zcli

zcash wallet CLI — ssh keys as wallet seed

deterministic zcash wallet derived from ed25519 ssh keys. built for agents — any process with ssh access already has a wallet. no key ceremony, no mnemonic management, no interactive setup. same key, same wallet, same addresses, every time.

why agents

agents authenticate with ssh keys. zcli derives a zcash spending key from the same ed25519 seed — one key for both identity and money. no new secrets to provision, no seed phrases to store, no interactive prompts. a headless process can sync, check balance, and send transactions with a single binary and the key it already has.

ZCLI_IDENTITY=~/.ssh/id_agent zcli balance --script
{"transparent":0,"shielded":50000,"total":50000,"total_zec":"0.00050000"}

every agent gets a unique wallet from its ssh key. deterministic derivation means no state to back up beyond the key itself.

install

cargo install --git https://github.com/rotkonetworks/zcli

or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/rotkonetworks/zcli
cd zcli && cargo build --release
cp target/release/zcli ~/.local/bin/

usage

zcli -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 address          # show addresses
zcli sync                                   # scan chain
zcli balance                                # check funds
zcli send 0.01 u1...                        # send shielded
zcli shield                                 # t-addr → shielded
zcli receive                                # QR code
zcli notes --script                         # list received notes
zcli export                                 # export viewing key
zcli board --port 3333                      # sync loop + JSON API

all commands accept --script for machine-readable JSON output. set ZCLI_IDENTITY, ZCLI_ENDPOINT as env vars for headless operation.

architecture

zcli

the wallet. derives orchard spending keys and transparent keys from an ssh ed25519 seed via BLAKE2b-512("ZcliWalletSeed" || ed25519_seed). syncs by trial-decrypting compact blocks locally — the server never learns which addresses belong to you. builds and proves orchard transactions with halo2 locally.

zidecar

the backend. serves compact blocks with lightwalletd header proofs over gRPC-web. zcli trusts nothing from the server except what's provable against the zcash chain. default endpoint: zcash.rotko.net.

zync

the scanner library. shared trial-decryption logic for compact block scanning, used by both zcli and narsil. handles orchard note decryption, nullifier tracking, and witness construction.

narsil — threshold multisig

narsil brings threshold multisig to zcash via OSST (one-step schnorr threshold) signatures. a group of agents or humans split a spending key into shares — t-of-n threshold authorization for any transaction.

on-chain it looks like a normal wallet. validators cannot tell which members signed, how many there are, or whether anyone dissented. internal governance stays private. 100 shares, flexible allocation, weighted voting.

# formation: 3 agents, 2-of-3 threshold
narsil form --threshold 2 --members 3
# each agent holds shares, contributes to signing rounds
narsil sign --proposal "send 1.0 ZEC to u1..."
# aggregated OSST signature = indistinguishable from solo spend

narsil uses the pallas curve for orchard compatibility. relay-based coordination with pseudonymous mailboxes and e2e encryption. DKG ceremony for key generation, VSS backup for recovery.

donate

send shielded ZEC to the board wallet. amounts appear below.

u153khs43zxz6hcnlwnut77knyqmursnutmungxjxd7khruunhj77ea6tmpzxct9wzlgen66jxwc93ea053j22afkktu7hrs9rmsz003h3

scan with zashi or paste the unified address.