Monero Named Pipes

Monero named pipes (mnp) is a lightweight wallet designed to monitor incoming payments within a Unix shell environment, such as bash or zsh. mnp is developed with the UNIX-philosophy in mind and uses named pipes for interaction, creating a set of files and directories within a specified directory. Default: /tmp/mywallet/.

/tmp/mywallet/

tx
 ├── txid_1
 │   └── "subaddress_1"
 ├── txid_2
 │   └── "subaddress_2"
 └── txid_3
     └── "paymentId_1"

Monero Named Pipes enables users to control and track incoming payments through command-line tools, facilitating seamless integration with existing workflows.

Example

Initialize and Setup

A short example in four simple steps to give you an idea of how mnp works. For more details, see "How to set up a payment".

1. Initalize mnp

# initialise the workdir
$ mnp --init
$ monero-wallet-rpc --tx-notify "/usr/local/bin/mnp --confirmation 3 %s"

2. Monitor /tmp/mywallet/

To monitor /tmp/mywallet i recommend inotifywait. It efficiently waits for changes to files using Linux's inotify. The operating system takes care of the rest. sudo apt-get install inotify-tools

#!/bin/bash
inotifywait -m /tmp/mywallet -e create -r |
while read dir action file; do
    echo $file;
    amount=$(cat ${dir}${file});
    echo "Received :" $amount;
done

Be patient and wait for 3 confirmations.

3. Setup a payment

The amount is specified in the smallest unit piconero.

$ mnp-payment --amount 500000000000 --newaddr
monero:BbE3cKKZp7repvTCHknzg4TihjuMmjNy78VSofgnk28r26WczcZvPcufchGqqML7yKEYZY91tytH47eCSA6fCJRRNy7cqSM?tx_amount=0.500000000000

Pipe the output to qrencode to create a QR-Code for your customer.

4. Close mnp

Close the working directory /tmp/myallet/. If you stopped all monitoring you might want to close the workdir. (optional)

# remove the workdir /tmp/mywallet
$ mnp --cleanup

Command line option:

mnp is called from monero-wallet-rpc --tx-notify or some other source.

Usage: mnp [OPTION] [TXID]

   [TX_ID]
	   TXID is the transaction identifier passed from
	   monero-wallet-rpc --tx-notify or some other source.

  --account [ACCOUNT]
           Monero account number. 0 = default.

  --notify-at [0,1,2,3] default = confirmed
           0, none
           1, txpool
           2, confirmed
           3, unlocked

  --confirmation [n]
           amount of blocks needed to confirm transaction.

  --keep-open
           Does not close the fifo pipe.

  --init
           create workdir for usage.

  --cleanup
           delete workdir.

mnp-payment is used to prepare a payment.

Usage: mnp-payment [OPTION] [PAYMENT_ID]

  [PAYMENT_ID]
		PAYMENT_ID is a 16 hex unique char to
		identify the payment. Returns an
		integrated address.

  -a  --account [ACCOUNT]
               Monero account number. 0 = default.

  -l, --list
               list all subaddresses + address_indices.

  -s  --subaddr [INDEX]
               returns subaddress on INDEX.

  -n  --newaddr
               returns a new created subaddress.

  -x  --amount [AMOUNT]
               AMOUNT is specified in piconero.
               returns a URI string.

How to build mnp

'libcurl' is required to build mnp. apt-get install libcurl4

$ cd mnp
$ mkdir build
$ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ../
$ make
$ make install

Verify

gpg_key : https://github.com/d4ndox/mnp/blob/master/doc/d4ndo%40proton.me.pub

Please also help audit the source code.

How to run mnp?

Monero Named Pipes uses monero-wallet-rpc which comes with the Monero Command-line Tools. Download @ getmonero.org.

Step 1) Start monerod. It keeps the blockchain in sync.
Step 2) Start monero-wallet-rpc --tx-notify "/usr/bin/mnp %s". It listens on rpc port and takes care of your wallet.

$ monerod
$ monero-wallet-rpc --tx-notify "/usr/local/bin/mnp --confirmation 3 %s" --rpc-bind-ip 127.0.0.1 --rpc-bind-port 18083 --rpc-login username:password --wallet-file mywallet --prompt-for-password

Config file ~/.mnp.ini:

The config file makes things easier. It is used by both mnp and mnp-payment.

; Monero named pipes (mnp)
; Configuration file for mnp.

[rpc]                           ;rpc host configuration
user = username                 ;rpc user
password = password             ;rpc password
host = 127.0.0.1                ;rpc ip address or domain
port = 18083                    ;rpc port

[mnp]                           ;general mnp configuration
verbose = 0                     ;verbose mode
account = 0                     ;choose account

[cfg]                           ;workdir configuration
workdir = /tmp/mywallet         ;wallet working directory
mode = rwx------                ;permission of workdir rwxrwxrwx
pipe = rw-------                ;permission of pipes rwxrwxrwx

Setting up a payment:

To set up a payment using mnp, you have several options based on your specific requirements:

1. Simple Transfer (No Payment ID):

For simple transfers, such as donations or general payments, you can create a new subaddress and provide it to the payer.

Create a New Subaddress:

$ mnp-payment --newaddr
Bdxcxb5WkE84HuNyzoZvTPincGgPkZFXKfeQkpwSHew1cWwNcBXN4bY9YXY9dAHfibRBCrX92JwzmASMXsfrRnQqMo3ubLB

This command generates a new Monero subaddress, providing enhanced privacy and security for receiving payments.

List All Subaddresses:

To list all existing subaddresses along with their indices, you can use:

$ mnp-payment --list
0 "A13iyF9bN7ReDPWW7FZoqd1Nwvhfh2UbAMBR4UeGPi1aWpERgmE3ChMeJZJ2RnkMueHdL7XXwdkQJ5As8XRhTKAhSwjahXd"
1 "Bdxcxb5WkE84HuNyzoZvTPincGgPkZFXKfeQkpwSHew1cWwNcBXN4bY9YXY9dAHfibRBCrX92JwzmASMXsfrRnQqMo3ubLB"

This command lists all subaddresses associated with your Monero wallet, including the primary address (0).

Select a Specific Subaddress:

If you prefer to specify a particular subaddress, you can do so by providing its index:

$ mnp-payment --subaddr 1
Bdxcxb5WkE84HuNyzoZvTPincGgPkZFXKfeQkpwSHew1cWwNcBXN4bY9YXY9dAHfibRBCrX92JwzmASMXsfrRnQqMo3ubLB

This command selects the subaddress at index 1 for receiving payments.

Add an Amount:

After selecting a subaddress, you can specify the payment amount in piconero (the smallest unit of Monero):

$ mnp-payment --subaddr 1 --amount 650000
monero:Bdxcxb5WkE84HuNyzoZvTPincGgPkZFXKfeQkpwSHew1cWwNcBXN4bY9YXY9dAHfibRBCrX92JwzmASMXsfrRnQqMo3ubLB?tx_amount=0.000000650000

This command prepares a payment with the specified amount and returns a Monero URI string, which can be provided to the payer.

2. Including a Payment ID (For Matching Orders):

In scenarios where matching orders to payments is essential, such as retail transactions or invoicing, you can generate an integrated address with a payment ID.

Generate a Payment ID:

Generate a unique 16-hex character payment ID using tools like OpenSSL:

# Create a random paymentid (16 hex character)
$ mypaymentId=$(openssl rand -hex 8)
$ echo $mypaymentId
e02c381aa2227436

This command generates a random 16-hex character payment ID.

Create an Integrated Address:

Use the generated payment ID to create an integrated address, combining it with your primary address:

# Create an integrated address.
$ echo $mypaymentId | mnp-payment
AAkPz3y5yNweDPWW7FZoqd1 ... 5kqxkfnou78gMMeg

This command generates an integrated address with the provided payment ID, enabling efficient tracking of payments.

Add an Amount (Optional):

If a specific amount needs to be included in the payment, you can do so using the --amount option:

 $ echo $mypayment | mnp-payment --amount 50000
monero:AAkPz3y5yNweDPWW7FZoqd1Nwvhfh2UbAMBR4UeGPi1aWpERgmE3ChMeJZJ2RnkMueHdL7XXwdkQJ5As8XRhTKAhfT5kqxkfnou78gMMeg?tx_amount=0.000000050000

This command sets the payment amount and returns a Monero URI string for inclusion in invoices or payment requests.

3. Create a QR-Code (For Customer Convenience):

To facilitate easy payment by customers using mobile Monero wallets, you can generate a QR code from the payment URI.

Install QR Code Generator:

Ensure you have a QR code generator installed on your system. You can install qrencode using:

sudo apt-get install qrencode

Generate QR Code:

Use qrencode to generate a QR code from the Monero URI string:

mnp-payment --subaddr 1 | tr -d '\n' | qrencode -t UTF8

, ready for customer scanning. Monerujo has some problems with \n terminated strings, so it is better to remove them.

These methods provide flexible options for setting up payments using mnp. Every output of mnp-payment can be used to create an QR-Code.

How to Monitor /tmp/wallet

Using a bash script:

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle reading from a named pipe
read_pipe() {
    local dir="$1"
    local file="$2"
    local amount

    # Set timeout for cat command
    if ! amount=$(timeout 60m cat "${dir}/${file}"); then
        # Handle timeout - write to syslog and exit
        echo "Timeout occurred while reading from $file" >&2
        logger "Timeout occurred while reading from $file"
        exit 1
    fi

    echo "Received from $file: $amount"
}

# Trap SIGINT to clean up child processes
trap 'kill $(jobs -p); exit' SIGINT

# Watch for new pipes using inotifywait
inotifywait -m /tmp/mywallet -e create -r |
while read dir action file; do
    # Check if the created file is a named pipe
    if [ -p "${dir}/${file}" ]; then
        echo "New pipe detected: $file"
        # Call function to read from pipe in a background process
        read_pipe "$dir" "$file" &
    fi
done

Using Python:

This allows interaction with any scripting language (Perl, Python, ...)

#!/bin/bash
while inotifywait -m /tmp/mywallet -e create -r |
while read dir action file; do
    python check_payment.py ${dir}/${file} &
done

Very short bash script:

while [ ! –e ${tx} ]

Information

You might consider to change the default color for 'ls' by adding this to your bashrc:

 echo 'LS_COLORS=$LS_COLORS:"pi=00;35"' >> ~/.bashrc

The default color of named pipes set by Ubuntu is a pain:

Licence: »MIT«

Author: »Unknown« (d4ndo)

     __
w  c(..)o     (
 \__(-)     __)
     /\    (
    /(_)___)
   w /|
    | \
   m  m | Monero Named Pipes.

mnp is a hobby project. Fun has the highest priority.