web3.js - Ethereum JavaScript API
This is the Ethereum JavaScript API which connects to the Generic JSON-RPC spec.
You need to run a local or remote Ethereum node to use this library.
Please read the documentation for more.
Installation
Node
npm install web3
Yarn
yarn add web3
In the Browser
Use the prebuilt dist/web3.min.js
, or
build using the web3.js repository:
npm run build
Then include dist/web3.min.js
in your html file.
This will expose Web3
on the window object.
Or via jsDelivr CDN:
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/web3@latest/dist/web3.min.js"></script>
UNPKG:
<script src="https://unpkg.com/web3@latest/dist/web3.min.js"></script>
Usage
// In Node.js
const Web3 = require('web3');
let web3 = new Web3('ws://localhost:8546');
console.log(web3);
> {
eth: ... ,
shh: ... ,
utils: ...,
...
}
Additionally you can set a provider using web3.setProvider()
(e.g. WebsocketProvider):
web3.setProvider('ws://localhost:8546');
// or
web3.setProvider(new Web3.providers.WebsocketProvider('ws://localhost:8546'));
There you go, now you can use it:
web3.eth.getAccounts().then(console.log);
Usage with TypeScript
We support types within the repo itself. Please open an issue here if you find any wrong types.
You can use web3.js
as follows:
import Web3 from 'web3';
const web3 = new Web3('ws://localhost:8546');
If you are using the types in a commonjs
module, like in a Node app, you just have to enable esModuleInterop
and allowSyntheticDefaultImports
in your tsconfig
for typesystem compatibility:
"compilerOptions": {
"allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
"esModuleInterop": true,
....
Trouble shooting and known issues.
Web3 and Angular
If you are using Ionic/Angular at a version >5 you may run into a build error in which modules crypto
and stream
are undefined
a work around for this is to go into your node-modules and at /angular-cli-files/models/webpack-configs/browser.js
change the node: false
to node: {crypto: true, stream: true}
as mentioned here
Another variation of this problem was an issue opned on angular-cli: https://github.com/angular/angular-cli/issues/1548
Documentation
Documentation can be found at ReadTheDocs.
Building
Requirements
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nodejs
sudo apt-get install npm
Building (webpack)
Build the web3.js package:
npm run build
Testing (mocha)
npm test
Contributing
Please follow the Contribution Guidelines and Review Guidelines.
This project adheres to the Release Guidelines.
Community
Similar libraries in other languages
- Haskell: hs-web3
- Java: web3j
- PHP: web3.php
- Purescript: purescript-web3
- Python: Web3.py
- Ruby: ethereum.rb
- Scala: web3j-scala
Semantic versioning
This project follows semver as closely as possible from version 1.3.0 onwards. Earlier minor version bumps might have included breaking behavior changes.