cerebro

Cerebro

REPL for the Nitrolite Go SDK. Provides access to both high-level smart operations and low-level RPC methods.

Installation

# From the repository root
go build -o cerebro ./cerebro

Or install directly:

go install github.com/layer-3/nitrolite/cerebro@latest

Quick Start

# Connect to node (a wallet is auto-generated on first run)
./cerebro wss://nitronode.example.com/ws

# Import an existing wallet (or use the auto-generated one)
cerebro> config wallet import

# Configure RPC endpoint for on-chain operations
cerebro> config rpc import 80002 https://polygon-amoy.g.alchemy.com/v2/YOUR_KEY

# Verify configuration
cerebro> config

# Approve token spending, deposit, transfer
cerebro> approve 80002 usdc 1000
cerebro> deposit 80002 usdc 100
cerebro> transfer 0xRecipient... usdc 50

# Withdraw funds
cerebro> withdraw 80002 usdc 25

Commands

Configuration

config                                                       Display current configuration
config wallet                                                Display wallet address
config wallet import                                         Import existing private key
config wallet generate                                       Generate new wallet
config wallet export <path>                                  Export private key to file
config rpc import <chain_id> <url>                           Configure blockchain RPC endpoint
config node                                                  Show node info
config node set-ws-url <url>                                 Set nitronode WebSocket URL
config node set-home-blockchain <asset> <chain_id>           Set home blockchain for channels
config session-key                                           Show current session key info
config session-key generate                                  Generate new session key
config session-key import                                    Import existing session key
config session-key clear                                     Clear session key, revert to default signer
config session-key register-channel-key <key> <hours> <assets>     Register channel session key
config session-key channel-keys                              List active channel session keys
config session-key register-app-key <key> <hours> [apps] [sessions]  Register app session key
config session-key app-keys                                  List active app session keys

Operations

token-balance <chain_id> <asset>             Check on-chain token balance
approve <chain_id> <asset> <amount>          Approve token spending for deposits
deposit <chain_id> <asset> <amount>          Deposit to channel (auto-create if needed; off-chain credit lags by the chain's confirmation delay)
withdraw <chain_id> <asset> <amount>         Withdraw from channel
transfer <recipient> <asset> <amount>        Transfer to another wallet (off-chain, instant)
acknowledge <asset>                          Acknowledge transfer or channel creation
close-channel <asset>                        Close home channel on-chain
checkpoint <asset>                           Submit latest state on-chain (off-chain credit lags by the chain's confirmation delay)

Queries

ping                          Test node connection
chains                        List supported blockchains
assets [chain_id]             List supported assets (optionally filter by chain)
balances [wallet]             Get user balances (defaults to configured wallet)
transactions [wallet]         Get transaction history
state [wallet] <asset>        Get latest state
home-channel [wallet] <asset> Get home channel
escrow-channel <channel_id>   Get escrow channel by ID

App Sessions

app-sessions                  List app sessions

Other

help                          Display help message
exit                          Exit the CLI

Configuration Storage

Default configuration locations:

• Linux: ~/.config/cerebro/config.db
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/cerebro/config.db
• Windows: %APPDATA%\cerebro\config.db

If a legacy clearnode-cli directory exists, it will be used with a warning suggesting you rename it to cerebro.

Override with environment variable:

export NITRONODE_CLI_CONFIG_DIR=/custom/path

Wallet Setup

On first run, a new wallet is automatically generated. You can also:

1. Import existing - config wallet import to enter your private key
2. Generate new - config wallet generate to create a new wallet
3. Export - config wallet export <path> to save your private key to a file

WARNING: Save generated private keys immediately. They cannot be recovered.

Command Parameters

Chain IDs

Use blockchain chain IDs (e.g., 80002 for Polygon Amoy, 84532 for Base Sepolia).

Asset Symbols

Use lowercase asset symbols (e.g., usdc, eth, dai).

Wallet Addresses

Full Ethereum addresses starting with 0x. Commands default to configured wallet when address is omitted.

Amounts

Decimal amounts (e.g., 100, 0.5, 1000.25).

Comma-Separated Lists

Assets, application IDs, and session IDs are passed as comma-separated values without spaces (e.g., usdc,weth or app1,app2).

Interactive Features

• Tab completion - Press Tab for command suggestions
• Command history - Use arrow keys to navigate history
• Context-aware - Chain IDs and assets autocomplete based on node data

Examples

Initial Setup

./cerebro wss://testnet.nitronode.example.com/ws
cerebro> config wallet import
cerebro> config rpc import 80002 https://polygon-amoy.g.alchemy.com/v2/KEY
cerebro> config

Deposit and Transfer

cerebro> approve 80002 usdc 1000
cerebro> deposit 80002 usdc 1000
cerebro> balances
cerebro> transfer 0xRecipient... usdc 100
cerebro> transactions

Session Keys

# Generate a new session keypair
cerebro> config session-key generate

# Register a channel session key (valid for 24 hours, for usdc and weth)
cerebro> config session-key register-channel-key 0xSessionKeyAddr... 24 usdc,weth

# List active channel session keys
cerebro> config session-key channel-keys

# Register an app session key (valid for 48 hours, for specific app IDs)
cerebro> config session-key register-app-key 0xSessionKeyAddr... 48 app1,app2

# List active app session keys
cerebro> config session-key app-keys

Query Network

cerebro> chains
cerebro> assets
cerebro> config node

Confirmation delay

On-chain operations (deposit, withdraw, checkpoint, close-channel) submit a transaction and return once it is mined. The node then waits a per-chain confirmation delay before crediting the result to your off-chain balance — a safety gate against chain reorganizations. Until it elapses, balances will not reflect a fresh deposit.

chains and config node print each chain's delay (confirmation_delay_secs; 0 means the gate is disabled and credit is immediate). Off-chain transfer is never gated. After a deposit/checkpoint, re-run balances once the printed delay has passed to see the credit.

Inspect State

cerebro> state usdc
cerebro> home-channel usdc
cerebro> balances 0xSomeAddress...

Security

• Private keys stored locally in SQLite (unencrypted)
• Database protected by OS file permissions
• Never commit config database to version control
• Backup private keys securely
• Use hardware wallets for production

Architecture

cerebro/
├── main.go         Entry point and terminal setup
├── operator.go     Command routing and completion
├── commands.go     Command implementations
└── storage.go      SQLite configuration storage

Uses layered architecture:

• Smart Client for high-level operations
• Base Client for low-level RPC access
• Local SQLite for secure configuration storage

Known issues

• Scrollback loss on macOS Terminal.app / iTerm2. Cerebro uses github.com/c-bata/go-prompt for the REPL. Its completion-menu renderer reserves screen rows via \x1bD (Index) + \x1bM (Reverse Index). On xterm-strict terminals RI pulls scrolled-out content back from the scrollback buffer; on macOS Terminal.app and iTerm2 (default settings) RI inserts a blank line at the top instead, permanently dropping whatever was scrolled off. Any cerebro session that triggers a completion menu (including typing exit) wipes shell history that existed before cerebro started. Tracked upstream as c-bata/go-prompt#206 and unresolved since 2020.

  Planned mitigation: replace c-bata/go-prompt with chzyer/readline or peterh/liner. Both preserve scrollback while still providing Tab completion; the completion glue in operator.go needs to be rewritten against the new lib's hook surface.

License

Part of the Nitrolite project. Licensed under the MIT License.