Create wallet account

Let's begin with creating a new IoTeX wallet account: similarly to any blockchain wallet app where you can "create a new wallet", this operation consists of generating a random private key and storing it in an encrypted file, protected by a password of your choice. It also allows you to set an alias for the newly created account (we will use the alias "dev-acc" alias in the following sections). Once the alias is set, it can be used instead of the account address in any ioctl command:

Create and store an IoTeX account and assign the "dev-acc" alias to it with command below:

ioctl account createadd dev-acc

ioctl will ask you to provide a password that will be used to encrypt your newly created account. From now on when using ioctl commands you can refer to this account by using the alias dev-acc and the password of your choice.

It's highly recommended that you get used to immediately backup your account passwords in a safe place when you create a new account. Losing your password means losing access to the private key: when you interact with the IoTeX mainnet, losing access to your private key means you will lose all the funds that you have sent to that account. Forever!

Where does ioctl store accounts data?

All accounts created in ioctl, as well as all the aliases, and other settings are stored locally on your computer, in the following path:

~/.config/ioctl

You can make a copy of this folder to port your ioctl settings and accounts to multiple computers.

Check out this introductory video to ioctl accounts management