Setup

The following steps guide you through this process of setting up vBase Python Tools (vbase-py-tools) in your local environment.

vbase-py-tools is a set of common Python tools for high-level data science and infrastructure operations.

Note for Windows users: If you’re on Windows, the following instructions will work on the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). WSL provides a Linux environment on your Windows OS. Please follow the following guide to set up your WSL environment for vBase.

1. Get a vBase API key: Please contact vBase and request an API key if you wish to have the simplest experience. The API key is needed to access the forwarder API service, which simplifies commitment and validation operations but is not required for interacting with vBase.

2. Create the vBase directory: Create the directory where you want to clone vBase repositories and switch to this directory by running:

   mkdir ~/validityBase && cd ~/validityBase

3. Install the vBase Python SDK: Install the vbase python package that provides the vBase Python SDK from GitHub:

   pip install git+https://github.com/validityBase/vbase-py.git

4. Clone the vBase Python Tools: Clone the vbase-py-tools GitHub repository:

   git clone https://github.com/validityBase/vbase-py-tools.git

5. vBase Python Tools are installed! Command-line tools can now be run from the ~/validityBase/vbase-py-tools working directory. Enter the directory:

   cd vbase-py-tools

6. Install requirements: Install package requirements:

   pip3 install -r requirements.txt

7. Configure vbase-py-tools: vBase tools can be configured using an automatic configuration script or manually. We recommend an automatic configuration for the initial setup.

   1. Option 1: Use the automatic configuration script: Run the following script to configure the settings stored in the .env file automatically. The script will ask a few questions and initialize the appropriate environment variables.

      python3 -m tools.config_env

      You will be asked the following questions to configure the settings:

      Do you want to configure the vBase API key? (y/n) [yes]:

      Press yes to enter the API key provided to you by vBase. This should typically be done once upon the initial configuration. The vBase API key and access to the API server are not required to use vBase libraries, tools, and commitment services. They provide simple and convenient abstractions of the underlying complexities of accessing blockchains and managing cryptocurrencies.

      Do you want to generate a new private key? (y/n) [yes]:

      Press yes if you wish to generate a new private key and address. This should typically be done once upon the initial configuration. You should not share the private key. The script will print the address associated with the private key.

      Do you want to configure AWS access keys?

      This is the option to configure the environment variables used for AWS access. These are the same access keys as those used in AWS CLI tools (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-configure-envvars.html) If you do not plan to use AWS integration tools, you can skip this option.

   2. Option 2: Manually configure .env: Configure the environment variables for vbase-py-tools by editing ~/validityBase/vbase-py-tools/.env:

   # Forwarder Configuration
   # URL of the production vBase forwarder service.
   # Users should not change this value.
   VBASE_FORWARDER_URL = "https://api.vbase.com/forwarder/"
   # User API key for accessing the vBase forwarder service.
   # Users should set this value to the API key they received from vBase.
   VBASE_API_KEY = "YOUR_VBASE_API_KEY"
   ...
   # User Private Key
   # The private key for making stamps/commitments.
   # This key signs and controls all operations -- it must be kept secret.
   # vBase will never request this value.
   VBASE_COMMITMENT_SERVICE_PRIVATE_KEY = "YOUR_VBASE_COMMITMENT_SERVICE_PRIVATE_KEY"
   ...
   # AWS configuration:
   AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = "YOUR_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"
   AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = "YOUR_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"

   Below are additional details on the environment variables:

   • VBASE_API_KEY is the private API key for accessing the vBase API service.

   • VBASE_COMMITMENT_SERVICE_PRIVATE_KEY is the (private) cryptographic key suitable for signing Ethereum transactions. It can be generated using any of the mature key generation tools (https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/accounts/#account-creation, https://support.metamask.io/hc/en-us/articles/360015289632-How-to-export-an-account-s-private-key). Please keep the key private and do not disclose it to PitLabs or anyone else. Only the public address associated with the key is required for validation. The private key secures your access to vBase.

   • AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY must be defined for AWS operations such as S3 object commitment and validation.

8. Test Configuration: Test vBase connectivity and basic functionality:

   python3 -m tests.test_vbase_basics

9. You are all set! You can now run vBase Python Tools!

10. Run vbase-py-tools: vBase Python tools are now installed and configured. You can run them from the command line:

    python3 -m tools.commit_s3_objects --h