Getting Started

Summary

Sonr enables developers to build applications with decentralized identity (DIDs), user-controlled authorization (UCANs), and cross-chain capabilities (IBC). This guide walks through environment setup, CLI installation, and creating your first application. Start with local development, then explore browser integration or backend services.

Core Components

Sonr consists of three main components:

Each component serves a specific role:

• snrd: Processes transactions and maintains blockchain state
• hway: Translates HTTP requests to blockchain operations
• motr: Executes user vault logic in isolated environments

Development Setup

# Verify installations
go version      # go version go1.21.0
node --version  # v18.0.0
docker --version # Docker version 24.0.0

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/sonr-io/sonr.git
cd sonr

# Install CLI
make install

# Verify installation
snrd version

# Start all components
make localnet-start

# Verify status
snrd status

make localnet-stop

Build Your First Application

Choose your development path:

Quick Example

Create a simple identity check:

import { SonrClient } from "@sonr/sdk";

// Connect to local network
const client = await SonrClient.connect({
  endpoint: "http://localhost:8080",
});

// Check if identity exists
const exists = await client.identity.exists("alice@example.com");
console.log(`Identity exists: ${exists}`);

Key Concepts

Understand these core concepts:

Decentralized Identity (DID)

W3C-compliant identifiers that users control. Each user has a unique DID like did:sonr:alice123.

User Controlled Authorization (UCAN)

Capability-based permissions that users grant to services. Services request specific actions with time and scope limits.

Decentralized Web Nodes (DWN)

User vaults that store encrypted data and execute logic. Each vault runs in an isolated WASM environment.

Service Registration

Applications register with DNS verification and stake tokens. This creates trust without central authorities.

Common Tasks

Next Steps

Additional Resources

• API Reference - Complete API documentation
• Example Applications - Sample code and patterns
• GitHub Repository - Source code and contributions