Skip to main content

🔑 Account Management

Learn how Cedra accounts work and how to manage them effectively using the TypeScript SDK.

Navigation

📍 You are here: Account Management ⬅️ Previous: TypeScript SDK Overview ➡️ Next: Transaction Guide

What's in an Account?​

Every Cedra account on-chain contains:

  • Sequence Number: Current transaction count (like nonce in Ethereum)
  • Authentication Key: Used to verify transaction signatures
  • Resources: Data owned by the account (tokens, NFTs, etc.)
  • Modules: Smart contracts deployed by this account

Unlike Ethereum where accounts exist as soon as you generate a keypair, Cedra uses a lazy initialization model:

AspectEthereum (EVM)Cedra
Account CreationExists immediatelyCreated on first transaction
Address Format20 bytes (0x...)32 bytes (0x...)
Balance Before FundingCan be queried (returns 0)Account doesn't exist
Gas PaymentOnly in ETHMultiple tokens supported
State StorageGlobal state treeResources owned by account

Off-chain vs On-chain: When you generate an account, it only exists in your local environment. The account is created on-chain when it receives its first transaction or tokens.

Resources: Unlike EVM's global state, Cedra accounts own their data as "resources". Think of resources as objects that belong to specific accounts - like having a personal vault instead of entries in a shared ledger.

Sequence Numbers: Similar to Ethereum's nonce, but strictly sequential. Each transaction from an account must have the next sequence number.

🆕 Creating Your First Account​

Generating a new account is straightforward. Remember, this only creates the account locally - it won't exist on-chain until it receives tokens or sends a transaction.

import { Account } from "@cedra-labs/ts-sdk";

// Generate a new Ed25519 account (Cedra's default signature scheme)
const account = Account.generate();

// The account now has:
// - A unique address (32 bytes)
// - A public/private keypair
// - But does NOT exist on-chain yet

console.log("Address:", account.accountAddress.toString());
console.log("Public Key:", account.publicKey.toString());

// Save the private key securely - you'll need it to import the account later
const privateKeyHex = account.privateKey.toString();
Security First

Never expose private keys in production code! Use environment variables or secure key management services. The private key is shown here for educational purposes only.

📥 Importing Existing Accounts​

If you've previously created an account, you can import it using the private key:

import { Account, Ed25519PrivateKey } from "@cedra-labs/ts-sdk";

// Your saved private key (64 hex characters)
const PRIVATE_KEY = process.env.CEDRA_PRIVATE_KEY;

// Recreate the account from the private key
const privateKey = new Ed25519PrivateKey(PRIVATE_KEY);
const account = Account.fromPrivateKey({ privateKey });

// The address and public key are derived from the private key
console.log("Restored address:", account.accountAddress.toString());

💰 Checking Balances​

Here's how to check various token balances for an account:

import { Cedra, CedraConfig, Network } from "@cedra-labs/ts-sdk";

const client = new Cedra(new CedraConfig({ network: Network.TESTNET }));

// Check if account exists on-chain first
try {
  // Get CED balance
  const cedBalance = await client.getAccountCoinAmount({
    accountAddress: account.accountAddress,
    coinType: "0x1::cedra_coin::CedraCoin",
  });

  console.log(`CED Balance: ${cedBalance / 100_000_000} CED`);

  // Check a custom token (if you have any)
  const customBalance = await client.getAccountCoinAmount({
    accountAddress: account.accountAddress,
    coinType: "0x123::usdc::USDC", // Example custom token
  });

  // Get all token balances at once
  const allCoins = await client.getAccountCoinsData({
    accountAddress: account.accountAddress,
  });

  console.log("All tokens:");
  allCoins.forEach(coin => {
    console.log(`- ${coin.asset_type}: ${coin.amount}`);
  });

} catch (error) {
  console.log("Account doesn't exist on-chain yet");
}
CoinStore Resources

Each token type requires a CoinStore resource in the account. This is automatically created when the account first receives that token type.

Querying Account Data​

// Get comprehensive account information
const accountInfo = await client.getAccountInfo({
  accountAddress: account.accountAddress,
});

console.log("Sequence Number:", accountInfo.sequence_number);
console.log("Auth Key:", accountInfo.authentication_key);

// Get all resources (tokens, NFTs, and other data)
const resources = await client.getAccountResources({
  accountAddress: account.accountAddress,
});

console.log(`Account owns ${resources.length} resource types`);

// Check if account has deployed any smart contracts
const modules = await client.getAccountModules({
  accountAddress: account.accountAddress,
});

if (modules.length > 0) {
  console.log("Deployed contracts:", modules.map(m => m.abi.name));
}

Resources are the key difference from EVM: instead of a global state where contracts track balances, each Cedra account directly owns its resources. This makes the ownership model clearer and more secure.

🚀 Next Steps​

Ready to use your accounts? Continue with:

Edit page