First Tendermint App
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====================
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As a general purpose blockchain engine, Tendermint is agnostic to the
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application you want to run. So, to run a complete blockchain that does
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something useful, you must start two programs: one is Tendermint Core,
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the other is your application, which can be written in any programming
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language. Recall from `the intro to ABCI <introduction.html#ABCI-Overview>`__ that
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Tendermint Core handles all the p2p and consensus stuff, and just
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forwards transactions to the application when they need to be validated,
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or when they're ready to be committed to a block.
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In this guide, we show you some examples of how to run an application
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using Tendermint.
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Install
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-------
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The first apps we will work with are written in Go. To install them, you
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need to `install Go <https://golang.org/doc/install>`__ and put
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``$GOPATH/bin`` in your
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``$PATH``; see `here <https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/wiki/Setting-GOPATH>`__ for more info.
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Then run
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::
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go get -u github.com/tendermint/abci/cmd/abci-cli
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If there is an error, install and run the ``glide`` tool to pin the
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dependencies:
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::
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go get github.com/Masterminds/glide
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cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/tendermint/abci
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glide install
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go install ./cmd/abci-cli
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Now you should have the ``abci-cli`` installed; you'll see
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a couple of commands (``counter`` and ``dummy``) that are
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example applications written in Go. See below for an application
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written in JavaScript.
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Now, let's run some apps!
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Dummy - A First Example
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-----------------------
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The dummy app is a `Merkle
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tree <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkle_tree>`__ that just stores all
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transactions. If the transaction contains an ``=``, e.g. ``key=value``,
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then the ``value`` is stored under the ``key`` in the Merkle tree.
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Otherwise, the full transaction bytes are stored as the key and the
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value.
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Let's start a dummy application.
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::
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abci-cli dummy
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In another terminal, we can start Tendermint. If you have never run
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Tendermint before, use:
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::
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tendermint init
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tendermint node
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If you have used Tendermint, you may want to reset the data for a new
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blockchain by running ``tendermint unsafe_reset_all``. Then you can run
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``tendermint node`` to start Tendermint, and connect to the app. For
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more details, see `the guide on using
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Tendermint <./using-tendermint.html>`__.
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You should see Tendermint making blocks! We can get the status of our
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Tendermint node as follows:
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::
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curl -s localhost:46657/status
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The ``-s`` just silences ``curl``. For nicer output, pipe the result
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into a tool like `jq <https://stedolan.github.io/jq/>`__ or
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`jsonpp <https://github.com/jmhodges/jsonpp>`__.
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Now let's send some transactions to the dummy.
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::
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curl -s 'localhost:46657/broadcast_tx_commit?tx="abcd"'
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Note the single quote (``'``) around the url, which ensures that the
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double quotes (``"``) are not escaped by bash. This command sent a
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transaction with bytes ``abcd``, so ``abcd`` will be stored as both the
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key and the value in the Merkle tree. The response should look something
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like:
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::
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{
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"jsonrpc": "2.0",
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"id": "",
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"result": {
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"check_tx": {
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"code": 0,
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"data": "",
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"log": ""
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},
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"deliver_tx": {
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"code": 0,
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"data": "",
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"log": ""
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},
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"hash": "2B8EC32BA2579B3B8606E42C06DE2F7AFA2556EF",
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"height": 154
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}
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}
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We can confirm that our transaction worked and the value got stored by
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querying the app:
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::
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curl -s 'localhost:46657/abci_query?data="abcd"'
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The result should look like:
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::
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{
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"jsonrpc": "2.0",
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"id": "",
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"result": {
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"response": {
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"code": 0,
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"index": 0,
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"key": "",
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"value": "61626364",
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"proof": "",
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"height": 0,
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"log": "exists"
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}
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}
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}
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Note the ``value`` in the result (``61626364``); this is the
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hex-encoding of the ASCII of ``abcd``. You can verify this in
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a python 2 shell by running ``"61626364".decode('hex')`` or in python 3 shell by running ``import codecs; codecs.decode("61626364", 'hex').decode('ascii')``. Stay
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tuned for a future release that `makes this output more human-readable <https://github.com/tendermint/abci/issues/32>`__.
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Now let's try setting a different key and value:
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::
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curl -s 'localhost:46657/broadcast_tx_commit?tx="name=satoshi"'
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Now if we query for ``name``, we should get ``satoshi``, or
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``7361746F736869`` in hex:
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::
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curl -s 'localhost:46657/abci_query?data="name"'
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Try some other transactions and queries to make sure everything is
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working!
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Counter - Another Example
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-------------------------
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Now that we've got the hang of it, let's try another application, the
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**counter** app.
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The counter app doesn't use a Merkle tree, it just counts how many times
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we've sent a transaction, or committed the state.
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This application has two modes: ``serial=off`` and ``serial=on``.
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When ``serial=on``, transactions must be a big-endian encoded
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incrementing integer, starting at 0.
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If ``serial=off``, there are no restrictions on transactions.
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In a live blockchain, transactions collect in memory before they are
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committed into blocks. To avoid wasting resources on invalid
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transactions, ABCI provides the ``CheckTx`` message, which application
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developers can use to accept or reject transactions, before they are
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stored in memory or gossipped to other peers.
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In this instance of the counter app, with ``serial=on``, ``CheckTx``
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only allows transactions whose integer is greater than the last
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committed one.
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Let's kill the previous instance of ``tendermint`` and the ``dummy``
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application, and start the counter app. We can enable ``serial=on`` with
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a flag:
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::
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abci-cli counter --serial
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In another window, reset then start Tendermint:
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::
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tendermint unsafe_reset_all
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tendermint node
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Once again, you can see the blocks streaming by. Let's send some
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transactions. Since we have set ``serial=on``, the first transaction
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must be the number ``0``:
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::
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curl localhost:46657/broadcast_tx_commit?tx=0x00
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Note the empty (hence successful) response. The next transaction must be
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the number ``1``. If instead, we try to send a ``5``, we get an error:
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::
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> curl localhost:46657/broadcast_tx_commit?tx=0x05
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{
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"jsonrpc": "2.0",
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"id": "",
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"result": {
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"check_tx": {
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"code": 0,
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"data": "",
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"log": ""
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},
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"deliver_tx": {
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"code": 3,
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"data": "",
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"log": "Invalid nonce. Expected 1, got 5"
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},
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"hash": "33B93DFF98749B0D6996A70F64071347060DC19C",
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"height": 38
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}
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}
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But if we send a ``1``, it works again:
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::
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> curl localhost:46657/broadcast_tx_commit?tx=0x01
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{
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"jsonrpc": "2.0",
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"id": "",
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"result": {
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"check_tx": {
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"code": 0,
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"data": "",
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"log": ""
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},
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"deliver_tx": {
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"code": 0,
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"data": "",
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"log": ""
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},
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"hash": "F17854A977F6FA7EEA1BD758E296710B86F72F3D",
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"height": 87
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}
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}
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For more details on the ``broadcast_tx`` API, see `the guide on using
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Tendermint <./using-tendermint.html>`__.
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CounterJS - Example in Another Language
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---------------------------------------
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We also want to run applications in another language - in this case,
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we'll run a Javascript version of the ``counter``. To run it, you'll
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need to `install node <https://nodejs.org/en/download/>`__.
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You'll also need to fetch the relevant repository, from `here <https://github.com/tendermint/js-abci>`__ then install it. As go devs, we
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keep all our code under the ``$GOPATH``, so run:
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::
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go get github.com/tendermint/js-abci &> /dev/null
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cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/tendermint/js-abci/example
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npm install
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cd ..
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Kill the previous ``counter`` and ``tendermint`` processes. Now run the
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app:
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::
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node example/app.js
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In another window, reset and start ``tendermint``:
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::
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tendermint unsafe_reset_all
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tendermint node
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Once again, you should see blocks streaming by - but now, our
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application is written in javascript! Try sending some transactions, and
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like before - the results should be the same:
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::
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curl localhost:46657/broadcast_tx_commit?tx=0x00 # ok
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curl localhost:46657/broadcast_tx_commit?tx=0x05 # invalid nonce
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curl localhost:46657/broadcast_tx_commit?tx=0x01 # ok
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Neat, eh?
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Basecoin - A More Interesting Example
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-------------------------------------
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We saved the best for last; the `Cosmos SDK <https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk>`__ is a general purpose framework for building cryptocurrencies. Unlike the ``dummy`` and ``counter``, which are strictly for example purposes. The reference implementation of Cosmos SDK is ``basecoin``, which demonstrates how to use the building blocks of the Cosmos SDK.
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The default ``basecoin`` application is a multi-asset cryptocurrency
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that supports inter-blockchain communication (IBC). For more details on how
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basecoin works and how to use it, see our `basecoin
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guide <http://cosmos-sdk.readthedocs.io/en/latest/basecoin-basics.html>`__
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In this tutorial you learned how to run applications using Tendermint
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on a single node. You saw how applications could be written in different
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languages, and how to send transactions and query for the latest state.
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But the true power of Tendermint comes from its ability to securely and
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efficiently run an application across a distributed network of nodes,
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while keeping them all in sync using its state-of-the-art consensus
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protocol. Next, we show you how to deploy Tendermint testnets.
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