Connect to Arkiv

This guide targets the Rabdi testnet. Check Networks for current testnets and faucets.

You reach Arkiv through two clients. A public client reads: it queries entities and watches events, and needs no account. A wallet client writes: it signs and sends transactions with an account. Both are viem clients with Arkiv’s actions added, so they take a chain and a transport like any viem client.

Make the chain

rabdi makes the chain from your access key. Arkiv’s public RPC is heavily rate limited to prevent abuse, so get a free key from the Arkiv Hub:

import { rabdi } from "@arkiv-network/sdk/chains"

const chain = rabdi({ accessKey: process.env.ARKIV_ACCESS_KEY ?? "" })

With accessKey: "", the chain uses the public RPC and logs a warning. In a browser app, read the key from your bundler’s public environment variables and lock it to your site. The examples below use this chain.

Read with a public client

import { createPublicClient } from "@arkiv-network/sdk"
import { http } from "viem"

const publicClient = createPublicClient({ chain, transport: http() })

A public client holds no account, so it’s safe in the browser. http() with no URL uses the chain’s RPC URL, which carries your access key.

Use of the public RPC is subject to the Arkiv Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Write from a server

On a server, sign with a private key. Keep the key in an environment variable or a secret store, never in code:

import { createWalletClient } from "@arkiv-network/sdk"
import { http, type Hex } from "viem"
import { privateKeyToAccount } from "viem/accounts"

const walletClient = createWalletClient({
  chain,
  transport: http(),
  account: privateKeyToAccount(process.env.PRIVATE_KEY as Hex),
})

Write from a browser wallet

In the browser, let the user’s wallet sign. Pass the wallet’s provider as a custom transport and the user’s address as the account:

import { createWalletClient } from "@arkiv-network/sdk"
import { custom } from "viem"

const [address] = await window.ethereum.request({
  method: "eth_requestAccounts",
})
const walletClient = createWalletClient({
  chain,
  transport: custom(window.ethereum),
  account: address,
})

This connects to the wallet directly. In an app that uses wagmi, such as one built with RainbowKit, build the client from wagmi’s connection instead.

The wallet asks the user to approve every write, and it has to be on Rabdi when it does. addChain adds Rabdi to the wallet and asks the user to switch to it. Add the chain without your access key:

import { rabdi } from "@arkiv-network/sdk/chains"

await walletClient.addChain({ chain: rabdi({ accessKey: "" }) })

Use of the public RPC is subject to the Arkiv Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Read and write with one setup

A wallet client has only the write actions. Keep a public client next to it for reads. Both can share the transport settings:

const transport = http()
const publicClient = createPublicClient({ chain, transport })
const walletClient = createWalletClient({ chain, transport, account })