Multisig Authentication
The following steps demonstrate how to create a multisig transaction and then submit it against a local network using the Sui CLI. A transaction can be the transfer of an object, the publish or upgrade of a package, the payment of SUI, and so on. To learn how to set up a local network, see Connect to a Local Network.
To learn more about how to create multisig addresses and create multisig transactions using the TypeScript SDK, see the SDK documentation for details.
Step 1: Create keys
Use the following command to generate a Sui address and key for each supported key scheme and add it to the sui.keystore, then list the keys.
Use sui client to create Sui addresses of different key schemes.
sui client new-address ed25519
sui client new-address secp256k1
sui client new-address secp256r1
Step 2: Add keys to Sui keystore
Use sui keytool to list the signatures you created in the previous step.
sui keytool list
The response resembles the following, but displays actual addresses, keys, and peer IDs:
╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ ╭─────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮ │
│ │ suiAddress │ <SUI-ADDRESS> │ │
│ │ publicBase64Key │ <PUBLIC-KEY> │ │
│ │ keyScheme │ ed25519 │ │
│ │ flag │ 0 │ │
│ │ peerId │ <PEER-ID> │ │
│ ╰─────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ │
│ ╭─────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮ │
│ │ suiAddress │ <SUI-ADDRESS> │ │
│ │ publicBase64Key │ <PUBLIC-KEY> │ │
│ │ keyScheme │ secp256k1 │ │
│ │ flag │ 0 │ │
│ │ peerId │ <PEER-ID> │ │
│ ╰─────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ │
│ ╭─────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮ │
│ │ suiAddress │ <SUI-ADDRESS> │ │
│ │ publicBase64Key │ <PUBLIC-KEY> │ │
│ │ keyScheme │ secp256r1 │ │
│ │ flag │ 0 │ │
│ │ peerId │ <PEER-ID> │ │
│ ╰─────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Step 3: Create a multisig address
To create a multisig address, input a list of public keys to use for the multisig address and a list of their corresponding weights and the threshold (replacing <VARIABLES> with actual values).
sui keytool multi-sig-address --pks <PUBLIC-KEY-ED25519> <PUBLIC-KEY-SECPK1> <PUBLIC-KEY-SECP256R1> --weights 1 2 3 --threshold 3
The response resembles the following:
╭─────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ multisigAddress │ <MULTISIG-ADDRESS> │
│ multisig │ ╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮ │
│ │ │ ╭─────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮ │ │
│ │ │ │ address │ <SUI-ADDRESS> │ │ │
│ │ │ │ publicBase64Key │ <PUBLIC-KEY> │ │ │
│ │ │ │ weight │ 1 │ │ │
│ │ │ ╰─────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ │ │
│ │ │ ╭──────── ─────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮ │ │
│ │ │ │ address │ <SUI-ADDRESS> │ │ │
│ │ │ │ publicBase64Key │ <PUBLIC-KEY> │ │ │
│ │ │ │ weight │ 2 │ │ │
│ │ │ ╰─────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ │ │
│ │ │ ╭─────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮ │ │
│ │ │ │ address │ <SUI-ADDRESS> │ │ │
│ │ │ │ publicBase64Key │ <PUBLIC-KEY> │ │ │
│ │ │ │ weight │ 3 │ │ │
│ │ │ ╰─────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ │ │
│ │ ╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ │
╰─────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Step 4: Send objects to a multisig address
This example requests gas from a local network using the default URL following the guidance in Connect to a Local Network. If following along, be sure to replace <MULTISIG-ADDR> with the address you receive in the previous step.
curl --location --request POST 'http://127.0.0.1:9123/gas' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-raw "{ \"FixedAmountRequest\": { \"recipient\": \"<MULTISIG-ADDR>\" } }"
The response resembles the following:
{"transferred_gas_objects":[{"amount":200000,"id":"<OBJECT-ID>", ...}]}
Step 5: Serialize any transaction
This section demonstrates how to use an object that belongs to a multisig address and serialize a transfer to be signed. The tx_bytes value can be any serialized transaction data where the sender is the multisig address. Use the --serialize-unsigned-transaction flag for supported commands in sui client -h (publish, upgrade, call, transfer, transfer-sui, pay, pay-all-sui, pay-sui, split, merge-coin) to output the Base64 encoded transaction bytes.
Beginning with the Sui v1.24.1 release, the --gas-budget flag is no longer required for CLI commands.
sui client transfer --to <SUI-ADDRESS> --object-id <OBJECT-ID> --gas-budget <GAS-AMOUNT> --serialize-unsigned-transaction
Raw tx_bytes to execute: <TX_BYTES>
Step 6: Sign the transaction with two keys
Use the following code sample to sign the transaction with two keys in sui.keystore. You can do this with other tools as long as you serialize it to flag || sig || pk.
sui keytool sign --address <SUI-ADDRESS> --data <TX_BYTES>
Raw tx_bytes to execute: <TX_BYTES>
Serialized signature (`flag || sig || pk` in Base64): $SIG_1
sui keytool sign --address <SUI-ADDRESS> --data <TX_BYTES>
Raw tx_bytes to execute: <TX_BYTES>
Serialized signature (`flag || sig || pk` in Base64): $SIG_2
Step 7: Combine individual signatures into a multisig
This sample demonstrates how to combine the two signatures:
sui keytool multi-sig-combine-partial-sig --pks <PUBLIC-KEY-1> <PUBLIC-KEY-2> <PUBLIC-KEY-3> --weights 1 2 3 --threshold 3 --sigs <SIGNATURE-1> <SIGNATURE-2>
multisig address: <MULTISIG-ADDRESS> # Informational
multisig parsed: <HUMAN-READABLE-STRUCT> # Informational
multisig serialized: <SERIALIZED-MULTISIG>
You need only the signatures of the participating signers whose sum of weights >=k. You must provide all public keys and their weights, and the threshold that defined the multisig address.
Step 8: Execute a transaction with multisig
Use sui client to execute a transaction using multisig:
sui client execute-signed-tx --tx-bytes <TX_BYTES> --signatures <SERIALIZED-MULTISIG>
Related links
- Multisig: Definition of multisig transactions on the Sui network and how to use it with CLI.
- Multisig Typescript SDK: How to create multisig addresses and sign transactions using the Sui SDK.