HTTP Wallet Communications Substrate

• Brayden Langley ([e-mail])

• Ty Everett ([e-mail])

Abstract

The Bitcoin Wallet HTTP Interface is a standard interface that enables applications to connect with Bitcoin wallets to facilitate certain functionality. The interface provides a unified way for applications to request the creation of a Bitcoin transaction, encryption, digital signature creation, and other features provided by the wallet. By standardizing the interface, applications can support multiple wallets and give the user greater control over their Bitcoin-related activities.

Motivation

The motivation for this standard interface is to provide a common way for applications to connect with Bitcoin wallets. Currently, many Bitcoin wallets provide their own APIs, which makes it difficult for applications to support multiple wallets. The Bitcoin Wallet HTTP Interface standardizes the way that applications can interact with wallets, enabling them to be more easily integrated into various applications. This interface is designed to be flexible enough to support a range of wallets and use cases, while also providing a secure and standardized method of communication.

Specification

We define a standard HTTP substrate by which wallets can provide a communication channel to applications for the necessary tasks such as creating transactions, creating certificates, signature verification, and more.

All implementors of the HTTP substrate should conform to the following standard for the wallet HTTP API that allows applications to communicate in a predefined and standard way.

Host

We define the wallet HTTP server to support communication over localhost on port 3301. New API versions can be specified as needed using the standard of v1, v2, etc.

Host URL: http://localhost
Standard Port: 3301
Versioning Standard: v1, v2, etc

Example Encrypt Request URL: http://localhost:3301/v1/encrypt

Standard HTTP Requests

We define standardized HTTP requests that applications can use to communicate with wallets for performing various tasks.

Message Type	Request Method	Route Name	URL Query String Params	Request Body	Response Body
BRC-1 Transaction Creation	POST	createAction	No Params	JSON	JSON
BRC-2 Encryption	POST	encrypt	BRC-56 defined	Binary or String	Binary
BRC-2 Decryption	POST	decrypt	BRC-56 defined	Binary or String	Binary
BRC-3 Signature Creation	POST	createSignature	No Params	JSON	Binary
BRC-3 Signature Verification	POST	verifySignature	BRC-56 defined	Binary or String	JSON
BRC-53 Certificate Creation	POST	createCertificate	No Params	JSON	JSON
BRC-53 Certificate Verification	POST	proveCertificate	No Params	JSON	JSON
BRC-56 HMAC Creation	POST	createHmac	BRC-56 defined	Binary or String	Binary
BRC-56 HMAC Verification	POST	verifyHmac	BRC-56 defined	Binary or String	Boolean
BRC-56 Public Key Derivation	GET	getPublicKey	BRC-56 defined	None	JSON
BRC-56 Certificate List	POST	findCertificates	No Params	JSON	JSON
BRC-56 Version Request	GET	getVersion	No Params	None	String
BRC-56 Network Request	POST	getNetwork	No Params	None	String
BRC-56 Authentication Request	GET	isAuthenticated	No Params	None	JSON
BRC-56 Async Auth Request	POST	waitForAuthentication	No Params	JSON	JSON

JavaScript Code Example

const httpResult = await makeHttpRequest(
      'http://localhost:3301/v1/<routeName>',
      {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: {
          'Content-Type': 'application/json'
        },
        body: JSON.stringify({
          <requestBody>
        })
      }
    )

Implementation

Implementers of applications and wallets will need to create and process HTTP requests in the manner described, according to the various fields and properties as required by BRC-56, and in a manner consistent with the reference implementation, which is the Babbage SDK's HTTP substrate functionality.