Create Credential

This guide will walk you through the basic functions to get you started with the Veramo CLI by learning the basic commands and issuing a credential. The core API of Veramo is exposed by the CLI tool. All major functions can be executed locally using the CLI tool.

important

The CLI tool is currently only supported on MACOS and Linux systems. Windows support is coming soon.

First, we need to install the CLI globally:

npm i @veramo/cli -g

To check the CLI has installed, run:

veramo -v

# Output

1.x.x

Basics

Create an identifier, a credential, and learn where everything is stored.

Methods

To see all the commands run:

veramo --help

Options:

-v, --version output the version number

--config <path> Configuration file (default: "./agent.yml")

-h, --help display help for command

Commands:

did Decentralized identifiers

credential W3C Verifiable Credential

presentation W3C Verifiable Presentation

explore launch Verifiable Data explorer

sdr Selective Disclosure Request

message Messages

execute [options] Executes agent method

server [options] Launch OpenAPI server

config Agent configuration

dev Plugin developer tools

help [command] display help for command

Where is the data stored?

By default, the first time you run the CLI tool, a local agent will be created, and this will create a number of files on your computer.

~ Home

└─ .veramo/

├── .env

├── agent.yml # created when you run veramo create-config

├── database.sqlite

Create configuration

You can also use a per-project configuration or specify a configuration file with each command. If the current folder contains an agent.yml configuration file, it will be used instead of the .veramo/agent.yml path.

Alternatively, you can specify a config file with each command using the --config /path/to/your/config.yml option. This will be used instead of a per-project or default configuration file.

You can create a configuration file in the current folder by running:

veramo config create

This will create an agent.yml file that will get used next time you invoke a CLI command in this folder. By default, the database files are created in the same folder as the config file.

# From outside the directory

veramo did create --config ./myagent/agent.yml

# It will detect a local agent.yml file when run from within the myagent directory

veramo did create

Create a DID

The first thing you will want to do is create an identifier using the did create command. This command will create a DID and store the keys in a local database.

veramo did create

Resolve a DID

You can resolve any DID using the resolver:

veramo did resolve did:ethr:0xf3abebb0d4f5d7e08c2557772f9ce8692a795ab8

# Output

{ '@context': 'https://w3id.org/did/v1',

id: 'did:ethr:0xf3abebb0d4f5d7e08c2557772f9ce8692a795ab8',

publicKey:

[ { id:

'did:ethr:0xf3abebb0d4f5d7e08c2557772f9ce8692a795ab8#controller',

type: 'Secp256k1VerificationKey2018',

controller: 'did:ethr:0xf3abebb0d4f5d7e08c2557772f9ce8692a795ab8',

ethereumAddress: '0xf3abebb0d4f5d7e08c2557772f9ce8692a795ab8' } ],

authentication:

[ { type: 'Secp256k1SignatureAuthentication2018',

publicKey:

'did:ethr:0xf3abebb0d4f5d7e08c2557772f9ce8692a795ab8#controller' } ] }

Create a verifiable credential

Now let's create your first credential with Veramo using the DID you just created as both issuer and subject. This will be a self-signed credential. Follow the command prompt after running:

veramo credential create

# Output

{ credentialSubject:

{ name: 'Veramo',

id: 'did:ethr:0xf3abebb0d4f5d7e08c2557772f9ce8692a795ab8' },

issuer:

{ id: 'did:ethr:0xf3abebb0d4f5d7e08c2557772f9ce8692a795ab8' },

type: [ 'VerifiableCredential', 'Profile' ],

'@context': [ 'https://www.w3.org/2018/credentials/v1' ],

issuanceDate: '2020-12-15T12:57:25.000Z',

proof:

{ type: 'JwtProof2020',

jwt:

'eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJFUzI1NksifQ.eyJ2YyI6eyJjcmVkZW50aWFsU3ViamVjdCI6eyJuYW1lIjoiVmVyYW1vIn0sIkBjb250ZXh0IjpbImh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDE4L2NyZWRlbnRpYWxzL3YxIl0sInR5cGUiOlsiVmVyaWZpYWJsZUNyZWRlbnRpYWwiLCJQcm9maWxlIl19LCJzdWIiOiJkaWQ6ZXRocjoweGYzYWJlYmIwZDRmNWQ3ZTA4YzI1NTc3NzJmOWNlODY5MmE3OTVhYjgiLCJuYmYiOjE2MDgwMzcwNDUsImlzcyI6ImRpZDpldGhyOjB4ZjNhYmViYjBkNGY1ZDdlMDhjMjU1Nzc3MmY5Y2U4NjkyYTc5NWFiOCJ9.X8UCc-wU2nt3BDvXKp3TT2syb4Gl7_F2IVSZNo_NIcihY8xloQBkhnezsBpTDJkfcRBfKwuEb9yPqGjZGmVpWQ' } }

Go Explore

Run the explorer to open a commander terminal that shows you everything in your database!

veramo explore