Quickstart

Get started with WAX in under 5 minutes

This quickstart guide will help you create your first Hive blockchain transaction using WAX. Choose your preferred language to get started.

TypeScript

Installation

Install WAX using your preferred package manager:

npm

npm install @hiveio/wax

Create your first transaction

1. Import and initialize WAX

   import { createWaxFoundation, createHiveChain } from '@hiveio/wax';
   
   // For offline operations (transaction building)
   const wax = await createWaxFoundation();
   
   // For online operations (broadcasting, API calls)
   const chain = await createHiveChain();
   
2. Build a transaction

   Create a transaction and add operations. This example creates a vote operation:

   // Create a transaction
   const tx = await wax.createTransaction();
   
   // Add a vote operation
   tx.pushOperation({
     vote: {
       voter: "alice",
       author: "bob",
       permlink: "example-post",
       weight: 10000  // 100% vote (10000 = 100%)
     }
   });
   

   The weight field accepts values from -10000 (100% downvote) to 10000 (100% upvote).

3. Sign the transaction

   Sign the transaction with your wallet or signing provider:

   // Sign with Beekeeper (recommended for development)
   import { createBeekeeperSession } from '@hiveio/signers-beekeeper';
   
   const session = await createBeekeeperSession();
   const wallet = await session.createWallet("my-wallet");
   const publicKey = await wallet.importKey("5JYourPrivateKeyHere...");
   
   await tx.sign(wallet, publicKey);
   

   Never hard-code private keys in production. Use environment variables or secure key management.

4. Broadcast to the network

   Send your signed transaction to the Hive blockchain:

   // Broadcast the transaction
   const result = await chain.broadcast(tx.transaction);
   
   console.log('Transaction broadcasted!');
   console.log('Transaction ID:', result.id);
   console.log('Block number:', result.block_num);
   

Next steps

TypeScript SDK Guide

Learn more about the TypeScript SDK

Transaction Building

Deep dive into transaction building

Signing Options

Explore different signing providers

API Reference

Browse the complete API reference

Python

Installation

Install WAX using pip:

pip install hiveio-wax

WAX requires Python 3.12 or higher.

Create your first transaction

1. Import and initialize WAX

   from wax import create_wax_foundation, create_hive_chain
   
   # For offline operations (transaction building)
   wax = create_wax_foundation()
   
   # For online operations (broadcasting, API calls)
   chain = create_hive_chain()
   
2. Build a transaction

   Create a transaction and add operations. This example creates a vote operation:

   from wax.proto.operations import vote_operation
   
   # Create a transaction
   tx = wax.create_transaction()
   
   # Add a vote operation
   tx.push_operation(
       vote_operation(
           voter="alice",
           author="bob",
           permlink="example-post",
           weight=10000  # 100% vote
       )
   )
   

   The weight field accepts values from -10000 (100% downvote) to 10000 (100% upvote).

3. Sign the transaction

   Sign the transaction with Beekeeper wallet:

   from beekeepy import create_wallet
   
   # Create a Beekeeper wallet session
   async with create_wallet() as wallet:
       # Import your key
       public_key = await wallet.import_key("5JYourPrivateKeyHere...")
       
       # Sign the transaction
       await tx.sign(wallet, public_key)
   

   Never hard-code private keys in production. Use environment variables or secure key management.

4. Broadcast to the network

   Send your signed transaction to the Hive blockchain:

   # Broadcast the transaction
   result = await chain.broadcast(tx.transaction)
   
   print(f"Transaction broadcasted!")
   print(f"Transaction ID: {result.id}")
   print(f"Block number: {result.block_num}")
   

Next steps

Python SDK Guide

Learn more about the Python SDK

Transaction Building

Deep dive into transaction building

Signing Options

Explore different signing providers

API Reference

Browse the complete API reference

Common operations

Here are some other common operations you might want to try:

Transfer tokens

Transfer HIVE, HBD, or HIVE POWER between accounts:

TypeScript

tx.pushOperation({
  transfer: {
    from_account: "alice",
    to_account: "bob",
    amount: wax.hiveCoins(10),  // 10 HIVE
    memo: "Thanks for your help!"
  }
});

Python

from wax.proto.operations import transfer_operation

tx.push_operation(
    transfer_operation(
        from_account="alice",
        to_account="bob",
        amount=wax.hive(10),  # 10 HIVE
        memo="Thanks for your help!"
    )
)

Create a blog post

Publish content to the Hive blockchain:

TypeScript

tx.pushOperation({
  comment: {
    parent_author: "",
    parent_permlink: "blockchain",
    author: "alice",
    permlink: "my-first-post",
    title: "My First Post on Hive",
    body: "This is the content of my post...",
    json_metadata: JSON.stringify({
      tags: ["blockchain", "hive"],
      app: "my-app/1.0.0"
    })
  }
});

Python

from wax.proto.operations import comment_operation
import json

tx.push_operation(
    comment_operation(
        parent_author="",
        parent_permlink="blockchain",
        author="alice",
        permlink="my-first-post",
        title="My First Post on Hive",
        body="This is the content of my post...",
        json_metadata=json.dumps({
            "tags": ["blockchain", "hive"],
            "app": "my-app/1.0.0"
        })
    )
)

Follow another user

Use custom_json to follow another account:

TypeScript

tx.pushOperation({
  custom_json: {
    required_auths: [],
    required_posting_auths: ["alice"],
    id: "follow",
    json: JSON.stringify([
      "follow",
      {
        follower: "alice",
        following: "bob",
        what: ["blog"]
      }
    ])
  }
});

Python

from wax.proto.operations import custom_json_operation
import json

tx.push_operation(
    custom_json_operation(
        required_auths=[],
        required_posting_auths=["alice"],
        id="follow",
        json=json.dumps([
            "follow",
            {
                "follower": "alice",
                "following": "bob",
                "what": ["blog"]
            }
        ])
    )
)

Get help

Core Concepts

Understand how WAX works under the hood

Examples

Browse complete working examples