---
title: personal Namespace
description: Documentation for the JSON-RPC API "personal" namespace
---

The personal API manages private keys in the key store.

## personal_deriveAccount

Requests a HD wallet to derive a new account, optionally pinning it for later reuse.

| Client  | Method invocation                                                        |
| :------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Console | `personal.deriveAccount(url, path, pin)`                                 |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_deriveAccount", "params": [string, string, bool]}` |

## personal_importRawKey

Imports the given unencrypted private key (hex string) into the key store, encrypting it with the passphrase.

Returns the address of the new account.

| Client  | Method invocation                                                 |
| :------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.importRawKey(keydata, passphrase)`                      |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_importRawKey", "params": [string, string]}` |

## personal_initializeWallets

Initializes a new wallet at the provided URL by generating and returning a new private key.

| Client  | Method invocation                                             |
| :------ | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.initializeWallet(url)`                              |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_initializeWallet", "params": [string]}` |

## personal_listAccounts

Returns all the Ethereum account addresses of all keys in the key store.

| Client  | Method invocation                                   |
| :------ | --------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.listAccounts`                             |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_listAccounts", "params": []}` |

### Example

```javascript
> personal.listAccounts
["0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120", "0x3d80b31a78c30fc628f20b2c89d7ddbf6e53cedc"]
```

## personal_listWallets

Returns a list of wallets this node manages.

| Client  | Method invocation                                  |
| :------ | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.listWallets`                             |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_listWallets", "params": []}` |

### Example

```javascript
> personal.listWallets
[{
  accounts: [{
    address: "0x51594065a986c58d4698c23e3d932b68a22c4d21",
    url: "keystore:///var/folders/cp/k3x0xm3959qf9l0pcbbdxdt80000gn/T/go-ethereum-keystore65174700/UTC--2022-06-28T10-31-09.477982000Z--51594065a986c58d4698c23e3d932b68a22c4d21"
  }],
  status: "Unlocked",
  url: "keystore:///var/folders/cp/k3x0xm3959qf9l0pcbbdxdt80000gn/T/go-ethereum-keystore65174700/UTC--2022-06-28T10-31-09.477982000Z--51594065a986c58d4698c23e3d932b68a22c4d21"
}]
```

## personal_lockAccount

Removes the private key with given address from memory. The account can no longer be used to send transactions.

| Client  | Method invocation                                        |
| :------ | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.lockAccount(address)`                          |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_lockAccount", "params": [string]}` |

## personal_newAccount

Generates a new private key and stores it in the key store directory. The key file is encrypted with the given passphrase.
Returns the address of the new account. At the geth console, `newAccount` will prompt for a passphrase when it is not supplied as the argument.

| Client  | Method invocation                                       |
| :------ | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.newAccount()`                                 |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_newAccount", "params": [string]}` |

### Example

```javascript
> personal.newAccount()
Passphrase:
Repeat passphrase:
"0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120"
```

The passphrase can also be supplied as a string.

```javascript
> personal.newAccount("h4ck3r")
"0x3d80b31a78c30fc628f20b2c89d7ddbf6e53cedc"
```

## personal_openWallet

Initiates a hardware wallet opening procedure by establishing a USB connection and then attempting to authenticate via the provided passphrase. Note,
the method may return an extra challenge requiring a second open (e.g. the Trezor PIN matrix challenge).

| Client  | Method invocation                                               |
| :------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.openWallet(url, passphrase)`                          |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_openWallet", "params": [string, string]}` |

## personal_unlockAccount

Decrypts the key with the given address from the key store.

Both passphrase and unlock duration are optional when using the JavaScript console. If the passphrase is not supplied as an argument, the console will prompt for
the passphrase interactively. The unencrypted key will be held in memory until the unlock duration expires. If the unlock duration defaults to 300 seconds. An explicit duration of zero seconds unlocks the key until geth exits.

The account can be used with `eth_sign` and `eth_sendTransaction` while it is unlocked.

| Client  | Method invocation                                                          |
| :------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.unlockAccount(address, passphrase, duration)`                    |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_unlockAccount", "params": [string, string, number]}` |

### Examples

```javascript
> personal.unlockAccount("0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120")
Unlock account 0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120
Passphrase:
true
```

Supplying the passphrase and unlock duration as arguments:

```javascript
> personal.unlockAccount("0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120", "foo", 30)
true
```

To type in the passphrase and still override the default unlock duration, pass `null` as the passphrase.

```
> personal.unlockAccount("0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120", null, 30)
Unlock account 0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120
Passphrase:
true
```

## personal_unpair

Deletes a pairing between wallet and Geth.

| Client  | Method invocation                                           |
| :------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.unpair(url, pin)`                                 |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_unpair", "params": [string, string]}` |

## personal_sendTransaction

Validate the given passphrase and submit transaction.

The transaction is the same argument as for `eth_sendTransaction` (i.e. [transaction object](/docs/rpc/objects#transaction-call-object)) and contains the `from` address. If the passphrase can be used to decrypt the private key belogging to `tx.from` the transaction is verified, signed and send onto the network. The account is not unlocked globally in the node and cannot be used in other RPC calls.

| Client  | Method invocation                                                |
| :------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.sendTransaction(tx, passphrase)`                       |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_sendTransaction", "params": [tx, string]}` |

### Examples

```javascript
> var tx = {from: "0x391694e7e0b0cce554cb130d723a9d27458f9298", to: "0xafa3f8684e54059998bc3a7b0d2b0da075154d66", value: web3.toWei(1.23, "ether")}
undefined
> personal.sendTransaction(tx, "passphrase")
0x8474441674cdd47b35b875fd1a530b800b51a5264b9975fb21129eeb8c18582f
```

## personal_sign

The sign method calculates an Ethereum specific signature with:
`sign(keccak256("\x19Ethereum Signed Message:\n" + len(message) + message))`.

By adding a prefix to the message makes the calculated signature recognisable as an Ethereum specific signature. This prevents misuse where a malicious DApp can sign arbitrary data (e.g. transaction) and use the signature to impersonate the victim.

See ecRecover to verify the signature.

| Client  | Method invocation                                                     |
| :------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.sign(message, account, [password])`                         |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_sign", "params": [message, account, password]}` |

### Examples

```javascript
> personal.sign("0xdeadbeaf", "0x9b2055d370f73ec7d8a03e965129118dc8f5bf83", "")
"0xa3f20717a250c2b0b729b7e5becbff67fdaef7e0699da4de7ca5895b02a170a12d887fd3b17bfdce3481f10bea41f45ba9f709d39ce8325427b57afcfc994cee1b"
```

## personal_signTransaction

SignTransaction will create a transaction from the given arguments and tries to sign it with the key associated with `tx.from`. If the given passwd isn't able to decrypt the key it fails. The transaction is returned in RLP-form, not broadcast to other nodes. The first argument is a [transaction object](/docs/interacting_with_geth/RPC/objects.md) and the second argument is the password, similar to `personal_sendTransaction`.

| Client  | Method invocation                                                |
| :------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Console | `personal.signTransaction(tx, passphrase)`                       |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_signTransaction", "params": [tx, string]}` |

## personal_ecRecover

`ecRecover` returns the address associated with the private key that was used to calculate the signature in `personal_sign`.

| Client  | Method invocation                                                  |
| :------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Console | `personal.ecRecover(message, signature)`                           |
| RPC     | `{"method": "personal_ecRecover", "params": [message, signature]}` |

### Examples

```javascript
> personal.sign("0xdeadbeaf", "0x9b2055d370f73ec7d8a03e965129118dc8f5bf83", "")
"0xa3f20717a250c2b0b729b7e5becbff67fdaef7e0699da4de7ca5895b02a170a12d887fd3b17bfdce3481f10bea41f45ba9f709d39ce8325427b57afcfc994cee1b"
> personal.ecRecover("0xdeadbeaf", "0xa3f20717a250c2b0b729b7e5becbff67fdaef7e0699da4de7ca5895b02a170a12d887fd3b17bfdce3481f10bea41f45ba9f709d39ce8325427b57afcfc994cee1b")
"0x9b2055d370f73ec7d8a03e965129118dc8f5bf83"
```