional arguments:
    balance             Get the account balance
    configure           Interactively configure the client
    deposit             Display the address with which to receive bitcoins
    import              Display the address with which to receive names
    info                Get details about pending name commands
    lookup              Get the zone file and profile for a particular name
    migrate             Migrate a profile to the latest profile format
    names               Display the names owned by local addresses
    ping                Check server status and get server details
    price               Get the price of a name
    register            Register a name
    renew               Renew a name
    revoke              Revoke a name
    set_advanced_mode   Enable advanced commands
    transfer            Transfer a name to a new address
    update              Set the zone file for a name
    whois               Look up the blockchain info for a name

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

Info (or ping or status)

$ blockstack info

Examples

$ blockstack info
{
    "advanced_mode": false,
    "cli_version": "0.14.0",
    "consensus_hash": "106d4648661d49e16d103b071e26617e",
    "last_block_processed": 420518,
    "last_block_seen": 420596,
    "server_alive": true,
    "server_host": "40.76.8.249",
    "server_port": "6264",
    "server_version": "0.14.0"
}

Config

$ blockstack configure

Examples

$ blockstack  configure
# ... interactive prompts ...
{
    "path": "/home/jude/.blockstack/client.ini"
}

Cost

$ blockstack price <name>

Examples

$ blockstack price $(whoami).id
{
    "name_price": {
        "btc": "0.00025",
        "satoshis": "25000"
    },
    "preorder_tx_fee": {
        "btc": "0.00047406",
        "satoshis": "47406"
    },
    "register_tx_fee": {
        "btc": "0.00046184",
        "satoshis": "46184"
    },
    "total_estimated_cost": {
        "btc": "0.00188394",
        "satoshis": "188394"
    },
    "update_tx_fee": {
        "btc": "0.00069804",
        "satoshis": "69804"
    }
}

Whois

$ blockstack whois <name>

Examples

$ blockstack whois fredwilson.id
{
    "block_preordered_at": 374084,
    "block_renewed_at": 374084,
    "expire_block": 426679,
    "has_zonefile": true,
    "last_transaction_id": "2986ec31ec957692d7f5bc58a3b02d2ac2d1a60039e9163365fc954ff51aeb5a",
    "owner_address": "1F2nHEDLRJ39XxAvSxwQhJsaVzvS5RHDRM",
    "owner_script": "76a91499e7f97f5d2c77b4f32b4ed9ae0f0385c45aa5c788ac",
    "zonefile_hash": "1a587366368aaf8477d5ddcea2557dcbcc67073e"
}

$ blockstack whois $(whoami)_$(date +"%m_%d").id
Not found.

Lookup

$ blockstack lookup <name>

Examples

$ blockstack lookup fredwilson.id
{
    "profile": {
        "avatar": {
            "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/kd4/fredwilson1"
        },
        "bio": "I am a VC",
   ...
}

$ blockstack lookup $(whoami)_$(date +"%m_%d").id
Not found.

Register

$ blockstack register <name>

Example

$ blockstack register $(whoami)_$(date +"%m_%d").id
Registering muneeb_02_22.id will cost 0.0002225 BTC. Continue? (y/n): y
{
    "transaction_hash": "f576313b2ff4cc7cb0d25545e1e38e2d0d48a6ef486b7118e5ca0f8e8b98ae45",
    "message": "The name has been queued up for registration and will take a few hours to go through. You can check on the status at any time by running 'blockstack info'."
    "success": true
}

$ blockstack register fredwilson.id
fredwilson.id is already registered.

Update

$ blockstack update <name> <data string or file with data>

Examples

$ echo > new_zone_file.txt <<EOF
$ORIGIN swiftonsecurity.id
$TTL 3600
pubkey TXT "pubkey:data:04cabba0b5b9a871dbaa11c044066e281c5feb57243c7d2a452f06a0d708613a46ced59f9f806e601b3353931d1e4a98d7040127f31016311050bedc0d4f1f62ff"
_file IN URI 10 1 "file:///Users/TaylorSwift/.blockstack/storage-disk/mutable/swiftonsecurity.id"
_https._tcp IN URI 10 1 "https://blockstack.s3.amazonaws.com/swiftonsecurity.id"
_http._tcp IN URI 10 1 "http://node.blockstack.org:6264/RPC2#swiftonsecurity.id"
_dht._udp IN URI 10 1 "dht+udp://fc4d9c1481a6349fe99f0e3dd7261d67b23dadc5"
EOF

$ blockstack update swiftonsecurity.id new_zone_file.txt
{
    "success": true,
    "transaction_hash": "4e1f292c09ad8e03a5f228b589d9a7dc3699b495862bee3b40f2432ac497b134",
    "message": "The name has been queued up for update and will take ~1 hour to process. You can check on the status at any time by running 'blockstack info'."
}

$ blockstack update muneeb.id '{"$origin": "muneeb.id", "$ttl": "3600", "uri": [{"name": "@", "priority": "10", "weight": "1", "target": "https://muneeb.ali/muneeb.id"}]}'
{
    "success": true,
    "transaction_hash": "4e1f292c09ad8e03a5f228b589d9a7dc3699b495862bee3b40f2432ac497b134",
    "message": "The name has been queued up for update and will take ~1 hour to process. You can check on the status at any time by running 'blockstack info'."
}

$ blockstack update fredwilson.id '{}'
Invalid $origin; must use your name

$ blockstack update fredwilson.id '{"$origin": "fredwilson.id"}'
Missing $ttl; please supply a positive integer

$ blockstack update fredwilson.id '{"$origin": "fredwilson.id", "$ttl": "3600"}'
Zonefile is missing or has invalid URI and/or TXT records

$ blockstack update fredwilson.id '{"$origin": "fredwilson.id", "$ttl": "3600", "uri": [{"name": "@", "priority": "10", "weight": "1", "target": "https://blockstack.s3.amazonaws.com/fredwilson.id"}]}'
fredwilson.id is not in your possession.

Transfer

$ blockstack transfer <name> <address>

Examples

$ blockstack transfer $(whoami)_$(date +"%m_%d").id 1Jbcrh9Lkwm73jXyxramFukViEtktwq8gt
{
    "transaction_hash": "8a68d52d70cf06d819eb72a9a58f4dceda942db792ceb35dd333f43f55fa8713",
    "message": "The name has been queued up for transfer and will take ~1 hour to process. You can check on the status at any time by running 'blockstack info'."
    "success": true
}

$ blockstack transfer fredwilson.id 1Jbcrh9Lkwm73jXyxramFukViEtktwq8gt
fredwilson.id is not in your possession.

Balance

$ blockstack balance

Examples

$ blockstack balance
{
    "addresses": [
        {
            "address": "16yE3e928JakaXbympwSywyrJPM9cuL4wZ",
            "bitcoin": 0.00959454,
            "satoshis": 959454
        }
    ],
    "total_balance": {
        "bitcoin": 0.00959454,
        "satoshis": 959454
    }
}

Names

$ blockstack names

Examples

$ blockstack names
{
    "addresses": [
        {
            "address": "16CtpS8LhmW3bGtVC69UGZ3wSwvi95BE8E",
            "names_owned": [
                "testregistration001.id",
                "testregistration002.id"
            ]
        }
    ],
    "names_owned": [
        "testregistration001.id",
        "testregistration002.id"
    ]
}

Deposit

$ blockstack deposit

Examples

$ blockstack deposit
{
    "address": "1EHgqHVpA1tjn6RhaVj8bx6y5NGvBwoMNS",
    "message": "Send bitcoins to the address specified.",
}

Import

$ blockstack import

Examples

$ blockstack import
{
    "address": "1Jbcrh9Lkwm73jXyxramFukViEtktwq8gt"
    "message": "Send the name you want to receive to the address specified.",
}

Troubleshooting Installation

a) Error installing pycrypto

If you see the following error, while pycrpyto installs on OS X:

error: command 'cc' failed with exit status 1

Try installing it with the following:

$ ARCHFLAGS=-Wno-error=unused-command-line-argument-hard-error-in-future pip install pycrypto

b) Blockstack hangs while running in a VM

If Blockstack hangs while performing one of the above operations while running in a VM, and you hit Ctrl+C, you may see a stack trace like this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/dev/blockstack-venv/bin/blockstack", line 67, in <module>
    result = run_cli()
  File "/home/dev/blockstack-venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/blockstack_client/cli.py", line 287, in run_cli
    result = method( args, config_path=config_path )
  File "/home/dev/blockstack-venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/blockstack_client/actions.py", line 479, in cli_price
    fees = get_total_registration_fees( fqu, payment_privkey_info, owner_privkey_info, proxy=proxy, config_path=config_path, payment_address=payment_address )
  File "/home/dev/blockstack-venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/blockstack_client/actions.py", line 271, in get_total_registration_fees
    preorder_tx_fee = estimate_preorder_tx_fee( name, data['satoshis'], payment_address, utxo_client, owner_privkey_params=get_privkey_info_params(owner_privkey_info), config_path=config_path, include_dust=True )
  File "/home/dev/blockstack-venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/blockstack_client/backend/nameops.py", line 116, in estimate_preorder_tx_fee
    fake_privkey = make_fake_privkey_info( owner_privkey_params )
  File "/home/dev/blockstack-venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/blockstack_client/backend/nameops.py", line 103, in make_fake_privkey_info
    return virtualchain.make_multisig_wallet( m, n )
  File "/home/dev/blockstack-venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/virtualchain/lib/blockchain/bitcoin_blockchain/multisig.py", line 82, in make_multisig_wallet
    pk = BitcoinPrivateKey().to_wif()
  File "/home/dev/blockstack-venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pybitcoin/privatekey.py", line 55, in __init__
    secret_exponent = random_secret_exponent(self._curve.order)
  File "/home/dev/blockstack-venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pybitcoin/privatekey.py", line 32, in random_secret_exponent
    random_hex = hexlify(dev_random_entropy(32))
  File "/home/dev/blockstack-venv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/utilitybelt/entropy.py", line 38, in dev_random_entropy
    return open("/dev/random", "rb").read(numbytes)
KeyboardInterrupt

If so, the reason is because the VM does not have enough entropy. This causes reads to /dev/random to block for a long time.

The solution is to install rng-tools and configure it to seed /dev/random with entropy from /dev/urandom. Please see your distribution documentation for setting up rng-tools.

If the issue you are experiencing is not listed here, please report it as a new issue.

Running Your Server

The CLI by default talks to a remote server, but you can easily start your own server.

Open a new terminal window and run the following command:

$ blockstack-server start --foreground

You can now switch the cli to use the local server:

$ blockstack configure
...
server (default: 'node.blockstack.org'): 127.0.0.1
...

[More information on the Blockstack Server(http://github.com/blockstack/blockstack-server)

Client Library

You can also import the blockstack client and write your own programs.

Here is some example code to get you started:

from blockstack_client import client
from blockstack_client.utils import print_result as pprint

client.session(server_host='127.0.0.1', server_port=6264)
resp = client.ping()
pprint(resp)