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Kadena’s WalletConnect Specification
4 minutes read
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Kadena’s WalletConnect Specification

We are excited to announce that we have taken the next step in standardizing development on Kadena, which will significantly improve the development experience for our community of builders and developers. We recently merged KIP-17, which defines our standard for interacting with the WalletConnect signing API.

Definition of this standard is something that was highly anticipated by our community, but why do we need WalletConnect in the first place? One of the keys to adoption from the perspective of both builders and users is ease of use. Within the Kadena ecosystem, we were faced with the following challenges:

  • The Kadena ecosystem does not have a standard protocol for wallets and dApps to communicate with each other.

  • Kadena’s previous Signing API required the wallet to be able to run an HTTP server. This is not feasible for some browser-based and mobile wallets.

WalletConnect

WalletConnect is the communications protocol for web3 that enables wallets and apps to securely connect and interact. WalletConnect offers connecting your wallet and verifying a transaction in a seamless, one-click experience. The WalletConnect protocol is tried and tested across all devices and it removes the burden of having to maintain a Kadena-specific implementation. In addition, Wallets and dApps that are already using the WC protocol will have an easier time integrating with the Kadena ecosystem.

Kadena’s WalletConnect Specification is built on top of the WalletConnect Specification.

How does it work?

There are basically three steps involved for a dApp and wallet to connect over WalletConnect.

  1. Retrieving the URL:

This is usually done by scanning a QR code that is provided by the dApp that wants to initiate the connection.

In cases where scanning isn’t possible, this can also be done by entering the URL directly in the wallet.

2. The Pairing Proposal:

The dApp initiates a pairing with a wallet using WalletConnect as a tunnel. This is done by sending a Pairing Proposal.

3. The Settlement:

The wallet responds with the Settlement. This contains information on which of the requested items it supports.

Pairing Proposal

pact
    // Proposal Request    {      // … other properties from the WalletConnect Proposal Request      "requiredNamespaces": {        "kadena": {          "chains": ["kadena:mainnet01", "kadena:testnet04", "kadena:development"],          "methods": [            "kadena_getAccounts_v1",            "kadena_sign_v1",            "kadena_quicksign_v1"          ],          "events": []        }      }    }
pact
    // Proposal Request    {      // … other properties from the WalletConnect Proposal Request      "requiredNamespaces": {        "kadena": {          "chains": ["kadena:mainnet01", "kadena:testnet04", "kadena:development"],          "methods": [            "kadena_getAccounts_v1",            "kadena_sign_v1",            "kadena_quicksign_v1"          ],          "events": []        }      }    }

Settlement

pact
    // Settlement Response    {      // … other properties from the WalletConnect Settlement Response      "namespaces": {        "kadena": {          "accounts": [            "kadena:mainnet01:38298612cc2d5e841a232bd08413aa5304f9ef3251575ee182345abc3807dd89",            "kadena:testnet04:38298612cc2d5e841a232bd08413aa5304f9ef3251575ee182345abc3807dd89",            "kadena:testnet04:22ddc64851718e9d41d98b0f33d5e328ae5bbbbd97aed9885adac0f2d070ff9c"          ],          "methods": [             "kadena_getAccounts_v1",             "kadena_sign_v1",             "kadena_quicksign_v1"          ],          "events": []        }      }    }
pact
    // Settlement Response    {      // … other properties from the WalletConnect Settlement Response      "namespaces": {        "kadena": {          "accounts": [            "kadena:mainnet01:38298612cc2d5e841a232bd08413aa5304f9ef3251575ee182345abc3807dd89",            "kadena:testnet04:38298612cc2d5e841a232bd08413aa5304f9ef3251575ee182345abc3807dd89",            "kadena:testnet04:22ddc64851718e9d41d98b0f33d5e328ae5bbbbd97aed9885adac0f2d070ff9c"          ],          "methods": [             "kadena_getAccounts_v1",             "kadena_sign_v1",             "kadena_quicksign_v1"          ],          "events": []        }      }    }

During the settlement process, public keys available in the wallet are returned so they can be used in the dApp. For some background and rationale on why public keys are being returned, please head to the Accounts vs Public Keys section of the KIP.

Interacting via WalletConnect

WalletConnect methods are ways for dApps to interact with a wallet using predefined method identifiers and an optional payload. The methods that we have defined for Kadena are:

  • kadena_getAccounts_v1: This method returns the Kadena account names and contract(s) on the Kadena blockchain.

  • kadena_quicksign_v1: QuickSign is part of the Kadena Signing API and was defined in kip-0015 (QuickSign Signing API v1). This method allows the wallet to show the user multiple transactions that need signature approval.

  • kadena_sign_v1: Sign is part of the Kadena Signing API. This method allows the wallet to show the user a single transaction that needs signature approval.

For details on these methods and signatures please refer to the specification in KIP-17.

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We hope that you are as excited about the KIP-17 merge as we are! A special thank you to Jacquin Mininger, Doug Beardsley, Albert Groothedde, and the community for helping finalize KIP 17.

Stay up to date on how Kadena is streamlining and redefining our developer experience by following all of Kadena’s social channels.