Sandbox Utility

The sandbox utility provides a simple way to use the most common ethers utilities required during learning, debugging and managing interactions with the Ethereum network.

If no command is given, it will enter a REPL interface with many of the ethers utilities already exposed.

Help

Usage: ethers [ COMMAND ] [ ARGS ] [ OPTIONS ] COMMANDS (default: sandbox) sandbox Run a REPL VM environment with ethers init FILENAME Create a new JSON wallet [ --force ] Overwrite any existing files fund TARGET Fund TARGET with testnet ether info [ TARGET ... ] Dump info for accounts, addresses and ENS names send TARGET ETHER Send ETHER ether to TARGET form accounts[0] [ --allow-zero ] Allow sending to the address zero [ --data DATA ] Include data in the transaction sweep TARGET Send all ether from accounts[0] to TARGET sign-message MESSAGE Sign a MESSAGE with accounts[0] [ --hex ] The message content is hex encoded eval CODE Run CODE in a VM with ethers run FILENAME Run FILENAME in a VM with ethers wait HASH Wait for a transaction HASH to be mined wrap-ether VALUE Deposit VALUE into Wrapped Ether (WETH) unwrap-ether VALUE Withdraw VALUE from Wrapped Ether (WETH) send-token TOKEN ADDRESS VALUE Send VALUE tokens (at TOKEN) to ADDRESS compile FILENAME Compiles a Solidity contract [ --no-optimize ] Do not optimize the compiled output [ --warnings ] Error on any warning deploy FILENAME Compile and deploy a Solidity contract [ --no-optimize ] Do not optimize the compiled output [ --contract NAME ] Specify the contract to deploy ACCOUNT OPTIONS --account FILENAME Load from a file (JSON, RAW or mnemonic) --account RAW_KEY Use a private key (insecure *) --account 'MNEMONIC' Use a mnemonic (insecure *) --account - Use secure entry for a raw key or mnemonic --account-void ADDRESS Use an address as a void signer --account-void ENS_NAME Add the resolved address as a void signer --account-rpc ADDRESS Add the address from a JSON-RPC provider --account-rpc INDEX Add the index from a JSON-RPC provider --mnemonic-password Prompt for a password for mnemonics --xxx-mnemonic-password Prompt for a (experimental) hard password PROVIDER OPTIONS (default: all + homestead) --alchemy Include Alchemy --etherscan Include Etherscan --infura Include INFURA --nodesmith Include nodesmith --rpc URL Include a custom JSON-RPC --offline Dump signed transactions (no send) --network NETWORK Network to connect to (default: homestead) TRANSACTION OPTIONS (default: query network) --gasPrice GWEI Default gas price for transactions(in wei) --gasLimit GAS Default gas limit for transactions --nonce NONCE Initial nonce for the first transaction --yes Always accept Signing and Sending OTHER OPTIONS --wait Wait until transactions are mined --debug Show stack traces for errors --help Show this usage and exit --version Show this version and exit (*) By including mnemonics or private keys on the command line they are possibly readable by other users on your system and may get stored in your bash history file. This is NOT recommended.

Examples

Creating New Wallets
/home/ethers> ethers init wallet.json Creating a new JSON Wallet - wallet.json Keep this password and file SAFE!! If lost or forgotten it CANNOT be recovered, by ANYone, EVER. Choose a password: ****** Confirm password: ****** Encrypting... 100% New account address: 0x485bcC23ae2E5038ec7ec9b8DCB2A6A6291cC003 Saved: wallet.json # If you are planning to try out the Goerli testnet... /home/ethers> ethers --network goerli fund 0x485bcC23ae2E5038ec7ec9b8DCB2A6A6291cC003 Transaction Hash: 0x8dc55b8f8dc8076acded97f9e3ed7d6162460c0221e2769806006b6d7d1156e0
Sending Ether and Tokens
# Sending ether /home/ricmoo> ethers --account wallet.json send ricmoo.firefly.eth 0.123 Password (wallet.json): ****** Decrypting... 100% Transaction: To: 0x8ba1f109551bD432803012645Ac136ddd64DBA72 From: 0xaB7C8803962c0f2F5BBBe3FA8bf41cd82AA1923C Value: 0.123 ether Nonce: 96 Data: 0x Gas Limit: 21000 Gas Price: 1.2 gwei Chain ID: 1 Network: homestead Send Transaction? (y/N/a) y Response: Hash: 0xc4adf8b379033d7ab679d199aa35e6ceee9a802ca5ab0656af067e911c4a589a # Sending a token (SAI) # NOTE: the contract address could be used instead but # popular token contract addresses are also managed # by ethers /home/ricmoo> ethers --account wallet.json send-token sai.tokens.ethers.eth ricmoo.firefly.eth 1.0 Sending Tokens: To: 0x8ba1f109551bD432803012645Ac136ddd64DBA72 Token Contract: 0x89d24A6b4CcB1B6fAA2625fE562bDD9a23260359 Value: 1.0 Password (wallet.json): ****** Decrypting... 100% Transaction: To: 0x89d24A6b4CcB1B6fAA2625fE562bDD9a23260359 From: 0xaB7C8803962c0f2F5BBBe3FA8bf41cd82AA1923C Value: 0.0 ether Nonce: 95 Data: 0xa9059cbb0000000000000000000000008ba1f109551bd432803012645ac136ddd64dba720000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000de0b6b3a7640000 Gas Limit: 37538 Gas Price: 1.0 gwei Chain ID: 1 Network: homestead Send Transaction? (y/N/a) y Response: Hash: 0xd609ecb7e3b5e8d36fd781dffceede3975ece6774b6322ea56cf1e4d0a17e3a1
Signing Messages
/home/ethers> ethers --account wallet.json sign-message 'Hello World' Password (wallet.json): ****** Decrypting... 100% Message: Message: "Hello World" Message (hex): 0x48656c6c6f20576f726c64 Sign Message? (y/N/a) y Signature Flat: 0xca3f0b32a22a5ab97ca8be7e4a36b1e81d565c6822465d769f4faa4aa24539fb122ee5649c8a37c9f5fc8446593674159e3a7b039997cd6ee697a24b787b1a161b r: 0xca3f0b32a22a5ab97ca8be7e4a36b1e81d565c6822465d769f4faa4aa24539fb s: 0x122ee5649c8a37c9f5fc8446593674159e3a7b039997cd6ee697a24b787b1a16 vs: 0x122ee5649c8a37c9f5fc8446593674159e3a7b039997cd6ee697a24b787b1a16 v: 27 recid: 0

Scripting

The eval command can be used to execute simple one-line scripts from the command line to be passed into other commands or stored in script environment variables.

Get the formatted balance of an account
/home/ethers> ethers --network goerli \ --account wallet.json \ eval \ 'accounts[0].getBalance().then(b => formatEther(b))' 3.141592653589793238
Get the current block number
/home/ethers> ethers --network goerli \ eval "provider.getBlockNumber()" 5761009
Convert a Solidity signature to JSON
/home/ethers> ethers eval 'utils.Fragment.from( "function balanceOf(address) view returns (uint)" ).format("json")' | json_pp { "inputs" : [ { "type" : "address", "name" : "owner" } ], "type" : "function", "payble" : false, "stateMutability" : "view", "ouputs" : [ { "type" : "uint256" } ], "name" : "balanceOf", "constant" : true }
Compute a topic hash
/home/ricmoo> ethers eval 'id("Transfer(address,address,uint256)")' 0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef
Create a random mnemonic
/home/ricmoo> ethers eval 'Wallet.createRandom().mnemonic' useful pond inch knock ritual matrix giggle attend dilemma convince coach amazing

Using Mnemonics (with a password)

All mnemonic phrases have a password, but the default is to use the empty string (i.e. "") as the password. If you have a password on your mnemonic, the --mnemonic-password will prompt for the password to use to decrypt the account.

/home/ricmoo> ethers --account mnemonic.txt --mnemonic-password Password (mnemonic): ****** network: homestead (chainId: 1) homestead> accounts[0].getAddress() <Promise id=0 resolved> '0x6d3F723EC1B73141AA4aC248c3ab34A5a1DAD776' homestead>

Using Mnemonics (with experimental memory-hard passwords)

The --xxx-mnemonic-password is similar to the --mnemonic-password options, which uses a password to decrypt the account for a mnemonic, however it passes the password through the scrypt password-based key derivation function first, which is intentionally slow and makes a brute-force attack far more difficult.

/home/ricmoo> ethers --account mnemonic.txt --xxx-mnemonic-password Password (mnemonic; experimental - hard): ****** Decrypting... 100% network: homestead (chainId: 1) homestead> accounts[0].getAddress() <Promise id=0 resolved> '0x56FC8792cC17971C19bEC4Ced978beEA44711EeD' homestead>
Note

This is still an experimental feature (hence the xxx).