SDK & CLI

The CLI

@asentum/cli is the canonical command-line tool for working with Asentum. Install it as a one-shot via npx, or globally:

curl -fsSL https://testnet.asentum.com/install | sh
asentum --help

Top-level commands:

• asentum init - initialize a local node data directory and configure peers
• asentum start - boot the local node (service mode by default)
• asentum wallet - create, import, list, and manage local wallets
• asentum tx - send transactions, query balances, watch for confirmations
• asentum contract - deploy contracts, call methods, read state
• asentum validator - validator key management, bonding, profile, monitoring
• asentum delegate - delegate ASE to a validator, claim rewards, undelegate
• asentum test - run a local in-memory chain and execute test suites against it

Run asentum <command> --help for the full reference for any subcommand.

The SDK

@asentum/sdk is the JavaScript/TypeScript client for talking to Asentum from your application code:

import { Chain, Wallet, Contract, Delegation } from '@asentum/sdk';

// Connect
const chain = new Chain({ rpc: 'https://testnet.asentum.com' });

// Wallet
const wallet = await Wallet.fromKeystore('./my-key.json');

// Read state
const balance = await chain.getBalance(wallet.address);
const block = await chain.getBlockNumber();

// Send a transaction
const tx = await chain.sendTransaction({
  from: wallet.address,
  to: 'ase1...',
  value: 10n * 10n ** 18n,
  signer: wallet,
});

// Interact with a contract
const contract = await chain.contract('ase1...');
const result = await contract.someMethod(arg1, arg2, { signer: wallet });

// Delegate
await Delegation.delegate({
  delegator: wallet.address,
  validator: 'ase1...',
  amount: 1000n * 10n ** 18n,
  signer: wallet,
});

The SDK is a thin layer over JSON-RPC that handles ML-DSA-65 signing, address checksumming, and Asentum-specific features (transaction bundles, delegation, etc.) transparently.

Testing framework

@asentum/testing provides a local in-memory chain you can run unit tests against. The test harness gives you:

• Snapshot & revert - wrap each test in a state snapshot and revert after
• Time control - advance the block clock manually for time-sensitive tests
• Pre-funded mock accounts - every test gets fresh wallets with testnet ASE
• Deterministic execution - same input, same output, every run

Tests run with Jest or Mocha - your existing test infrastructure works as-is.

Real-time subscriptions

For dApps that need real-time updates (incoming transactions, contract events, validator state changes), the SDK exposes WebSocket subscriptions:

const sub = chain.subscribe({
  type: 'logs',
  contract: 'ase1...',
  event: 'Transfer',
});

for await (const event of sub) {
  console.log('New transfer:', event);
}

Raw JSON-RPC

If you need to drop below the SDK abstraction, the chain exposes JSON-RPC directly. The supported subset is documented in Connect a Wallet.

Most existing Ethereum tools (ethers.js, viem, web3.js, Hardhat-style task runners) work over the same interface with thin shims. See the integration examples in those sections.