Installing seid CLI

Complete guide to installing and setting up the Sei CLI (seid) tool, including wallet creation, EVM imports, and troubleshooting common installation issues.

What is seid CLI?

The seid CLI is the command-line tool for interacting with the Sei blockchain. It allows you to manage wallets, send transactions, query network data, and perform validator operations.

Prerequisites

• Go 1.23+: Installation instructions are available here.

Installation

To install seid, locate the version you wish to use on the sei-chain releases page. A list of the currently used versions on mainnet and testnet are displayed right below.

Then, execute the following commands with the version that you picked:

git clone https://github.com/sei-protocol/sei-chain
cd sei-chain
git checkout [VERSION]
make install

You can verify that seid was installed correctly by running:

seid version

Troubleshooting Installation

If you encounter an error like command not found: seid, you may need to set your GOPATH environment variable.

• Use go env GOPATH to find your GOPATH
• Add the following lines to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

export GOPATH=[your GOPATH from step 1]
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin

For more information see here.

Command Overview

Seid supports all the commands you need to interact with the chain. To see a list of available commands and explanations of what they do, run seid:

seid
Start sei app

Usage:
  seid [command]

Available Commands:
  add-genesis-account      Add a genesis account to genesis.json
  add-wasm-genesis-message Wasm genesis subcommands
  blocktest                run EF blocktest
  collect-gentxs           Collect genesis txs and output a genesis.json file
  compact                  Compact the application DB fully (only if it is a levelDB)
  config                   Create or query an application CLI configuration file
  debug                    Tool for helping with debugging your application
  ethreplay                replay EVM transactions
  export                   Export state to JSON
  gentx                    Generate a genesis tx carrying a self delegation
  help                     Help about any command
  init                     Initialize private validator, p2p, genesis, and application configuration files
  keys                     Manage your application's keys
  latest_version           Prints the latest version of the app DB
  migrate                  Migrate genesis to a specified target version
  prune                    Prune app history states by keeping the recent heights and deleting old heights
  query                    Querying subcommands
  rollback                 rollback cosmos-sdk and tendermint state by one height
  start                    Run the full node
  status                   Query remote node for status
  tendermint               Tendermint subcommands
  tools                    A set of useful tools for sei chain
  tx                       Transactions subcommands
  validate-genesis         validates the genesis file at the default location or at the location passed as an arg
  version                  Print the application binary version information

Flags:
  -h, --help                help for seid
      --home string         directory for config and data (default "~/.sei")
      --log_format string   The logging format (json|plain)
      --log_level string    The logging level (trace|debug|info|warn|error|fatal|panic)
      --trace               print out full stack trace on errors

Use "seid [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Adding a Wallet

You can create a new wallet using the seid keys command:

seid keys add $NAME

Output:

- name: [YOUR_KEY_NAME]
  type: local
  address: sei1[GENERATED_ADDRESS]
  evm_address: ""
  pubkey: '{"@type":"/cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey","key":"[PUBLIC_KEY]"}'
  mnemonic: ""

**Important** write this mnemonic phrase in a safe place.
It is the only way to recover your account if you ever forget your password.

[YOUR_24_WORD_MNEMONIC_PHRASE]

Please replace $NAME with the name you would like to use for this key. This will generate a seed phrase and store the account in the CLI for use.

Important: Write this mnemonic down and store it in a safe place. Never share your seed phrase with anyone.

Alternatively, if you would like to import an existing seed phrase, you can add the --recover flag:

seid keys add $NAME --recover

Output:

This will prompt you to enter your seed phrase, allowing you to import an existing wallet into the CLI.

> Enter your bip39 mnemonic
[ENTER_YOUR_EXISTING_MNEMONIC_PHRASE_HERE]

- name: [YOUR_WALLET_NAME]
  type: local
  address: sei1[RECOVERED_ADDRESS]
  evm_address: ""
  pubkey: '{"@type":"/cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey","key":"[PUBLIC_KEY]"}'
  mnemonic: ""

EVM Wallet Compatibility

Understanding Coin Types

Sei supports two coin types:

• Coin type 118 (default): Standard Cosmos address format
• Coin type 60: Ethereum-compatible address format for EVM wallets

Creating an EVM-Compatible Wallet

To create a new wallet that’s compatible with EVM wallets like MetaMask:

seid keys add $NAME --coin-type=60

Output:

- name: [YOUR_KEY_NAME]
  type: local
  address: sei1[GENERATED_ADDRESS]
  evm_address: ""
  pubkey: '{"@type":"/cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey","key":"[PUBLIC_KEY]"}'
  mnemonic: ""

**Important** write this mnemonic phrase in a safe place.
It is the only way to recover your account if you ever forget your password.

[YOUR_24_WORD_MNEMONIC_PHRASE]

evm_address is shown as empty here because it’s only displayed after the key first broadcasts a transaction or is associated on-chain. The 0x address is deterministically derived from the secp256k1 public key.

Importing an Existing EVM Wallet

To import an existing wallet from MetaMask or other EVM wallets:

seid keys add $NAME --coin-type=60 --recover

Output:

> Enter your bip39 mnemonic
> [ENTER_YOUR_EXISTING_MNEMONIC_PHRASE_HERE]

- name: [YOUR_WALLET_NAME]
  type: local
  address: sei1[RECOVERED_ADDRESS]
  evm_address: ""
  pubkey: '{"@type":"/cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey","key":"[PUBLIC_KEY]"}'
  mnemonic: ""

You’ll be prompted to enter your existing 12 or 24-word mnemonic phrase.

Use coin type 60 when you want to use the same address across EVM-compatible chains or import from MetaMask. Use the default coin type 118 for standard Cosmos operations.

Managing Wallets

To see your local wallets, you can run:

seid keys list

Output:

- name: [YOUR_WALLET_NAME]
  type: local
  address: sei1[WALLET_ADDRESS]
  evm_address: [EVM_ADDRESS]
  pubkey: '{"@type":"/cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey","key":"[PUBLIC_KEY]"}'
  mnemonic: ""
  ...

to see a list of all wallets added, or

seid keys show $NAME

Output:

- name: [YOUR_WALLET_NAME]
  type: local
  address: sei1[WALLET_ADDRESS]
  evm_address: [EVM_ADDRESS]
  pubkey: '{"@type":"/cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey","key":"[PUBLIC_KEY]"}'
  mnemonic: ""

to see details about a specific wallet.

Deleting Wallets

To delete a wallet/key, you can use the following command:

seid keys delete $NAME

Output:

Key reference will be deleted. Continue? [y/N]: y
Key deleted forever (uh oh!)

This will remove the specified wallet from your local keyring. Be cautious, as this action cannot be undone.

Uninstalling seid

If you need to remove seid from your system, you can delete the binary from your $GOPATH/bin directory:

rm $(go env GOPATH)/bin/seid