1 Getting Started.mdx

slug	/engine/getting-started
title	Getting Started

Engine is self-hosted with minimal configuration.

Setup

Requirements

• Docker
• A thirdweb secret key from the API Keys page

Development

Run Postgres locally:

docker run -p 5432:5432 -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres -d postgres

Run Engine locally:

docker run \
  -e ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD="<encryption_password>" \
  -e THIRDWEB_API_SECRET_KEY="<thirdweb_secret_key>" \
  -e ADMIN_WALLET_ADDRESS="<admin_wallet_address>" \
  -e POSTGRES_CONNECTION_URL="postgresql://postgres:postgres@host.docker.internal:5432/postgres?sslmode=disable" \
  -e ENABLE_HTTPS=true \
  -p 3005:3005 \
  --pull=always \
  --cpus="0.5" \
  thirdweb/engine:latest

Environment variables

Variable	Description
ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD	Provide a string to encrypt sensitive data stored in DB. Do not change this value or encrypted data will be inaccessible.
THIRDWEB_SECRET_KEY	A thirdweb secret key created on the API Keys page.
ADMIN_WALLET_ADDRESS	The wallet address that will configure Engine from the thirdweb dashboard. You will be able to add other admins later.
POSTGRES_CONNECTION_URL	Postgres connection string: postgresql://[user[:password]@][host][:port][/dbname][?param1=value1&...]
ENABLE_HTTPS	Self-sign a certificate to serve API requests on HTTPS. Set to true if running Engine locally only. Optional, default: false

Your server is running when this log line appears:

Server listening on: https://0.0.0.0:3005

Production

See Production Checklist for self-hosting best practices.

:::tip

Looking for a managed solution? Request a cloud-hosted Engine from thirdweb.

:::

Use the dashboard

Sign in

To manage your Engine instance from the dashboard:

1. Navigate to https://localhost:3005/json.

   • The "Your connection is not private" page will appear.
   • Select Show advanced and select Proceed to localhost (unsafe) to render the JSON file.
   • This one-time step allows your browser to connect to your local Engine instance.

2. Navigate to the Engine dashboard page.

3. Sign in with the <admin_wallet_address> wallet.

4. Select Set Engine instance URL to get started.

5. Add your publicly accessible Engine URL.

   • If Engine is running locally, provide the URL https://localhost:3005.

Overview

In the Overview dashboard section:

• View your backend wallets.
• Create a backend wallet.
• View recent transactions.
• Cancel a queued transaction.

Explorer

In the Explorer dashboard section:

• Interactively view and call your Engine API.

Configuration

In the Configuration dashboard section:

• Change backend wallet types.
• View webhooks.
• Add and remove webhooks.

Permissions

In the Permissions dashboard section:

• View admin users.
• Add and remove admin users.
• View access tokens.
• Create and revoke access tokens.

Use Engine

Use Engine to manage your backend wallets and call contract methods with one API call. Here's some examples:

Get a wallet's balance

const resp = await fetch(
  "<engine_url>/backend-wallet/<chain>/<backend_wallet_address>/get-balance",
  {
    headers: {
      Authorization: "Bearer <access_token>",
    },
  },
);

const { result } = await resp.json();
console.log("Balance:", result.value);

Read from a contract

This code example does not require gas funds and returns the function result.

const resp = await fetch(
  "<engine_url>/contract/<chain>/<contract_address>/read?functionName=balanceOf&args=0x3EcDBF3B911d0e9052b64850693888b008e18373",
  {
    headers: {
      Authorization: "Bearer <access_token>",
    },
  },
);

const { result } = await resp.json();
console.log("ERC-20 balance:", result);

Write to a contract

This code example calls a write method on a contract. It requires gas funds and returns a queueId to query for the result.

const resp = await fetch(
  "<engine_url>/contract/<chain>/<contract_address>/write",
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      Authorization: "Bearer <access_token>",
      "x-backend-wallet-address": "<backend_wallet_address>",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      functionName: "transferFrom",
      args: [
        "0x1946267d81Fb8aDeeEa28e6B98bcD446c8248473",
        "0x3EcDBF3B911d0e9052b64850693888b008e18373",
        "0",
      ],
    }),
  },
);

const { result } = await resp.json();
// queueId is a reference to the transaction queued by Engine.
console.log("Queue ID:", result.queueId);

Deploy a contract

This code example deploys a thirdweb NFT drop contract. It requires gas funds and returns a queueId to query for the result.

const resp = await fetch("<engine_url>/deploy/<chain>/prebuilts/nft-drop", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    Authorization: "Bearer <access_token>",
    "x-backend-wallet-address": "<backend_wallet_address>",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    contractMetadata: {
      name: "thirdweb Engine example",
      symbol: "eng",
      primary_sale_recipient: "0x3EcDBF3B911d0e9052b64850693888b008e18373",
    },
  }),
});

const { result } = await resp.json();
// queueId is a reference to the transaction queued by Engine.
console.log("Queue ID:", result.queueId);

Engine can enable your application to airdrop NFTs, send funds between wallets, update on-chain game state, and more.

Wait for a transaction to complete

Trigger an action when transactions complete by configuring webhooks to call your backend server.

Alternatively, query or poll the transaction/status/<queue_id> endpoint:

const resp = await fetch("<engine_url>/transaction/status/<queue_id>", {
  method: "GET",
  headers: {
    Authorization: "Bearer <access_token>",
  },
});

const { result } = await resp.json();
// status can be: processed, queued, sent, errored, mined, cancelled, retried
const isComplete = ["mined", "errored", "cancelled"].includes(result.status);