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Version: v1

Changing the Keyring Passphrase for the os Keyring Backend

At some point, you will need to create a key on a node in order to execute transactions. This can be easily achieved using the zigchaind keys command-line tool.

Key management operations​

Using the zigchaind keys command, you can perform various key management operations. For example:

  1. Recover an account named test_user from a mnemonic, storing the key in the test keyring backend, which does not require a passphrase:

    zigchaind keys add test_user --recover --keyring-backend test

  2. Delete test_user’s key from the os keyring backend, which uses the operating system's secure storage and does require a passphrase:

    zigchaind keys delete test_user --keyring-backend os

  3. List all keys stored on the default keyring backend, which is test:

    zigchaind keys list

  4. Explore additional operations:

    zigchaind keys --help

Changing the os keyring backend passphrase​

When interacting with the os keyring backend for the first time—such as when creating or recovering your first key—you will be prompted to set a keyring passphrase by entering it twice:

zigchaind keys add test_user --recover --keyring-backend os
> Enter your bip39 mnemonic
several words without meaning…
Enter keyring passphrase (attempt 1/3):
Re-enter keyring passphrase:

This passphrase will be stored by the system and required for any future operations using the same keyring backend.

Later on, if you delete the last key stored in the os keyring backend, you might want to reset the passphrase—especially if you plan to add keys again in the future.

zigchaind keys delete test_user --keyring-backend os
Enter keyring passphrase (attempt 1/3):
Key reference will be deleted. Continue? [y/N]: y
Key deleted forever (uh oh!)
zigchaind keys list --keyring-backend os
No records were found in keyring

Steps to reset the keyring passphrase​

  1. Locate the keyhash file under the '~/.zigchain/ directory:

    ls ~/.zigchain/
    config  data  keyhash  keyring-test  wasm

  2. Rename the keyhash file (to effectively reset the “os” backend keyring passphrase):

    mv ~/.zigchain/keyhash ~/.zigchain/keyhash.old
    user@node:~$ ls ~/.zigchain/
    config  data  keyhash.old  keyring-test  wasm

    Once this is done, the next time you attempt to add a new key using the os backend, you will be prompted to set a new keyring passphrase.