[Keybase] Miniature Keybase Implementation to Enable M1 - Create and Delete

[andrewnguyen22]

Objective

Create a miniature Keybase that can create, store, and delete keys

Origin Document

In order to achieve the M1 milestone a mini-keybase implementation is needed to enable dynamic accounts and actors.

This keybase may be used for the following tasks:

• Signing blocks
• Signing transactions
• Signing arbitrary messages
• Signing multi-sig messages

Goals / Deliverables

Mini ED-25519 Keybase:

• Code complete implementation of:
  • CREATE and store keys
  • DELETE keys
• Document the key architecture

Non-Goals / Deliverables

• Integrating Keybase with the CLI or other parts of the codebase
• Implementing multisig

General issue checklist

• Update the appropriate CHANGELOG
• Update the README
• If applicable, update the source code tree explanation
• If applicable, add or update a state, sequence or flowchart diagram using mermaid
• Update any relevant global documentation & references
• Document small issues / TODOs along the way

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Creator: @andrewnguyen22

[andrewnguyen22]

NOTE: Please use the /shared/crypto/ed25519 as the P/K library

[andrewnguyen22]

Recommend to use a filesystem db for the implementation

Currently we are between Badger.db and Level.db

Please use one of these two options

[Olshansk]

tl;dr @adshmh Could you or someone on your team take this on?

@andrewnguyen22 did a detailed job at explaining what we need from a basic keybase solution. This is a precursor that can be worked on in parallel with the CLI being built by @deblasis: https://github.com/pokt-network/pocket/pull/169/files

The keybase doesn't need to be anything fancy, and I think it can actually be copy-pastad or extracted from V0, tendermint or ignite CLI? For example, just using main/client/keys and taking out the pieces we need.

[Olshansk]

@Jasonyou1995 When you have time to tackle things, one thing I would suggest is doing a bit of research & learning about what a keybase is and how it works. For example, see the summary of the research @deblasis did on the state of RPC in the crypto industry here: #213

As someone who has never built one myself, here is how I would go about it:

1. Get some high level context googling / researching and reading through, for example, this: https://keybase.io/docs/api/1.0
2. Seeing what their API / specs are like: https://keybase.io/docs/api/1.0/call/key/add
3. Installing the Pocket V0 CLI and seeing the tools available there as a reference
   
4. I would then look at the "latest and greatest" tools in the market when it comes to node interaction (e.g. https://ignite.com/)
5. After diving into the code, I found this: https://github.com/ignite/cli/blob/7996b0a3ea0ea528e9558542defcd47c4cd6f1b5/ignite/pkg/cosmoscmd/root.go#L246
   
6. It looks like (based on the import), that they use cosmos, which led me here: https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/tree/main/client/keys
7. Since the keybase isn't something very unique to Pocket, but something we 100% need, and because v0 is a fork of cosmos, I think that using this as a reference is the way to go.
8. I would personally copy-pasta only the parts we need (e.g. create in this PR), make w/e improvements I find, and customize it to Pocket's utility.

Lmk if that's enough context to get you going.

[Jasonyou1995]

I'm working on this issue now! Thank you so much for the detailed guide. It's very helpful for me to get started.

[Olshansk]

@Jasonyou1995 I've removed entrypoint from this PR.

Check out the demo @deblasis documented in #169

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In v0, here are the entrypoints for create and delete

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In V1, @deblasis set us up for something equally as simple:

Also, now that we merged in #177, you can search for TODO(#150) in the codebase and find places that need to be updated. https://github.com/pokt-network/pocket/search?q=%22TODO%28%23150%29%22

[Jasonyou1995]

Thanks for the clarification @Olshansk! Here are some questions I have:

1. I assume I'm implementing the miniature Keybase in the utility package to update the [Keybase] Miniature Keybase Implementation to Enable M1 - Create and Delete #150 marked functions with Keybase functions (create and delete).
2. My local Client is V0, and I couldn't see how the V1 entry point change will change how I implement Keybase. Could you please explain a little? Thanks!

[Olshansk]

1. It'll be part of the + some local (host) state you need to maintain. The utility module will simply get the private key.
2. Same idea but in a different codebase & with a different binary.

[Jasonyou1995]

Notes

• Discuss with Alessandro for integration and general requirements.
• Security requirements: documenting security tasks for future issues.
• Current stage: V0 entry point integration is expected. (potentially V1 integration)

[Olshansk]

• Discuss with Alessandro for integration and general requirements.

Per my comment above, I also believe the demo @deblasis put together is a great starting point too: #150 (comment)

• Security requirements: documenting security tasks for future issues.

This is VERY optional if you find / learn something interesting along the way.

For example, see the discussion related to ASCII armored JSON files here: https://docs.pokt.network/node/setup/

• Current stage: V0 entry point integration is expected. (potentially V1 integration)

We only expect an integration with V1 (i.e. this repo). The entrypoint is the CLI @deblasis is working on. The approach will be similar (though not identical) to that of V0.

[Olshansk]

Came by this while scowering other repos: https://github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-node/blob/main/libs/keystore/keystore.go

Could be an additional good reference for our keybase/keystore

[Olshansk]

See #338 as a reference for future iterations of this work.