Lisk SDK

What is the Lisk SDK?

The Lisk SDK aims to provide an easy and reliable software development kit for building blockchain applications which are compatible with the Lisk protocol.

The architecture of the Lisk SDK has been designed so that it can be extended to meet the requirements of a wide variety of blockchain application use cases.

The codebase is written entirely in JavaScript/TypeScript, which means for a majority of developers, no significant change of tools or mindset is required to get started.

The Lisk SDK makes every effort to allow developers to focus simply and purely on writing the code that matters to their own blockchain application, and nothing more.

Usage

Lisk SDK is an all-in-one package that provides you with tools to create, run and maintain blockchain applications in JavaScript/TypeScript.

Dependencies

The following dependencies need to be installed in order to run blockchain clients created with the Lisk SDK.

Node.js

If you are using NVM, install the correct version as shown below:

nvm install v18.16.0

Lisk Commander

It is recommended to install Lisk Commander globally with NPM (Node Package Manager), to facilitate the convenient usage of the Lisk Commander CLI.

npm install --global lisk-commander@beta

To check the successful installation of Lisk Commander, run the following command:

$ lisk --version
lisk-commander/6.0.0 darwin-arm64 node-v18.16.0

Toolchain dependencies

Once Lisk Commander is installed, install the following compiler dependencies as well.

Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y libtool automake autoconf curl build-essential python2-minimal

macOS

Ensure that Homebrew is installed.

brew install autoconf automake libtool python2

Initializing a new blockchain client

Execute the lisk init command of Lisk Commander as shown below, to bootstrap a default blockchain client in the current folder.

lisk init

As a result of executing the init command, you will be asked for the Name, ChainID, Description, Author, and License of the new blockchain client.

Using template "lisk-ts"
Initializing git repository
Updating .liskrc.json file
Creating project structure
? Application name my_client
? Chain ID in hex representation. ChainID must be 4 bytes (8 characters) 12345678
? Application description A simple blockchain client for my Web3 application
? Author XYZ
? License ISC

Next, all the required files are created by Lisk Commander.

It is now already possible to start the newly bootstrapped blockchain client with default configurations for a local Devnet:

./bin/run start

Configure your blockchain parameters

The blockchain client offers a variety of configuration options such as blockTime, maxTransactionsSize, and much more.

For a complete overview of the client configuration options, please check out the SDK configuration reference and the Blockchain client configuration guide.

To use the custom config with the client, use the --config flag. Also add the --overwrite-config flag, if you used another config the last time the client was started.

./bin/run start --config config/custom_config.json --overwrite-config

Registering new modules and plugins

A module defines the logic that makes state changes on-chain, meaning that it will be a part of the blockchain protocol.

A plugin, on the other hand, defines an off-chain logic that is not part of the blockchain protocol but enhances the blockchain application features.

Add your new module or plugin to your blockchain client conveniently with Lisk Commander:

Generating a new module

Use the generate:module command in the root folder of the blockchain client to generate a ready-to-use module template.

lisk generate:module my-module-name

For more detailed explanations how to create a module, please refer to the guide How to create a module

Generating a new plugin

Use the generate:plugin command in the root folder of the blockchain client to generate a ready-to-use plugin template.

lisk generate:plugin my-plugin-name

For a more detailed explanation of how to create a plugin, please refer to the guide: How to create a plugin

Documentation

For further explanations, guides and tutorials, see the official Lisk SDK documentation.

Architecture Overview

The Lisk SDK operates on the NodeJS runtime and consists primarily of an application framework (Lisk Framework), a collection of libraries providing blockchain application functionalities (Lisk Elements), and a powerful command-line tool (Lisk Commander) helping developers to build a blockchain application using Lisk Framework. The diagram below provides a high-level overview of the architecture:

Packages

Directory	Description
Framework	An application framework responsible for establishing and maintaining the interactions between the modules of a Lisk blockchain application.
Elements	A collection of libraries, each of them implementing some form of blockchain application functionality such as cryptography, transactions, p2p, etc.
Commander	A command line tool to help developers to build a blockchain application using Lisk Framework.

Get Involved

Reason	How
Want to chat with our community	Reach them on Discord
Found a bug	Open a new issue
Found a security issue	See our bounty program
Want to share your research	Propose your research
Want to develop with us	Create a fork

How to Contribute

To contribute to lisk-sdk, framework or elements:

Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/LiskHQ/lisk-sdk.git
Install Yarn Classic globally
Install dependencies and build:
1. yarn
2. yarn build

Testing your local `lisk-sdk` in your application.

In order to link your local lisk-sdk repository and test your application which uses lisk-sdk, simply follow the steps below in your local lisk-sdk repository and run yarn link lisk-sdk in the root of your application.

cd sdk
yarn link
Once you have linked your local repo, every time you make changes in lisk-sdk/elements you must build packages before testing:

a. To build all packages: npm run build or yarn build

b. To build specific package: yarn workspace <package name> build or go into each package folder and yarn build or npm run build Example: yarn workspace @liskhq/lisk-p2p build

Note: In case you face any issues during the installation, make sure you have the right version of yarn and node and try resetting the project with yarn clean:full.

Contributors

https://github.com/LiskHQ/lisk-sdk/graphs/contributors

Disclaimer

By using the Beta release of the Lisk SDK, you acknowledge and agree that you have an adequate understanding of the risks associated with the use of the Beta release of the Lisk SDK and that it is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, without any representations or warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event shall the Lisk Foundation or other parties involved in the development of the Beta release of the Lisk SDK have any liability whatsoever to any person for any direct or indirect loss, liability, cost, claim, expense or damage of any kind, whether in contract or in tort, including negligence, or otherwise, arising out of or related to the use of all or part of the Beta release of the Lisk SDK.

License

Copyright 2016-2023 Lisk Foundation

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.