Gaia client

Gaia CLI

::: tip Note If you receive this error message:

Must specify these options: --chain-id  when --trust-node is false

you must choose whether you wish to verify lite client proofs. If you trust the node which you are querying, you can simply pass --trust-node=true - otherwise you'll need to specify --chain-id. :::

gaiacli is the command line interface to manage accounts and transactions on Cosmos testnets. Its configuration file resides in $HOME/.gaiacli/config/config.toml and can be edited either by hand or via the gaiacli config command:

gaiacli config chain-id gaia-9004

For more information on the command usage, refer to its help screen: gaiacli config --help.

Here is a list of useful gaiacli commands, including usage examples.

Keys

Key Types

There are three types of key representations that are used:

cosmos
- Derived from account keys generated by gaiacli keys add
- Used to receive funds
- e.g. cosmos15h6vd5f0wqps26zjlwrc6chah08ryu4hzzdwhc

cosmosvaloper
- Used to associate a validator to it's operator
- Used to invoke staking commands
- e.g. cosmosvaloper1carzvgq3e6y3z5kz5y6gxp3wpy3qdrv928vyah

cosmospub
- Derived from account keys generated by gaiacli keys add
- e.g. cosmospub1zcjduc3q7fu03jnlu2xpl75s2nkt7krm6grh4cc5aqth73v0zwmea25wj2hsqhlqzm
cosmosvalconspub
- Generated when the node is created with gaiad init.
- Get this value with gaiad tendermint show-validator
- e.g. cosmosvalconspub1zcjduepq0ms2738680y72v44tfyqm3c9ppduku8fs6sr73fx7m666sjztznqzp2emf

Generate Keys

You'll need an account private and public key pair (a.k.a. sk, pk respectively) to be able to receive funds, send txs, bond tx, etc.

To generate a new secp256k1 key:

gaiacli keys add <account_name>

Next, you will have to create a passphrase to protect the key on disk. The output of the above command will contain a seed phrase. It is recommended to save the seed phrase in a safe place so that in case you forget the password, you could eventually regenerate the key from the seed phrase with the following command:

gaiacli keys add --recover

If you check your private keys, you'll now see <account_name>:

gaiacli keys show <account_name>

View the validator operator's address via:

gaiacli keys show <account_name> --bech=val

You can see all your available keys by typing:

gaiacli keys list

View the validator pubkey for your node by typing:

gaiad tendermint show-validator

Note that this is the Tendermint signing key, not the operator key you will use in delegation transactions.

::: danger Warning We strongly recommend NOT using the same passphrase for multiple keys. The Tendermint team and the Interchain Foundation will not be responsible for the loss of funds. :::

Generate multisig public keys

You can generate and print a multisig public key by typing:

gaiacli keys add --multisig=name1,name2,name3[...] --multisig-threshold=K new_key_name

K is the minimum number of private keys that must have signed the transactions that carry the public key's address as signer.

The --multisig flag must contain the name of public keys that will be combined into a public key that will be generated and stored as new_key_name in the local database. All names supplied through --multisig must already exist in the local database. Unless the flag --nosort is set, the order in which the keys are supplied on the command line does not matter, i.e. the following commands generate two identical keys:

gaiacli keys add --multisig=foo,bar,baz --multisig-threshold=2 multisig_address
gaiacli keys add --multisig=baz,foo,bar --multisig-threshold=2 multisig_address

Multisig addresses can also be generated on-the-fly and printed through the which command:

gaiacli keys show --multisig-threshold K name1 name2 name3 [...]

For more information regarding how to generate, sign and broadcast transactions with a multi signature account see Multisig Transactions.

Fees & Gas

Each transaction may either supply fees or gas prices, but not both.

Validator's have a minimum gas price (multi-denom) configuration and they use this value when when determining if they should include the transaction in a block during CheckTx, where gasPrices >= minGasPrices. Note, your transaction must supply fees that are greater than or equal to any of the denominations the validator requires.

Note: With such a mechanism in place, validators may start to prioritize txs by gasPrice in the mempool, so providing higher fees or gas prices may yield higher tx priority.

e.g.

gaiacli tx send ... --fees=1000000uatom

or

gaiacli tx send ... --gas-prices=0.025uatom

Account

Get Tokens

The best way to get tokens is from the Cosmos Testnet Faucet. If the faucet is not working for you, try asking #cosmos-validators. The faucet needs the cosmos from the account you wish to use for staking.

Query Account balance

After receiving tokens to your address, you can view your account's balance by typing:

gaiacli query account <account_cosmos>

::: warning Note When you query an account balance with zero tokens, you will get this error: No account with address <account_cosmos> was found in the state. This can also happen if you fund the account before your node has fully synced with the chain. These are both normal.

:::

Send Tokens

The following command could be used to send coins from one account to another:

gaiacli tx send <destination_cosmos> 10faucetToken \
  --chain-id=<chain_id> \
  --from=<key_name> \

::: warning Note The --amount flag accepts the format --amount=<value|coin_name>. :::

::: tip Note You may want to cap the maximum gas that can be consumed by the transaction via the --gas flag. If you pass --gas=auto, the gas supply will be automatically estimated before executing the transaction. Gas estimate might be inaccurate as state changes could occur in between the end of the simulation and the actual execution of a transaction, thus an adjustment is applied on top of the original estimate in order to ensure the transaction is broadcasted successfully. The adjustment can be controlled via the --gas-adjustment flag, whose default value is 1.0. :::

Now, view the updated balances of the origin and destination accounts:

gaiacli query account <account_cosmos>
gaiacli query account <destination_cosmos>

You can also check your balance at a given block by using the --block flag:

gaiacli query account <account_cosmos> --block=<block_height>

You can simulate a transaction without actually broadcasting it by appending the --dry-run flag to the command line:

gaiacli tx send <destination_cosmosaccaddr> 10faucetToken \
  --chain-id=<chain_id> \
  --from=<key_name> \
  --dry-run

Furthermore, you can build a transaction and print its JSON format to STDOUT by appending --generate-only to the list of the command line arguments:

gaiacli tx send <destination_cosmosaccaddr> 10faucetToken \
  --chain-id=<chain_id> \
  --from=<key_name> \
  --generate-only > unsignedSendTx.json

gaiacli tx sign \
  --chain-id=<chain_id> \
  --from=<key_name>
  unsignedSendTx.json > signedSendTx.json

You can validate the transaction's signatures by typing the following:

gaiacli tx sign --validate-signatures signedSendTx.json

You can broadcast the signed transaction to a node by providing the JSON file to the following command:

gaiacli tx broadcast --node=<node> signedSendTx.json

Query Transactions

Matching a set of tags

You can use the transaction search command to query for transactions that match a specific set of tags, which are added on every transaction.

Each tag is conformed by a key-value pair in the form of <tag>:<value>. Tags can also be combined to query for a more specific result using the & symbol.

The command for querying transactions using a tag is the following:

gaiacli query txs --tags='<tag>:<value>'

And for using multiple tags:

gaiacli query txs --tags='<tag1>:<value1>&<tag2>:<value2>'

The pagination is supported as well via page and limit:

gaiacli query txs --tags='<tag>:<value>' --page=1 --limit=20

::: tip Note

The action tag always equals the message type returned by the Type() function of the relevant message.

You can find a list of available tags on each of the SDK modules:

Common tags
Staking tags
Governance tags
Slashing tags
Distribution tags
Bank tags :::

Matching a transaction's hash

You can also query a single transaction by its hash using the following command:

gaiacli query tx [hash]

Slashing

Unjailing

To unjail your jailed validator

gaiacli tx slashing unjail --from <validator-operator-addr>

Signing Info

To retrieve a validator's signing info:

gaiacli query slashing signing-info <validator-pubkey>

Query Parameters

You can get the current slashing parameters via:

gaiacli query slashing params

Staking

Set up a Validator

Please refer to the Validator Setup section for a more complete guide on how to set up a validator-candidate.

Delegate to a Validator

On the upcoming mainnet, you can delegate atom to a validator. These delegators can receive part of the validator's fee revenue. Read more about the Cosmos Token Model.

Query Validators

You can query the list of all validators of a specific chain:

gaiacli query staking validators

If you want to get the information of a single validator you can check it with:

gaiacli query staking validator <account_cosmosval>

Bond Tokens

On the Cosmos Hub mainnet, we delegate uatom, where 1atom = 1000000uatom. Here's how you can bond tokens to a testnet validator (i.e. delegate):

gaiacli tx staking delegate \
  --amount=10000000uatom \
  --validator=<validator> \
  --from=<key_name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

<validator> is the operator address of the validator to which you intend to delegate. If you are running a local testnet, you can find this with:

gaiacli keys show [name] --bech val

where [name] is the name of the key you specified when you initialized gaiad.

While tokens are bonded, they are pooled with all the other bonded tokens in the network. Validators and delegators obtain a percentage of shares that equal their stake in this pool.

Query Delegations

Once submitted a delegation to a validator, you can see it's information by using the following command:

gaiacli query staking delegation <delegator_addr> <validator_addr>

Or if you want to check all your current delegations with disctinct validators:

gaiacli query staking delegations <delegator_addr>

You can also get previous delegation(s) status by adding the --height flag.

Unbond Tokens

If for any reason the validator misbehaves, or you just want to unbond a certain amount of tokens, use this following command. You can unbond a specific shares-amount (eg:12.1) or a shares-fraction (eg:0.25) with the corresponding flags.

gaiacli tx staking unbond \
  --validator=<account_cosmosval> \
  --shares-fraction=0.5 \
  --from=<key_name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

The unbonding will be automatically completed when the unbonding period has passed.

Query Unbonding-Delegations

Once you begin an unbonding-delegation, you can see it's information by using the following command:

gaiacli query staking unbonding-delegation <delegator_addr> <validator_addr>

Or if you want to check all your current unbonding-delegations with disctinct validators:

gaiacli query staking unbonding-delegations <account_cosmos>

Additionally, as you can get all the unbonding-delegations from a particular validator:

gaiacli query staking unbonding-delegations-from <account_cosmosval>

To get previous unbonding-delegation(s) status on past blocks, try adding the --height flag.

Redelegate Tokens

A redelegation is a type delegation that allows you to bond illiquid tokens from one validator to another:

gaiacli tx staking redelegate \
  --addr-validator-source=<account_cosmosval> \
  --addr-validator-dest=<account_cosmosval> \
  --shares-fraction=50 \
  --from=<key_name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

Here you can also redelegate a specific shares-amount or a shares-fraction with the corresponding flags.

The redelegation will be automatically completed when the unbonding period has passed.

Query Redelegations

Once you begin an redelegation, you can see it's information by using the following command:

gaiacli query staking redelegation <delegator_addr> <src_val_addr> <dst_val_addr>

Or if you want to check all your current unbonding-delegations with disctinct validators:

gaiacli query staking redelegations <account_cosmos>

Additionally, as you can get all the outgoing redelegations from a particular validator:

  gaiacli query staking redelegations-from <account_cosmosval>

To get previous redelegation(s) status on past blocks, try adding the --height flag.

Query Parameters

Parameters define high level settings for staking. You can get the current values by using:

gaiacli query staking params

With the above command you will get the values for:

Unbonding time
Maximum numbers of validators
Coin denomination for staking

All these values will be subject to updates though a governance process by ParameterChange proposals.

Query Pool

A staking Pool defines the dynamic parameters of the current state. You can query them with the following command:

gaiacli query staking pool

With the pool command you will get the values for:

Not-bonded and bonded tokens
Token supply
Current annual inflation and the block in which the last inflation was processed
Last recorded bonded shares

Query Delegations To Validator

You can also query all of the delegations to a particular validator:

  gaiacli query delegations-to <account_cosmosval>

Governance

Governance is the process from which users in the Cosmos Hub can come to consensus on software upgrades, parameters of the mainnet or on custom text proposals. This is done through voting on proposals, which will be submitted by Atom holders on the mainnet.

Some considerations about the voting process:

Voting is done by bonded Atom holders on a 1 bonded Atom 1 vote basis
Delegators inherit the vote of their validator if they don't vote
Validators MUST vote on every proposal. If a validator does not vote on a proposal, they will be partially slashed
Votes are tallied at the end of the voting period (2 weeks on mainnet). Each address can vote multiple times to update its Option value (paying the transaction fee each time), only the last casted vote will count as valid
Voters can choose between options Yes, No, NoWithVeto and Abstain At the end of the voting period, a proposal is accepted if (YesVotes/(YesVotes+NoVotes+NoWithVetoVotes))>1/2 and (NoWithVetoVotes/(YesVotes+NoVotes+NoWithVetoVotes))<1/3. It is rejected otherwise

For more information about the governance process and how it works, please check out the Governance module specification.

Create a Governance proposal

In order to create a governance proposal, you must submit an initial deposit along with the proposal details:

title: Title of the proposal
description: Description of the proposal
type: Type of proposal. Must be of value Text (types SoftwareUpgrade and ParameterChange not supported yet).

gaiacli tx gov submit-proposal \
  --title=<title> \
  --description=<description> \
  --type=<Text/ParameterChange/SoftwareUpgrade> \
  --deposit="1000000uatom" \
  --from=<name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

Query proposals

Once created, you can now query information of the proposal:

gaiacli query gov proposal <proposal_id>

Or query all available proposals:

gaiacli query gov proposals

You can also query proposals filtered by voter or depositor by using the corresponding flags.

To query for the proposer of a given governance proposal:

gaiacli query gov proposer <proposal_id>

Increase deposit

In order for a proposal to be broadcasted to the network, the amount deposited must be above a minDeposit value (default: 512000000uatom). If the proposal you previously created didn't meet this requirement, you can still increase the total amount deposited to activate it. Once the minimum deposit is reached, the proposal enters voting period:

gaiacli tx gov deposit <proposal_id> "10000000uatom" \
  --from=<name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

NOTE: Proposals that don't meet this requirement will be deleted after MaxDepositPeriod is reached.

Query deposits

Once a new proposal is created, you can query all the deposits submitted to it:

gaiacli query gov deposits <proposal_id>

You can also query a deposit submitted by a specific address:

gaiacli query gov deposit <proposal_id> <depositor_address>

Vote on a proposal

After a proposal's deposit reaches the MinDeposit value, the voting period opens. Bonded Atom holders can then cast vote on it:

gaiacli tx gov vote <proposal_id> <Yes/No/NoWithVeto/Abstain> \
  --from=<name> \
  --chain-id=<chain_id>

Query votes

Check the vote with the option you just submitted:

gaiacli query gov vote <proposal_id> <voter_address>

You can also get all the previous votes submitted to the proposal with:

gaiacli query gov votes <proposal_id>

Query proposal tally results

To check the current tally of a given proposal you can use the tally command:

gaiacli query gov tally <proposal_id>

Query governance parameters

To check the current governance parameters run:

gaiacli query gov params

To query subsets of the governance parameters run:

gaiacli query gov param voting
gaiacli query gov param tallying
gaiacli query gov param deposit

Fee Distribution

Query distribution parameters

To check the current distribution parameters, run:

gaiacli query distr params

Query outstanding rewards

To check the current outstanding (un-withdrawn) rewards, run:

gaiacli query distr outstanding-rewards

Query validator commission

To check the current outstanding commission for a validator, run:

gaiacli query distr commission <validator_address>

Query validator slashes

To check historical slashes for a validator, run:

gaiacli query distr slashes <validator_address> <start_height> <end_height>

Query delegator rewards

To check current rewards for a delegation (were they to be withdrawn), run:

gaiacli query distr rewards <delegator_address> <validator_address>

Query all delegator rewards

To check all current rewards for a delegation (were they to be withdrawn), run:

gaiacli query distr rewards <delegator_address>

Multisig transactions

Multisig transactions require signatures of multiple private keys. Thus, generating and signing a transaction from a multisig account involve cooperation among the parties involved. A multisig transaction can be initiated by any of the key holders, and at least one of them would need to import other parties' public keys into their Keybase and generate a multisig public key in order to finalize and broadcast the transaction.

For example, given a multisig key comprising the keys p1, p2, and p3, each of which is held by a distinct party, the user holding p1 would require to import both p2 and p3 in order to generate the multisig account public key:

gaiacli keys add \
  p2 \
  --pubkey=cosmospub1addwnpepqtd28uwa0yxtwal5223qqr5aqf5y57tc7kk7z8qd4zplrdlk5ez5kdnlrj4

gaiacli keys add \
  p3 \
  --pubkey=cosmospub1addwnpepqgj04jpm9wrdml5qnss9kjxkmxzywuklnkj0g3a3f8l5wx9z4ennz84ym5t

gaiacli keys add \
  p1p2p3 \
  --multisig-threshold=2 \
  --multisig=p1,p2,p3

A new multisig public key p1p2p3 has been stored, and its address will be used as signer of multisig transactions:

gaiacli keys show --address p1p2p3

You may also view multisig threshold, pubkey constituents and respective weights by viewing the JSON output of the key or passing the --show-multisig flag:

gaiacli keys show p1p2p3 -o json

gaiacli keys show p1p2p3 --show-multisig

The first step to create a multisig transaction is to initiate it on behalf of the multisig address created above:

gaiacli tx send cosmos1570v2fq3twt0f0x02vhxpuzc9jc4yl30q2qned 1000000uatom \
  --from=<multisig_address> \
  --generate-only > unsignedTx.json

The file unsignedTx.json contains the unsigned transaction encoded in JSON. p1 can now sign the transaction with its own private key:

gaiacli tx sign \
  unsignedTx.json \
  --multisig=<multisig_address> \
  --from=p1 \
  --output-document=p1signature.json \

Once the signature is generated, p1 transmits both unsignedTx.json and p1signature.json to p2 or p3, which in turn will generate their respective signature:

gaiacli tx sign \
  unsignedTx.json \
  --multisig=<multisig_address> \
  --from=p2 \
  --output-document=p2signature.json \

p1p2p3 is a 2-of-3 multisig key, therefore one additional signature is sufficient. Any the key holders can now generate the multisig transaction by combining the required signature files:

gaiacli tx multisign \
  unsignedTx.json \
  p1p2p3 \
  p1signature.json p2signature.json > signedTx.json

The transaction can now be sent to the node:

gaiacli tx broadcast signedTx.json

Shells completion scripts

Completion scripts for popular UNIX shell interpreters such as Bash and Zsh can be generated through the completion command, which is available for both gaiad and gaiacli.

If you want to generate Bash completion scripts run the following command:

gaiad completion > gaiad_completion
gaiacli completion > gaiacli_completion

If you want to generate Zsh completion scripts run the following command:

gaiad completion --zsh > gaiad_completion
gaiacli completion --zsh > gaiacli_completion

::: tip Note On most UNIX systems, such scripts may be loaded in .bashrc or .bash_profile to enable Bash autocompletion:

echo '. gaiad_completion' >> ~/.bashrc
echo '. gaiacli_completion' >> ~/.bashrc

Refer to the user's manual of your interpreter provided by your operating system for information on how to enable shell autocompletion. :::

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Gaia client

Gaia CLI

Keys

Key Types

Generate Keys

Generate multisig public keys

Fees & Gas

Account

Get Tokens

Query Account balance

Send Tokens

Query Transactions

Matching a set of tags

Matching a transaction's hash

Slashing

Unjailing

Signing Info

Query Parameters

Staking

Set up a Validator

Delegate to a Validator

Query Validators

Bond Tokens

Query Delegations

Unbond Tokens

Query Unbonding-Delegations

Redelegate Tokens

Query Redelegations

Query Parameters

Query Pool

Query Delegations To Validator

Governance

Create a Governance proposal

Query proposals

Increase deposit

Query deposits

Vote on a proposal

Query votes

Query proposal tally results

Query governance parameters

Fee Distribution

Query distribution parameters

Query outstanding rewards

Query validator commission

Query validator slashes

Query delegator rewards

Query all delegator rewards

Multisig transactions

Shells completion scripts