# BitSong Client

# BitSong CLI

bitsongcli is the tool that enables you to interact with the node that runs on the BitSong Network, whether you run it yourself or not. Let us set it up properly. In order to install it, follow the installation procedure.

# Setting up bitsongcli

The main command used to set up bitsongcli is the following:

bitsongcli config <flag> <value>

It allows you to set a default value for each given flag.

First, set up the address of the full-node you want to connect to:

bitsongcli config node <host>:<port>

# example: bitsongcli config node https://0.0.0.0.0:26657

If you run your own full-node, just use tcp://localhost:26657 as the address.

Then, let us set the default value of the --trust-node flag:

bitsongcli config trust-node true

# Set to true if you trust the full-node you are connecting to, false otherwise

Finally, let us set the chain-id of the blockchain we want to interact with:

bitsongcli config chain-id bitsong-testnet-3

# Keys

# Key Types

There are three types of key representations that are used:

bitsong
- Derived from account keys generated by bitsongcli keys add
- Used to receive funds
- e.g. bitsong1wuz32uyxja0wpmz7dhxnfswza8yu48jrqf7z50

bitsongvaloper
- Used to associate a validator to it's operator
- Used to invoke staking commands
- e.g. bitsongvaloper14dtkqvr604k3vw3c37ldn8pa9elfeatkacrjtv

bitsongpub
- Derived from account keys generated by bitsongcli keys add
- e.g. bitsongpub1addwnpepq06vuzlzr9kl5dmwve4t7a3cplwnjc33lj8fl652mfrvdm22aqrgvfruayp
bitsongvalconspub
- Generated when the node is created with bitsongd init.
- Get this value with bitsongd tendermint show-validator
- e.g. bitsongvalconspub1zcjduepqhcul5zymhvrtec5a2gvxvpu5mjn9ptxcanh6rnysay4yafu96ktq86437h

# Migrate Keys From Legacy On-Disk Keybase To OS Built-in Secret Store

Older versions of bitsongcli used store keys in the user's home directory. If you are migrating from an old version of bitsongcli you will need to migrate your old keys into your operating system's credentials storage by running the following command:

bitsongcli keys migrate

The command will prompt for every passphrase. If a passphrase is incorrect, it will skip the respective key.

# Generate Keys

You'll need an account private and public key pair (a.k.a. sk, pk respectively) to be able to receive funds, send txs, bond tx, etc.

To generate a new secp256k1 key:

bitsongcli keys add <account_name>

The output of the above command will contain a seed phrase. It is recommended to save the seed phrase in a safe place so that in case you forget the password of the operating system's credentials store, you could eventually regenerate the key from the seed phrase with the following command:

bitsongcli keys add --recover

If you check your private keys, you'll now see <account_name>:

bitsongcli keys show <account_name>

View the validator operator's address via:

bitsongcli keys show <account_name> --bech=val

You can see all your available keys by typing:

bitsongcli keys list

View the validator pubkey for your node by typing:

bitsongd tendermint show-validator

Note that this is the Tendermint signing key, not the operator key you will use in delegation transactions.

Warning

We strongly recommend NOT using the same passphrase for multiple keys. The BitSong team will not be responsible for the loss of funds.

# Generate Multisig Public Keys

You can generate and print a multisig public key by typing:

bitsongcli keys add --multisig=name1,name2,name3[...] --multisig-threshold=K new_key_name

K is the minimum number of private keys that must have signed the transactions that carry the public key's address as signer.

The --multisig flag must contain the name of public keys that will be combined into a public key that will be generated and stored as new_key_name in the local database. All names supplied through --multisig must already exist in the local database. Unless the flag --nosort is set, the order in which the keys are supplied on the command line does not matter, i.e. the following commands generate two identical keys:

bitsongcli keys add --multisig=foo,bar,baz --multisig-threshold=2 multisig_address
bitsongcli keys add --multisig=baz,foo,bar --multisig-threshold=2 multisig_address

Multisig addresses can also be generated on-the-fly and printed through the which command:

bitsongcli keys show --multisig-threshold K name1 name2 name3 [...]

For more information regarding how to generate, sign and broadcast transactions with a multi signature account see Multisig Transactions.

# Tx Broadcasting

When broadcasting transactions, bitsongcli accepts a --broadcast-mode flag. This flag can have a value of sync (default), async, or block, where sync makes the client return a CheckTx response, async makes the client return immediately, and block makes the client wait for the tx to be committed (or timing out).

It is important to note that the block mode should not be used in most circumstances. This is because broadcasting can timeout but the tx may still be included in a block. This can result in many undesirable situations. Therefore, it is best to use sync or async and query by tx hash to determine when the tx is included in a block.

# Fees & Gas

Each transaction may either supply fees or gas prices, but not both.

Validator's have a minimum gas price (multi-denom) configuration and they use this value when when determining if they should include the transaction in a block during CheckTx, where gasPrices >= minGasPrices. Note, your transaction must supply fees that are greater than or equal to any of the denominations the validator requires.

Note: With such a mechanism in place, validators may start to prioritize txs by gasPrice in the mempool, so providing higher fees or gas prices may yield higher tx priority.

e.g.

bitsongcli tx send ... --fees=50000ubtsg

bitsongcli tx send ... --gas-prices=0.025ubtsg

# Account

# Get Tokens

On a testnet, getting tokens is usually done via a faucet.

# Query Account Balance

After receiving tokens to your address, you can view your account's balance by typing:

bitsongcli query account <account_bitsong>

Note

When you query an account balance with zero tokens, you will get this error: No account with address <account_bitsong> was found in the state. This can also happen if you fund the account before your node has fully synced with the chain. These are both normal.

# Send Tokens

The following command could be used to send coins from one account to another:

bitsongcli tx send <sender_key_name_or_address> <recipient_address> 10faucetToken \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

Note

The amount argument accepts the format <value|coin_name>.

Note

You may want to cap the maximum gas that can be consumed by the transaction via the --gas flag. If you pass --gas=auto, the gas supply will be automatically estimated before executing the transaction. Gas estimate might be inaccurate as state changes could occur in between the end of the simulation and the actual execution of a transaction, thus an adjustment is applied on top of the original estimate in order to ensure the transaction is broadcasted successfully. The adjustment can be controlled via the --gas-adjustment flag, whose default value is 1.0.

Now, view the updated balances of the origin and destination accounts:

bitsongcli query account <account_bitsong>
bitsongcli query account <destination_bitsong>

You can also check your balance at a given block by using the --block flag:

bitsongcli query account <account_bitsong> --block=<block_height>

You can simulate a transaction without actually broadcasting it by appending the --dry-run flag to the command line:

bitsongcli tx send <sender_key_name_or_address> <destination_bitsongaccaddr> 10faucetToken \
  --chain-id=<chain_id> \
  --dry-run

Furthermore, you can build a transaction and print its JSON format to STDOUT by appending --generate-only to the list of the command line arguments:

bitsongcli tx send <sender_address> <recipient_address> 10faucetToken \
  --chain-id=<chain_id> \
  --generate-only > unsignedSendTx.json

bitsongcli tx sign \
  --chain-id=<chain_id> \
  --from=<key_name> \
  unsignedSendTx.json > signedSendTx.json

Note

The --generate-only flag prevents bitsongcli from accessing the local keybase. Thus when such flag is supplied <sender_key_name_or_address> must be an address.

You can validate the transaction's signatures by typing the following:

bitsongcli tx sign --validate-signatures signedSendTx.json

You can broadcast the signed transaction to a node by providing the JSON file to the following command:

bitsongcli tx broadcast --node=<node> signedSendTx.json

# Query Transactions

# Matching a Set of Events

You can use the transaction search command to query for transactions that match a specific set of events, which are added on every transaction.

Each event is composed by a key-value pair in the form of {eventType}.{eventAttribute}={value}. Events can also be combined to query for a more specific result using the & symbol.

You can query transactions by events as follows:

bitsongcli query txs --events='message.sender=bitsong1...'

And for using multiple events:

bitsongcli query txs --events='message.sender=bitsong1...&message.action=withdraw_delegator_reward'

The pagination is supported as well via page and limit:

bitsongcli query txs --events='message.sender=bitsong1...' --page=1 --limit=20

Note

The action tag always equals the message type returned by the Type() function of the relevant message.

You can find a list of available events on each of the SDK modules:

# Matching a Transaction's Hash

You can also query a single transaction by its hash using the following command:

bitsongcli query tx [hash]

# Slashing

# Unjailing

To unjail your jailed validator

bitsongcli tx slashing unjail --from <validator-operator-addr>

# Signing Info

To retrieve a validator's signing info:

bitsongcli query slashing signing-info <validator-pubkey>

# Query Parameters

You can get the current slashing parameters via:

bitsongcli query slashing params

# Minting

You can query for the minting/inflation parameters via:

bitsongcli query minting params

To query for the current inflation value:

bitsongcli query minting inflation

To query for the current annual provisions value:

bitsongcli query minting annual-provisions

# Staking

# Set up a Validator

Please refer to the Validator Setup section for a more complete guide on how to set up a validator-candidate.

# Delegate to a Validator

On the upcoming mainnet, you can delegate btsg to a validator. These delegators can receive part of the validator's fee revenue.

# Query Validators

You can query the list of all validators of a specific chain:

bitsongcli query staking validators

If you want to get the information of a single validator you can check it with:

bitsongcli query staking validator <account_bitsongval>

# Bond Tokens

On the BitSong Network mainnet, we delegate ubtsg, where 1btsg = 1000000ubtsg. Here's how you can bond tokens to a testnet validator (i.e. delegate):

bitsongcli tx staking delegate \
  --amount=10000000ubtsg \
  --validator=<validator> \
  --from=<key_name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

<validator> is the operator address of the validator to which you intend to delegate. If you are running a local testnet, you can find this with:

bitsongcli keys show [name] --bech val

where [name] is the name of the key you specified when you initialized bitsongd.

While tokens are bonded, they are pooled with all the other bonded tokens in the network. Validators and delegators obtain a percentage of shares that equal their stake in this pool.

# Query Delegations

Once submitted a delegation to a validator, you can see it's information by using the following command:

bitsongcli query staking delegation <delegator_addr> <validator_addr>

Or if you want to check all your current delegations with disctinct validators:

bitsongcli query staking delegations <delegator_addr>

# Unbond Tokens

If for any reason the validator misbehaves, or you just want to unbond a certain amount of tokens, use this following command.

bitsongcli tx staking unbond \
  <validator_addr> \
  10ubtsg \
  --from=<key_name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

The unbonding will be automatically completed when the unbonding period has passed.

# Query Unbonding-Delegations

Once you begin an unbonding-delegation, you can see it's information by using the following command:

bitsongcli query staking unbonding-delegation <delegator_addr> <validator_addr>

Or if you want to check all your current unbonding-delegations with disctinct validators:

bitsongcli query staking unbonding-delegations <account_bitsong>

Additionally, as you can get all the unbonding-delegations from a particular validator:

bitsongcli query staking unbonding-delegations-from <account_bitsongval>

# Redelegate Tokens

A redelegation is a type delegation that allows you to bond illiquid tokens from one validator to another:

bitsongcli tx staking redelegate \
  <src-validator-operator-addr> \
  <dst-validator-operator-addr> \
  10ubtsg \
  --from=<key_name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

Here you can also redelegate a specific shares-amount or a shares-fraction with the corresponding flags.

The redelegation will be automatically completed when the unbonding period has passed.

# Query Redelegations

Once you begin an redelegation, you can see it's information by using the following command:

bitsongcli query staking redelegation <delegator_addr> <src_val_addr> <dst_val_addr>

Or if you want to check all your current unbonding-delegations with distinct validators:

bitsongcli query staking redelegations <account_bitsong>

Additionally, as you can get all the outgoing redelegations from a particular validator:

  bitsongcli query staking redelegations-from <account_bitsongval>

# Query Parameters

Parameters define high level settings for staking. You can get the current values by using:

bitsongcli query staking params

With the above command you will get the values for:

Unbonding time
Maximum numbers of validators
Coin denomination for staking

All these values will be subject to updates though a governance process by ParameterChange proposals.

# Query Pool

A staking Pool defines the dynamic parameters of the current state. You can query them with the following command:

bitsongcli query staking pool

With the pool command you will get the values for:

Not-bonded and bonded tokens
Token supply
Current annual inflation and the block in which the last inflation was processed
Last recorded bonded shares

# Query Delegations To Validator

You can also query all of the delegations to a particular validator:

  bitsongcli query delegations-to <account_bitsongval>

# Governance

Governance is the process from which users in the BitSong Network can come to consensus on software upgrades, parameters of the mainnet or signaling mechanisms through text proposals. This is done through voting on proposals, which will be submitted by BTSG holders on the mainnet.

Some considerations about the voting process:

Voting is done by bonded BTSG holders on a 1 bonded BTSG 1 vote basis
Delegators inherit the vote of their validator if they don't vote
Votes are tallied at the end of the voting period (2 weeks on mainnet) where each address can vote multiple times to update its Option value (paying the transaction fee each time), only the most recently cast vote will count as valid
Voters can choose between options Yes, No, NoWithVeto and Abstain
At the end of the voting period, a proposal is accepted iff:
- (YesVotes / (YesVotes+NoVotes+NoWithVetoVotes)) > 1/2
- (NoWithVetoVotes / (YesVotes+NoVotes+NoWithVetoVotes)) < 1/3
- ((YesVotes+NoVotes+NoWithVetoVotes) / totalBondedStake) >= quorum

For more information about the governance process and how it works, please check out the Governance module specification (opens new window).

# Create a Governance Proposal

In order to create a governance proposal, you must submit an initial deposit along with a title and description. Various modules outside of governance may implement their own proposal types and handlers (eg. parameter changes), where the governance module itself supports Text proposals. Any module outside of governance has it's command mounted on top of submit-proposal.

To submit a Text proposal:

bitsongcli tx gov submit-proposal \
  --title=<title> \
  --description=<description> \
  --type="Text" \
  --deposit="1000000ubtsg" \
  --from=<name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

You may also provide the proposal directly through the --proposal flag which points to a JSON file containing the proposal.

To submit a parameter change proposal, you must provide a proposal file as its contents are less friendly to CLI input:

bitsongcli tx gov submit-proposal param-change <path/to/proposal.json> \
  --from=<name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

Where proposal.json contains the following:

{
  "title": "Param Change",
  "description": "Update max validators",
  "changes": [
    {
      "subspace": "staking",
      "key": "MaxValidators",
      "value": 105
    }
  ],
  "deposit": [
    {
      "denom": "ubtsg",
      "amount": "10000000"
    }
  ]
}

Warning

Currently parameter changes are evaluated but not validated, so it is very important that any value change is valid (ie. correct type and within bounds) for its respective parameter, eg. MaxValidators should be an integer and not a decimal.

Proper vetting of a parameter change proposal should prevent this from happening (no deposits should occur during the governance process), but it should be noted regardless.

Note

The SoftwareUpgrade is currently not supported as it's not implemented and currently does not differ from the semantics of a Text proposal.

# Query Proposals

Once created, you can now query information of the proposal:

bitsongcli query gov proposal <proposal_id>

Or query all available proposals:

bitsongcli query gov proposals

You can also query proposals filtered by voter or depositor by using the corresponding flags.

To query for the proposer of a given governance proposal:

bitsongcli query gov proposer <proposal_id>

# Increase Deposit

In order for a proposal to be broadcasted to the network, the amount deposited must be above a minDeposit value (initial value: 512000000ubtsg). If the proposal you previously created didn't meet this requirement, you can still increase the total amount deposited to activate it. Once the minimum deposit is reached, the proposal enters voting period:

bitsongcli tx gov deposit <proposal_id> "10000000ubtsg" \
  --from=<name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

NOTE: Proposals that don't meet this requirement will be deleted after MaxDepositPeriod is reached.

# Query Deposits

Once a new proposal is created, you can query all the deposits submitted to it:

bitsongcli query gov deposits <proposal_id>

You can also query a deposit submitted by a specific address:

bitsongcli query gov deposit <proposal_id> <depositor_address>

# Vote on a Proposal

After a proposal's deposit reaches the MinDeposit value, the voting period opens. Bonded Btsg holders can then cast vote on it:

bitsongcli tx gov vote <proposal_id> <Yes/No/NoWithVeto/Abstain> \
  --from=<name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

# Query Votes

Check the vote with the option you just submitted:

bitsongcli query gov vote <proposal_id> <voter_address>

You can also get all the previous votes submitted to the proposal with:

bitsongcli query gov votes <proposal_id>

# Query proposal tally results

To check the current tally of a given proposal you can use the tally command:

bitsongcli query gov tally <proposal_id>

# Query Governance Parameters

To check the current governance parameters run:

bitsongcli query gov params

To query subsets of the governance parameters run:

bitsongcli query gov param voting
bitsongcli query gov param tallying
bitsongcli query gov param deposit

# Fee Distribution

# Query Distribution Parameters

To check the current distribution parameters, run:

bitsongcli query distribution params

# Query distribution Community Pool

To query all coins in the community pool which is under Governance control:

bitsongcli query distribution community-pool

# Query outstanding rewards

To check the current outstanding (un-withdrawn) rewards, run:

bitsongcli query distribution outstanding-rewards

# Query Validator Commission

To check the current outstanding commission for a validator, run:

bitsongcli query distribution commission <validator_address>

# Query Validator Slashes

To check historical slashes for a validator, run:

bitsongcli query distribution slashes <validator_address> <start_height> <end_height>

# Query Delegator Rewards

To check current rewards for a delegation (were they to be withdrawn), run:

bitsongcli query distribution rewards <delegator_address> <validator_address>

# Query All Delegator Rewards

To check all current rewards for a delegation (were they to be withdrawn), run:

bitsongcli query distribution rewards <delegator_address>

# Multisig Transactions

Multisig transactions require signatures of multiple private keys. Thus, generating and signing a transaction from a multisig account involve cooperation among the parties involved. A multisig transaction can be initiated by any of the key holders, and at least one of them would need to import other parties' public keys into their Keybase and generate a multisig public key in order to finalize and broadcast the transaction.

For example, given a multisig key comprising the keys p1, p2, and p3, each of which is held by a distinct party, the user holding p1 would require to import both p2 and p3 in order to generate the multisig account public key:

bitsongcli keys add \
  p2 \
  --pubkey=bitsongpub1addwnpepq06vuzlzr9kl5dmwve4t7a3cplwnjc33lj8fl652mfrvdm22aqrgvfruayp

bitsongcli keys add \
  p3 \
  --pubkey=bitsongpub1addwnpepq0elsq0vhspx5p3ah9heprgpgcw3mltzwnk6cclpul28clhvww0zjgnwhjz

bitsongcli keys add \
  p1p2p3 \
  --multisig-threshold=2 \
  --multisig=p1,p2,p3

A new multisig public key p1p2p3 has been stored, and its address will be used as signer of multisig transactions:

bitsongcli keys show --address p1p2p3

You may also view multisig threshold, pubkey constituents and respective weights by viewing the JSON output of the key or passing the --show-multisig flag:

bitsongcli keys show p1p2p3 -o json

bitsongcli keys show p1p2p3 --show-multisig

The first step to create a multisig transaction is to initiate it on behalf of the multisig address created above:

bitsongcli tx send bitsong1wuz32uyxja0wpmz7dhxnfswza8yu48jrqf7z50 1000000ubtsg \
  --from=<multisig_address> \
  --generate-only > unsignedTx.json

The file unsignedTx.json contains the unsigned transaction encoded in JSON. p1 can now sign the transaction with its own private key:

bitsongcli tx sign \
  unsignedTx.json \
  --multisig=<multisig_address> \
  --from=p1 \
  --output-document=p1signature.json

Once the signature is generated, p1 transmits both unsignedTx.json and p1signature.json to p2 or p3, which in turn will generate their respective signature:

bitsongcli tx sign \
  unsignedTx.json \
  --multisig=<multisig_address> \
  --from=p2 \
  --output-document=p2signature.json

p1p2p3 is a 2-of-3 multisig key, therefore one additional signature is sufficient. Any the key holders can now generate the multisig transaction by combining the required signature files:

bitsongcli tx multisign \
  unsignedTx.json \
  p1p2p3 \
  p1signature.json p2signature.json > signedTx.json

The transaction can now be sent to the node:

bitsongcli tx broadcast signedTx.json

# Shells Completion Scripts

Completion scripts for popular UNIX shell interpreters such as Bash and Zsh can be generated through the completion command, which is available for both bitsongd and bitsongcli.

If you want to generate Bash completion scripts run the following command:

bitsongd completion > bitsongd_completion
bitsongcli completion > bitsongcli_completion

If you want to generate Zsh completion scripts run the following command:

bitsongd completion --zsh > bitsongd_completion
bitsongcli completion --zsh > bitsongcli_completion

Note

On most UNIX systems, such scripts may be loaded in .bashrc or .bash_profile to enable Bash autocompletion:

echo '. bitsongd_completion' >> ~/.bashrc
echo '. bitsongcli_completion' >> ~/.bashrc

Refer to the user's manual of your interpreter provided by your operating system for information on how to enable shell autocompletion.

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