Configuring EVM networks

Privy is compatible with any EVM-compatible chain, and makes it easy to configure networks for your users’ wallets.

You can seamlessly use Privy with Ethereum Mainnet, Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Monad, Berachain, MegaETH, Mantle, Story, and any chain that supports EVM RPC requests.

Check out a high-level overview of network configuration with Privy, or jump directly into concrete instructions!

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Overview

Privy exposes two parameters to configure networks: a single default chain and a list of supported chains.

If you choose not to use these parameters in your app, you can instead use Privy’s default configuration and supported chains.

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Default Chain

The default chain should be the primary network that wallets should use in your app.

For embedded wallets, when a user logs in or creates a wallet in your app, Privy will initialize the embedded wallet’s network to the default chain. Thereafter, the embedded wallet will by default use the default chain, unless you manually switch the wallet’s network to another supported chain.

For external wallets, when a user connects their wallet to your app, Privy will prompt the user to switch their network to the default chain, as long as the wallet supports the network. If the user declines to switch their network to the default chain, they will still be permitted to connect their wallet.

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Supported Chains

The supported chains list should be a list of networks that wallets are permitted to use in your app. This is intended as a guardrail against accidentally taking actions on the wrong network.

For embedded wallets, attempting to send a transaction on or switch the wallet to a network not in the list of supported chains will throw an error.

For external wallets, attempting to programmatically switch the wallet to a network not in the list of supported chains will throw an error.

If a list of supported chains is set but no default chain is set:

• Embedded wallets will be connected to the first entry of the supported chains list by default.
• External wallets will not be prompted to a particular default chain when connecting or logging in; they will be permitted to login on whatever chain they are on. If you’d like to prompt users to switch to a particular network, you should explicitly set a default chain.

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Configuration

Privy embedded wallets can support any EVM-compatible chain.

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viem-Supported Networks

To configure viem-supported networks for Privy, first, install the viem package. This package contains JSON representations of several EVM networks, which will be used to initialize the Privy SDK.

npm i viem

Next, import your default chain and/or supported chains from the viem/chains package:

// Replace this with any of the networks listed at https://github.com/wevm/viem/blob/main/src/chains/index.ts
import {base, berachain, polygon, arbitrum, story, mantle} from 'viem/chains';

Lastly, configure your PrivyProvider with these additional network(s). In particular, the config property of the PrivyProvider contains the optional parameters:

• defaultChain field, where you should pass a single chain object for your desired default chain
• supportedChains field, where you should pass a list of chain objects for your desired supported chains

<PrivyProvider
    appId='your-privy-app-id'
    config={{
        ...theRestOfYourConfig,
        // Replace this with your desired default chain
        defaultChain: base
        // Replace this with a list of your desired supported chains
        supportedChains: [base, berachain, polygon, arbitrum, story, mantle]
    }}
>
    {/* your app's content */}
</PrivyProvider>

The PrivyProvider will throw an error if:

• an empty array ([]) is passed into supportedChains
• a chain is passed into defaultChain that is not also included in supportedChains array

That’s it! You’ve successfully configured networks for external and embedded wallets in your app. 🎉

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Other Networks

First, import viem and use the package’s defineChain method to build a JSON representation of your desired network.

import {defineChain} from 'viem';

export const myCustomChain = defineChain({
  id: 123456789, // Replace this with your chain's ID
  name: 'My Custom Chain',
  network: 'my-custom-chain',
  nativeCurrency: {
    decimals: 18, // Replace this with the number of decimals for your chain's native token
    name: 'My Native Currency Name',
    symbol: 'My Native Currency Symbol'
  },
  rpcUrls: {
    default: {
      http: ['https://my-custom-chain-https-rpc'],
      webSocket: ['wss://my-custom-chain-websocket-rpc']
    }
  },
  blockExplorers: {
    default: {name: 'Explorer', url: 'my-custom-chain-block-explorer'}
  }
});

At minimum, you must provide the network’s name and chain ID, native currency, RPC URLs, and a blockexplorer URL.

Then, pass the returned object (myCustomChain in the example above) to the defaultChain and supportedChains properties of the PrivyProvider.

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Default Configuration

If you do not set defaultChain or supportedChains for your app, Privy defaults to the following:

• External wallets will not be prompted to switch networks when connecting to your app.
• Embedded wallets will initialize on Ethereum mainnet or the network used in the user’s previous session on that device.

For both external and embedded wallets, you can switch a wallet to any of the following networks that are available from Privy out-of-the-box. As a reminder, you can always configure Privy with additional EVM networks.

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Overriding a chain’s RPC provider

By default, transactions from the embedded wallet will be sent using Privy’s default RPC providers. Please note that Privy’s default providers are subject to rate limits; these limits are sufficiently generous for developing your integration and moderate amounts of app usage.

As your app’s usage scales, we recommend that you setup your own RPC providers (with Alchemy, QuickNode, Blast, etc.) and configure Privy to use these providers per the instructions below. Setting up your own providers gives you maximum control over RPC throughput and rate limits, and offers you much more visibility into RPC analytics and common errors.

To configure Privy to use a custom RPC provider, first, import the chain you want to override, and import the helper function addRpcUrlOverrideToChain from @privy-io/react-auth to override the RPC provider

import {mainnet} from 'viem/chains';

import {addRpcUrlOverrideToChain} from '@privy-io/react-auth';

const mainnetOverride = addRpcUrlOverrideToChain(mainnet, INSERT_CUSTOM_RPC_URL);

Now, you can add the chain returned by addRpcUrlOverrideToChain (e.g. mainnetOverride) to the supportedChains config option like before.

<PrivyProvider
  appId="your-privy-app-id"
  config={{
    ...theRestOfYourConfig,
    // Replace this with a list of your desired supported chains
    supportedChains: [mainnetOverride, ...otherChains]
  }}
>
  {/* your app's content */}
</PrivyProvider>