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This guide is for the @privy-io/node library. If you are looking for the deprecated @privy-io/server-auth library, please see the NodeJS guide.

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0. Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you have completed the Setup guide, to get a Privy client instance, privy.

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1. Creating a wallet

First, we will create a wallet. You will use this wallet’s id in future calls to sign messages and send transactions.
  • Ethereum
  • Solana
import { APIError, PrivyAPIError } from '@privy-io/node';

try {
  const createdWallet = await privy.wallets().create({chain_type: 'ethereum'});
  const walletId = createdWallet.id;
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof APIError) {
    // When the library is unable to connect to the API,
    // or if the API returns a non-success status code (i.e., 4xx or 5xx response),
    // a subclass of `APIError` will be thrown:
    console.log(error.status); // 400
    console.log(error.name); // BadRequestError
  } else if (error instanceof PrivyAPIError) {
    // Other errors from the Privy SDK all subclass `PrivyAPIError`.
    console.log(error.message);
  } else {
    // This error is not related to the Privy SDK.
    throw error;
  }
}
Learn more about creating wallets.
When using the PrivyClient to work with the API, all errors thrown will be instances of APIError or PrivyAPIError. You should catch these errors and handle them accordingly, using the error’s status, name and message.

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User wallets

You can create a self-custodial user wallet using the SDK. First, create a user, then provision a wallet for that user.
  • Ethereum
  • Solana
try {
  const user = await privy.users().create({
    linked_accounts: [{type: 'email', address: '[email protected]'}],
  });

  const {id, address, chain_type} = await privy.wallets().create({
    chain_type: 'ethereum',
    owner: {user_id: user.id}
  });

} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}
If you are creating a user wallet, you must specify the user ID as the owner of the wallet. You can obtain a user ID by first creating a user before creating the wallet.Or, you can create a user and wallet at the same time.

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2. Signing a message

Next, we’ll sign a plaintext message with the wallet using the signMessage method. Make sure to specify your wallet ID (not address) from creation in the input.
  • Ethereum
  • Solana
try {
  const message = "Hello, Privy!";

  const response = await privy.wallets().ethereum().signMessage(walletId, { message });
  // Signature is hex-encoded for Ethereum
  const signature = response.signature;
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof APIError) {
    console.log(error.status, error.name);
  } else if (error instanceof PrivyAPIError) {
    console.log(error.message);
  } else {
    throw error;
  }
}
Learn more about signing messages.

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3. Sending transactions

Your wallet must have some funds in order to send a transaction. You can use a testnet faucet to test transacting on a testnet (e.g. Base Sepolia) or send funds to the wallet on the network of your choice.
To send a transaction from your wallet, use the sendTransaction method. It will populate missing network-related values (gas limit, gas fee values, nonce, type), sign your transaction, broadcast it to the network, and return the transaction hash to you. In the request, make sure to specify your wallet id from your wallet creation above, as well as the caip2 chain ID and chain_id values for the network you want to transact on. Also, input your recipient or smart contract address in the to field.
  • Ethereum
  • Solana
try {
    const caip2 = "eip155:11155111"; // Sepolia testnet

    const response = await privy.wallets().ethereum().sendTransaction(walletId, {
      caip2,
      params: {
        transaction: {
          to: recipientAddress,
          value: "0x1", // 1 wei
          chain_id: 11_155_111, // Sepolia testnet
        },
      },
    });
    const transactionHash = response.hash;
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof APIError) {
    console.log(error.status, error.name);
  } else if (error instanceof PrivyAPIError) {
    console.log(error.message);
  } else {
    throw error;
  }
}
Learn more about sending transactions.
If you’re interested in more control, you can prepare and broadcast the transaction yourself, and simply use eth_signTransaction (EVM) and signTransaction (Solana) RPCs to sign the transaction with a wallet.

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4. Creating a user

To create a user for your application, you can use the create method, passing in a UserCreateRequestBody object, which allows you to specify the linked accounts, custom metadata, and wallets that should be associated with said user. 
import {APIError, PrivyAPIError, PrivyClient} from '@privy-io/node';

const privy = new PrivyClient({appId: 'insert-your-app-id', appSecret: 'insert-your-app-secret'});

try {
  const user = await privy.users().create({
    linked_accounts: [
      {type: 'custom_auth', custom_user_id: '$SUBJECT_ID'},
      {type: 'email', address: '$EMAIL'}
    ]
  });

  const userId = user.id;
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof APIError) {
    console.log(error.status, error.name);
  } else if (error instanceof PrivyAPIError) {
    console.log(error.message);
  } else {
    throw error;
  }
}
Learn more about creating users, and look at our pregenerating wallets guide for linking wallets to your users before they even sign in.

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Next steps & advanced topics

  • For an additional layer of security, you can choose to sign your requests with authorization keys.
  • To restrict what wallets can do, you can set up policies.
  • To prevent double sending the same transaction, take a look at our support for idempotency keys.
  • If you want to require multiple parties to sign off before sending a transaction for a wallet, you can accomplish this through the use of quorum approvals.