ethertron

Basic command line tools for managing ethereum accounts and generating transactions offline.

install

npm i -g ethertron

In windows, you will need to first install windows-build-tools.

command line interface

Calling ethertron with no arguments displays usage and a list of commands:

> ethertron

Usage: ethertron <command> <args> [options]

Available commands:
create          - Create a new account.
update          - Update the passcode for an account.
template        - Create a transaction template.
sign            - Sign a transaction.
getaddress      - Display the address of an account.
getkey          - Display the private key of an account.
hashfile        - Get the hash of a file.
list            - Display a list.

Use the option --help with any command for specific instructons.

create an account

> ethertron create --help

Usage: ethertron create <file> [options]

Options:
--help              - Displays this guide.
--pass <string>     - Specify the account password.
--keyfile <file>    - Specify the account keyfile.
--nopass            - Force empty password.
--getkey <file>     - Create the account with the plaintext private key stored in <file>.

You can create an account with a randomly generated private key:

> ethertron create new.acct

Enter password:
Confirm password:

New account parameters:
Account file:        new.acct
Password:            *****

Address:
0xfBAf632D16bAd2da3C477e5Ec2044E2Cd104c27e

New account successfully created!

Alternatively, you can create an account with a private key obtained from a text file:

> cat privatekey.txt
0x00000005 00000005 00000005 00000005 00000005 00000005 00000005 00000005

> ethertron create new.acct --getkey privatekey.txt

Warning! Existing file will be overwritten: new.acct
Continue? (y/N) y

Enter password:
Confirm password:

New account parameters:
Account file:        new.acct
Password:            *****
Private key from:    privatekey.txt

Address:
0x71eF4E39Afc13fd0dcEBC0659e9004E4ea51f4cC

New account successfully created!

When obtaining a private key from a file, the program will ignore any whitespace. Including a 0x header is optional.

In addition to a password, an account can optionally be secured with an arbitrary keyfile that acts as a second authentication factor. The password and keyfile are combined to form a composite passcode which is then sent to a key derivation function. An account secured with a keyfile will be inaccessible if the keyfile is lost. To specify a keyfile, use the --keyfile option:

> ethertron create new.acct --getkey privatekey.txt --keyfile secret.key

Warning! Existing file will be overwritten: new.acct
Continue? (y/N) y

Enter password:
Confirm password:

New account parameters:
Account file:        new.acct
Password:            *****
Keyfile:             secret.key
Private key from:    privatekey.txt

Address:
0x71eF4E39Afc13fd0dcEBC0659e9004E4ea51f4cC

New account successfully created!

The password can alternatively be supplied from the command line:

> ethertron create new.acct --getkey privatekey.txt --pass 123456

Warning! Existing file will be overwritten: new.acct
Continue? (y/N) y

New account parameters:
Account file:        new.acct
Password:            *****
Private key from:    privatekey.txt

Address:
0x71eF4E39Afc13fd0dcEBC0659e9004E4ea51f4cC

New account successfully created!

create a transaction

> ethertron template --help

Usage: ethertron template [options]

Options:
--help              - Displays this guide.
--file <file>       - Specify template filename. Program default is tx.js.

To create a transaction, obtain a transaction file template:

> ethertron template

Template file: tx.js

Transaction template successfully created!

This creates a new transaction file tx.js with model transaction parameters:

> cat tx.js
const txParams = {
  nonce: '0',
  to: '0xfBAf632D16bAd2da3C477e5Ec2044E2Cd104c27e', // 0x header optional.
  value: '1.0',
  valueUnits: 'milliether',
  gasPrice: '5.0',
  gasPriceUnits: 'gwei',
  gasLimit: '50000',
  data: 'hello', // empty string '' for null data
  dataEnc: 'utf-8'
}
module.exports = txParams;

Modify each field of the transaction file as desired. The to address will be rejected if its checksum is invalid. To circumvent the checksum, use all upper-case or all lower-case letters. To display a list of acceptable units or character encodings use ethertron list units or ethertron list enc.

sign a transaction

> ethertron sign --help

Usage: ethertron sign <txFile> <accountFile> [options]

Options:
--help                - Displays this guide.
--pass <string>       - Specify the account password.
--keyfile <file>      - Specify the account keyfile.
--nopass              - Force empty password.
--chainid <int>       - Specify a blockchain ID for the transaction. Program default is 1 (Ethereum mainnet).
--verbosity <int>     - Specify a verbosity in the range [-1, 2].
--verbose             - Force maximum verbosity.
--iter <int>          - Specify the number of hash iterations for the keyfile.

Once a transaction file has been created, it can be signed using any account:

> ethertron sign tx.js new.acct

Enter password:

Transaction information:
To:                0xfBAf632D16bAd2da3C477e5Ec2044E2Cd104c27e
From:              0x71eF4E39Afc13fd0dcEBC0659e9004E4ea51f4cC
Nonce:             0
Chain ID:          1
Value:             1e+15 wei
Gas Price:         5e+9 wei
Gas Limit:         50000
Data:              hello

Signature information:
Message Hash:      0xae9fd562f455836fd89a69821534a3314f0fa9447669e418d80171feae8e1619
v:                 38
r:                 0x0c0d4cc5896cfad7450cfa4e69bc2c6b2a1c4b02ea3ba558fe1b4d84cd33aa7c
s:                 0x0ecf784d85260b41207629739d6e08e9127a48fd50300355ecf731dbc4882680

Signed transaction:
0xf8708085012a05f20082c35094fbaf632d16bad2da3c477e5ec2044e2cd104c27e87038d7ea4c680008568656c6c6f26a00c0d4cc5896cfad7450cfa4e69bc2c6b2a1c4b02ea3ba558fe1b4d84cd33aa7ca00ecf784d85260b41207629739d6e08e9127a48fd50300355ecf731dbc4882680

The signed transaction can be broadcast from a geth node or a third-party utility, e.g. etherscan.io/pushTx.

change an account passcode

> ethertron update --help

Usage: ethertron update <accountFile> [options]

Options:
--help              - Displays this guide.
--pass <string>     - Specify current account password.
--passnew <string>  - Specify updated account password.
--keyfile <file>    - Specify current account keyfile.
--keyfilenew <file> - Specify updated account keyfile.
--nopass            - Force empty password for current account.
--nopassnew         - Force empty password for updated account.
--filenew <file>    - Save the account to a new file after updating the passcode. The original file will not be deleted.
--verbose           - Enable verbose mode. Warning: verbose mode will display sensitive information.
--iter <int>        - Specify the number of hash iterations for the current keyfile.
--iternew <int>     - Specify the number of hash iterations for the updated keyfile.

To update an account passcode, use the update command:

> ethertron update new.acct

Enter current password:

Specify new password:
Confirm new password:

Altered passcode parameters:
Account file:             new.acct
Previous password:        *****
New password:             *****

Passcode successfully updated!

A new keyfile can be specified using the --keyfilenew option. Using the --iternew option you can specify a non-default number of hash iterations. This will alter the number of times the new keyfile is hashed before it is combined with the account password. If you use this option to customize the number of iterations, you will need to supply the iteration count along with the keyfile each time you access the account.

display an account address

> ethertron getaddress --help

Usage: ethertron getaddress <accountFile> [options]

Options:
--help   - Displays this guide.

> ethertron getaddress new.acct

Address for account new.acct:
0x71eF4E39Afc13fd0dcEBC0659e9004E4ea51f4cC

get the private key of an account

> ethertron getkey --help

Usage: ethertron getkey <accountFile> [options]

Options:
--help              - Displays this guide.
--pass <string>     - Specify the account password.
--keyfile <file>    - Specify the account keyfile.
--nopass            - Force empty password.
--iter <int>        - Determines the number of times the keyfile is hashed.

> ethertron getkey new.acct

Enter password:

Private key for account new.acct:
0x0000000500000005000000050000000500000005000000050000000500000005

get the hash of a file

> ethertron hashfile --help

Usage: ethertron hashfile <file> [options]

Options:
--help              - Displays this guide.
--hash <hash>       - Determines the hash algorithm.
--iter <int>        - Determines the number of times the hash is applied.

If no hash algorithm is supplied in the command line, you will be prompted to select one:

> ethertron hashfile secret.key

Available hashes:

0   DSA
1   DSA-SHA
2   DSA-SHA1
3   DSA-SHA1-old
4   RSA-MD4
5   RSA-MD5
6   RSA-MDC2
7   RSA-RIPEMD160
8   RSA-SHA
9   RSA-SHA1
10  RSA-SHA1-2
11  RSA-SHA224
12  RSA-SHA256
13  RSA-SHA384
14  RSA-SHA512
15  dsaEncryption
16  dsaWithSHA
17  dsaWithSHA1
18  dss1
19  ecdsa-with-SHA1
20  md4
21  md4WithRSAEncryption
22  md5
23  md5WithRSAEncryption
24  mdc2
25  mdc2WithRSA
26  ripemd
27  ripemd160
28  ripemd160WithRSA
29  rmd160
30  sha
31  sha1
32  sha1WithRSAEncryption
33  sha224
34  sha224WithRSAEncryption
35  sha256
36  sha256WithRSAEncryption
37  sha384
38  sha384WithRSAEncryption
39  sha512
40  sha512WithRSAEncryption
41  shaWithRSAEncryption
42  ssl2-md5
43  ssl3-md5
44  ssl3-sha1
45  whirlpool

Index number of the desired algorithm: 39

sha512 hash of file secret.key:
0xbba1994e3e215cb698cbd3090f199fea85d33fd02c2e6d3cabcf9fcd258c9636b748d3f7ee6a3f56dfdfdff18c88e4b5b7f09424fdf2e1e602e9ae7a8e524ac1

The hash algorithm can alternatively be supplied using the --hash option:

> ethertron hashfile secret.key --hash sha512

sha512 hash of file secret.key:
0xbba1994e3e215cb698cbd3090f199fea85d33fd02c2e6d3cabcf9fcd258c9636b748d3f7ee6a3f56dfdfdff18c88e4b5b7f09424fdf2e1e602e9ae7a8e524ac1

To display a list of available hashes use ethertron list hashes.

license

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2018 Kenneth Sedgwick

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.