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Sign and Verify

In addition to creating accounts, leo account can be used to sign data and verify signatures. This can be useful for a particular class of applications that rely on signed data as input.

leo account sign​

The leo account sign command enables developers and users to create cryptographic signatures using an Aleo private key. These signatures can be verified within leo using the signature::verify function or with the leo account verify command.

To generate a signature for Leo and Aleo values, run the following:

# replace `5field` with any aleo value
leo account sign --private-key {$PRIVATE_KEY} -m 5field

# Output:
sign1...

To generate a signature for any plaintext, use the --raw flag:

# replace "Hello, Aleo" with any plaintext message
leo account sign --private-key {$PRIVATE_KEY} -raw -m "Hello, Aleo"

# Output:
sign1...

There are a few alternatives to using the --private-key flag:

  • --private-key-file <path/to/file> - read a private key from a text file
  • no flags - read a private key from environment, or .env

leo account verify​

To complement with the leo account sign command, the leo account verify command verifies the signatures of Aleo values and plaintext messages.

To verify signed aleo values, run:

# replace `5field` with the message and `sign1signaturehere` with the signature
leo account verify -a {$ADDRESS} -m 5field -s sign1signaturehere

# Output:
✅ The signature is valid

# Error Output:
Error [ECLI0377002]: cli error: ❌ The signature is invalid

To verify signatures of signed plaintext values, run:

# replace "Hello, Aleo" with the message and `sign1signaturehere` with the signature
leo account verify -a {$ADDRESS} --raw -m "Hello, Aleo" -s sign1signaturehere

# Output:
✅ The signature is valid

# Error Output:
Error [ECLI0377002]: cli error: ❌ The signature is invalid