Configuring and Starting Neo-CLI

After installation of Neo-CLI, this section we will walk you through the necessary configurations before running Neo-CLI and the steps to start Neo-CLI using commands.

Modifying configuration files#

Neo-CLI accesses the configuration file config.json during execution. You need to make necessary configurations in the file before starting Neo-CLI.

Configuring a wallet#

To make Neo-CLI automatically open a wallet when running, you can configure the wallet in config.json beforehand, as follows:

Path: the wallet path
Password: the wallet password. Note that the password configured here is displayed in plaintext!
IsActive: Set to true to allow Neo-CLI to open the wallet automatically.

Here is an example:

{  "ApplicationConfiguration": {    "Logger": {      "Path": "Logs",      "ConsoleOutput": false,      "Active": false    },    "Storage": {      "Engine": "LevelDBStore",      "Path": "Data_LevelDB_{0}"    },    "P2P": {      "Port": 10333,      "WsPort": 10334    },    "UnlockWallet": {      "Path": "wallet.json",      "Password": "1",      "IsActive": true    },    "PluginURL": "https://github.com/neo-project/neo-modules/releases/download/v{1}/{0}.zip"  },  "ProtocolConfiguration": {    "Network": 860833102,    "AddressVersion": 53,    "MillisecondsPerBlock": 15000,    "MaxTransactionsPerBlock": 512,    "MemoryPoolMaxTransactions": 50000,    "MaxTraceableBlocks": 2102400,    "InitialGasDistribution": 5200000000000000,    "ValidatorsCount": 7,    "StandbyCommittee": [      "03b209fd4f53a7170ea4444e0cb0a6bb6a53c2bd016926989cf85f9b0fba17a70c",      "02df48f60e8f3e01c48ff40b9b7f1310d7a8b2a193188befe1c2e3df740e895093",      "03b8d9d5771d8f513aa0869b9cc8d50986403b78c6da36890638c3d46a5adce04a",      "02ca0e27697b9c248f6f16e085fd0061e26f44da85b58ee835c110caa5ec3ba554",      "024c7b7fb6c310fccf1ba33b082519d82964ea93868d676662d4a59ad548df0e7d",      "02aaec38470f6aad0042c6e877cfd8087d2676b0f516fddd362801b9bd3936399e",      "02486fd15702c4490a26703112a5cc1d0923fd697a33406bd5a1c00e0013b09a70",      "023a36c72844610b4d34d1968662424011bf783ca9d984efa19a20babf5582f3fe",      "03708b860c1de5d87f5b151a12c2a99feebd2e8b315ee8e7cf8aa19692a9e18379",      "03c6aa6e12638b36e88adc1ccdceac4db9929575c3e03576c617c49cce7114a050",      "03204223f8c86b8cd5c89ef12e4f0dbb314172e9241e30c9ef2293790793537cf0",      "02a62c915cf19c7f19a50ec217e79fac2439bbaad658493de0c7d8ffa92ab0aa62",      "03409f31f0d66bdc2f70a9730b66fe186658f84a8018204db01c106edc36553cd0",      "0288342b141c30dc8ffcde0204929bb46aed5756b41ef4a56778d15ada8f0c6654",      "020f2887f41474cfeb11fd262e982051c1541418137c02a0f4961af911045de639",      "0222038884bbd1d8ff109ed3bdef3542e768eef76c1247aea8bc8171f532928c30",      "03d281b42002647f0113f36c7b8efb30db66078dfaaa9ab3ff76d043a98d512fde",      "02504acbc1f4b3bdad1d86d6e1a08603771db135a73e61c9d565ae06a1938cd2ad",      "0226933336f1b75baa42d42b71d9091508b638046d19abd67f4e119bf64a7cfb4d",      "03cdcea66032b82f5c30450e381e5295cae85c5e6943af716cc6b646352a6067dc",      "02cd5a5547119e24feaa7c2a0f37b8c9366216bab7054de0065c9be42084003c8a"    ],    "SeedList": [      "seed1.neo.org:10333",      "seed2.neo.org:10333",      "seed3.neo.org:10333",      "seed4.neo.org:10333",      "seed5.neo.org:10333"    ]  }}

Where:

ConsoleOutput: Whether to print log information on console. true means foreground and background printing, while false means background logging.
Active: Whether to enable Log
Engine: It defaults to LevelDBStore, which means the engine used by the blockchain to store data.
PluginURL: The downloading URL of the plugin, which will be used when using the CLI install command.

Connecting the node to network#

Neo-CLI connects to N3 main net by default. To connect the node to test net, replace the content of config.json with the content of config.testnet.json.

To connect the node to your private net, refer to Setting up Private Chain.

Installing plugins#

Some additional functionalities are individually encapsulated in plug-ins for the purpose of improving node security, stability, and flexibility. The user can select the desired extension functionality instead of invoking it with additional parameters every time starting neo-cli, thus avoiding many human errors and some tedious instructions such as opening a wallet and calling APIs.

The following table lists all the plugins:

Plugin	Description	API Included
ApplicationLogs	Synchronizes the smart contract log with the NativeContract log (Notify)	getapplicationlog	Recommended
DBFTPlugin	dBFT consensus plugin		Mandatory when served as a consensus node
LevelDBStore	Uses LevelDB to store the blockchain data		Mandatory
MPTTrie	Uses LevelDB to store the MPT data		Mandatory when served as a StateRoot consensus node
OracleService	Oracle service plugin		Mandatory when served as an Oracle node
RocksDBStore	Uses RocksDBStore to store the blockchain data		An alternative to LevelDBStore
RpcServer	Enables RPC for the node	RPC API	Mandatory
SQLiteWallet	A SQLite-based wallet provider that supports wallet files with .db3 suffix		Optional
StatesDumper	Exports Neo-CLI status data.		Optional
StateService	StateRoot consensus service plugin	getstateroot getproof verifyproof getstateheight	Mandatory when served as a StateRoot consensus node
TokensTracker	Enquiries NEP-11 and NEP-17 assets balance and transactions history of accounts through RPC	getnep11balances getnep11properties getnep11transfers getnep17balances getnep17transfers	Recommended

You can choose one of the following ways to install plugins:

(Recommended) Use the CLI command install/uninstall to install or uninstall plugins automatically.

For example:

neo> install StatesDumperDownloading from https://github.com/neo-project/neo-modules/releases/download/v3.1.0/StatesDumper.zipInstall successful, please restart neo-cli.

neo> uninstall StatesDumperUninstall successful, please restart neo-cli.

After installation, restart Neo-CLI for the plugin to take effect.

Download the plugin package from GitHub
Download the latest version plugin you need from here and then unzip the package under the neo-cli root directory.

Starting the NEO node#

Open the command line, navigate to the Neo-CLI directory, and enter the following command to start the Neo node:

On Windows 10:

dotnet neo-cli.dll

neo-cli.exe

On Linux (ubuntu 16.04/18.04):

./neo-cli

dotnet neo-cli.dll

note

If you use dotnet install .net core in advance.

If you want the external program to access the node API need to open the firewall port: 10331-10334, 20331-20334

warning

If you open the API service and the wallet in Neo-CLI, you need to set up your firewall policy. For example, set a whitelist for the firewall to only allow access to these ports by whitelisted IP addresses. If completely opening the service to external network, others may be able to export the private key or transfer assets using API.