Account Management

Understanding account generation and management in Chain Forge.

BIP39/BIP44 Standard

Chain Forge uses industry-standard wallet protocols:

• BIP39: Mnemonic phrase generation (12 words)
• BIP44: Hierarchical deterministic derivation paths

Derivation path format:

m/44'/501'/index'/0'

Where:

• 44' = BIP44 standard
• 501' = Solana coin type
• index' = Account index (0, 1, 2, ...)
• 0' = Change index (always 0 for Solana)

Account Generation

Accounts are generated when you start the validator:

cf-solana start --accounts 10

This:

1. Generates a 12-word BIP39 mnemonic
2. Derives 10 accounts using BIP44 paths
3. Stores account data in ~/.chain-forge/solana/accounts.json

Wallet Compatibility

Accounts are compatible with popular Solana wallets:

• Phantom
• Solflare
• Ledger
• Any BIP39/BIP44 compatible wallet

Import using the mnemonic phrase and derivation path m/44'/501'/index'/0'.

Account Storage

Accounts are stored in ~/.chain-forge/solana/accounts.json:

[
  {
    "index": 0,
    "publicKey": "7xJ5k2m8...",
    "secretKey": [/* Uint8Array */],
    "derivationPath": "m/44'/501'/0'/0'"
  }
]

DANGER

This file contains private keys! Never commit or share it.

Mnemonic Management

Auto-Generated

By default, a new mnemonic is generated each time:

cf-solana start
# Displays: Generated mnemonic: word1 word2 ... word12

Fixed Mnemonic

Use a specific mnemonic for reproducibility:

cf-solana start --mnemonic "your twelve word phrase here..."

Test Mnemonic

Use a well-known test mnemonic:

cf-solana start --mnemonic "test test test test test test test test test test test junk"

WARNING

Never use test mnemonics with real funds!

Account Funding

Accounts are funded after validator startup via RPC airdrops.

Initial Funding

Set balance when starting:

cf-solana start --balance 100

Additional Funding

Add more SOL to an account:

cf-solana fund <PUBLIC_KEY> 50

Set Exact Balance

Using TypeScript:

await client.setBalance(publicKey, 500);

Account Security

Best Practices

1. Never commit ~/.chain-forge/ to version control
2. Add to .gitignore: .chain-forge/
3. Use separate mnemonics for different projects
4. Never share accounts with real funds
5. Use test mnemonics only for development

Securing Mnemonics

For production-like testing:

1. Store mnemonics in environment variables
2. Use secret management tools (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
3. Encrypt sensitive files
4. Restrict file permissions

Example:

export MNEMONIC="your twelve word phrase..."
cf-solana start --mnemonic "$MNEMONIC"

See Also

• CLI Commands
• Configuration
• Getting Started