./simd keys list shows no keys after successful add

[eswenson1]

I’m a complete noob here. I installed the cosmos sdk and then tried to follow the tutorial using the .simapp sample app. I got to the point in the tutorial where I started up the single-node blockchain. That seemed to work fine. I created another console window and attempted the next step in the tutorial which is to query the bank balance for the b9lab account. When I did, I got the error message that b9lab is not a valid name or address: decoding bech32 failed: invalid bech32 string length 5. I did a ./simd key list and see that there are no keys. I then went back to the window where the single node blockchain was running and aborted (^C) and tried the same command there, and I got the same error.

So what gives? Everything was going perfectly well until I created a new console window. Now, nothing seems to work any more. I see that the genesis.json does show all the state that it should – I simply don’t have any keys accessible now.

[julienrbrt]

Which keyring backend have you used?

[eswenson1]

I believe the backend is os. I didn't change anything in the cosmos-sdk -- just pulled the source and built the sample application simd and ran it as per the tutorial. I'm running under macOS Ventura.

I found the os value for keyring-backend in the ~/.simapp/config/client.toml file.

[atheeshp]

Hey @eswenson1, it would be helpful to look-in if you can give the list of commands that you ran from the beginning and also the complete error log.

[eswenson1]

I followed (exactly) the metrications here: https://tutorials.cosmos.network/tutorials/3-run-node/

All the steps in the first console window, up until and including when I started the single-node server worked just fine. And this meant that the key ring was fine and contained the two keys associated with the transfer of stake. Once I started the server, the steps in this tutorial required a new console window. In it, I was unable to execute (successfully) the first command:

$ ./simd query bank balances $(./simd keys show b9lab -a)

The command was unable to find the b9lab key that had successfully been added before starting simd.

As for full logs, where would I find them?

(All of this was done on macOS).

[julienrbrt]

could you tell us which simd version you are using? (simd version --long)
This tutorial seems to use an deprecated version of the SDK.

[eswenson1]

Here is the output of the version command:

➜  build git:(a7e19ad45) ./simd version --long
name: sim
server_name: simd
version: 0.42.6
commit: a7e19ad4588bcceeeeab522f5807b9ff22e91a8c
build_tags: netgo,ledger
go: go version go1.20.4 darwin/amd64
build_deps:
- github.com/99designs/[email protected]
- github.com/ChainSafe/[email protected]
- github.com/Workiva/[email protected]
- github.com/armon/[email protected]
- github.com/beorn7/[email protected]
- github.com/bgentry/[email protected]
- github.com/btcsuite/[email protected]
- github.com/cespare/xxhash/[email protected]
- github.com/confio/ics23/[email protected]
- github.com/cosmos/[email protected]
- github.com/cosmos/[email protected]
- github.com/cosmos/[email protected]
- github.com/cosmos/[email protected]
- github.com/davecgh/[email protected]
- github.com/dvsekhvalnov/[email protected]
- github.com/enigmampc/[email protected]
- github.com/felixge/[email protected]
- github.com/fsnotify/[email protected]
- github.com/go-kit/[email protected]
- github.com/go-logfmt/[email protected]
- github.com/gogo/[email protected]
- github.com/gogo/[email protected] => github.com/regen-network/[email protected]
- github.com/golang/[email protected]
- github.com/golang/[email protected]
- github.com/google/[email protected]
- github.com/google/[email protected]
- github.com/gorilla/[email protected]
- github.com/gorilla/[email protected]
- github.com/gorilla/[email protected]
- github.com/grpc-ecosystem/[email protected]
- github.com/grpc-ecosystem/[email protected]
- github.com/gtank/[email protected]
- github.com/gtank/[email protected]
- github.com/hashicorp/[email protected]
- github.com/hashicorp/[email protected]
- github.com/hashicorp/[email protected]
- github.com/keybase/[email protected]
- github.com/libp2p/[email protected]
- github.com/magiconair/[email protected]
- github.com/mattn/[email protected]
- github.com/matttproud/[email protected]
- github.com/mimoo/[email protected]
- github.com/minio/[email protected]
- github.com/mitchellh/[email protected]
- github.com/mitchellh/[email protected]
- github.com/mtibben/[email protected]
- github.com/pelletier/[email protected]
- github.com/pkg/[email protected]
- github.com/pmezard/[email protected]
- github.com/prometheus/[email protected]
- github.com/prometheus/[email protected]
- github.com/prometheus/[email protected]
- github.com/prometheus/[email protected]
- github.com/rakyll/[email protected]
- github.com/rcrowley/[email protected]
- github.com/regen-network/[email protected]
- github.com/rs/[email protected]
- github.com/rs/[email protected]
- github.com/spf13/[email protected]
- github.com/spf13/[email protected]
- github.com/spf13/[email protected]
- github.com/spf13/[email protected]
- github.com/spf13/[email protected]
- github.com/spf13/[email protected]
- github.com/stretchr/[email protected]
- github.com/subosito/[email protected]
- github.com/syndtr/[email protected]
- github.com/tendermint/[email protected]
- github.com/tendermint/[email protected]
- github.com/tendermint/[email protected]
- github.com/tendermint/[email protected]
- github.com/tendermint/[email protected]
- github.com/zondax/[email protected]
- golang.org/x/[email protected]
- golang.org/x/[email protected]
- golang.org/x/[email protected]
- golang.org/x/[email protected]
- golang.org/x/[email protected]
- google.golang.org/[email protected]
- google.golang.org/[email protected] => google.golang.org/[email protected]
- google.golang.org/[email protected]
- gopkg.in/[email protected]
- gopkg.in/[email protected]
- gopkg.in/[email protected]
cosmos_sdk_version: ""

➜  build git:(a7e19ad45)

I'm wondering if this isn't some issue with the OS keyring (macOS). If you haven't seen this problem on Linux, it might be a Mac keyring issue.

[eswenson1]

This is very interesting. It "started working" -- but let me explain what I did.

First of all, I let my machine sit for a few days without touching simapp. Before I stopped playing with simapp last week, I aborted the running simd server, since it was just spewing out log messages over and over (this might be another issue). This morning, after I saw your request for version info, I did the following:

I restarted the simd server in the original console window. I got a macOS prompt to allow the app to access the keyring (keychain access must have timed out). I provided my macOS password and selected "Always Allow". The server started up and macOS asked me if I wanted to allow inbound connections to the server -- I said yes. Then I went to the "other" console window, where the tutorial had had me issue the ./simd query bank balances $(./simd keys show b9lab -a) command. I simply executed ./simd keys show b9lab -a and this time it worked. I was able to query the balance for b9lab, create the "student" key, and transfer 10stake from the b9lab to the student account. This all worked perfectly.

Why it didn't work last week is a mystery to me -- since I didn't "do" anything differently this time other than to allow time to pass and to restart the simd server.

[julienrbrt]

Great that you have found the issue!
I would, however, greatly encourage you to use v0.46.x given that all previous versions have been deprecated.

[eswenson1]

Will do. Thanks. You might get the site updated to reflect that version as the one to use for the simapp tutorial too.