# Raiden Alderaan Mainnet Tutorial¶

## Introduction¶

In this tutorial we show how to use Raiden to do off chain payments using the Raiden Network on the Ethereum mainnet. It is based on the upcoming Alderaan release. Since the Alderaan release is a bug bounty release, certain limits have been made to the amount of tokens that can be deposited in channels. This is done in order to minimize the funds that are potentially lost in case something goes wrong.

Raiden has a Restful API with URL endpoints corresponding to actions that users can perform with their channels. The endpoints accept and return JSON encoded objects. The API URL paths always start with: /api/, followed by the current api version. The current version is version 1, so all queries start with /api/v1/.

We assume that you have Raiden correctly installed and running in the desired configuration, see the Installation Guide.

## Whitelisted tokens¶

For the Alderaan Mainnet release, only two tokens can be used with the Raiden Network: W-ETH and DAI.

W-ETH stands for wrapped Ether, meaning that Ether is packaged to conform to the ERC20 token guidelines which Raiden relies on. To learn more about W-ETH you can read the announcement blog post.

To create W-ETH from your Ether you can either use interfaces like 0x OTC or Radar Relay. You can also use the contract directly.

DAI is a popular stablecoin, see here for further information and for how to purchase it.

## Joining a token network¶

The first thing we need to do is to join a token network. In this case we want to join the (W-ETH) network.

Note: 1 W-ETH == 10**18 wei. For the sake of readability and simplicity all token values in this tutorial are denominated in wei and not W-ETH.

In order to do so, we need the address of the token and the initial amount of tokens that we want to join the network with:

http

PUT /api/v1/connections/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2 HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:5001
Content-Type: application/json

{
"funds": "20000"
}


curl

curl -i -X PUT http://localhost:5001/api/v1/connections/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-raw '{"funds": "20000"}'


wget

wget -S -O- --method=PUT http://localhost:5001/api/v1/connections/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2 --header='Content-Type: application/json' --body-data='{"funds": "20000"}'


httpie

echo '{
"funds": "20000"
}' | http PUT http://localhost:5001/api/v1/connections/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2 Content-Type:application/json


python-requests

requests.put('http://localhost:5001/api/v1/connections/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2', headers={
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
}, json={
'funds': '20000',
})


By default, Raiden connects automatically to 3 channels to other nodes and splits up 60% of the funds between them. The remaining 40% of tokens will be used to join channels that are automatically opened by other participants. So in our example, we will open three channels in the network and fund each of them with 4000 wrapped wei.

We’re now ready to start sending W-ETH tokens using the Raiden Network.

In case we know of a specific address in the network that we will do frequent payments to, we can open a channel directly to this address by doing the following:

http

PUT /api/v1/channels HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:5001
Content-Type: application/json

{
"total_deposit": 2000,
"settle_timeout": 500
}


curl

curl -i -X PUT http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-raw '{"partner_address": "0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9", "settle_timeout": 500, "token_address": "0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2", "total_deposit": 2000}'


wget

wget -S -O- --method=PUT http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels --header='Content-Type: application/json' --body-data='{"partner_address": "0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9", "settle_timeout": 500, "token_address": "0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2", "total_deposit": 2000}'


httpie

echo '{
"settle_timeout": 500,
"total_deposit": 2000
}' | http PUT http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels Content-Type:application/json


python-requests

requests.put('http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels', headers={
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
}, json={
'settle_timeout': 500,
'total_deposit': 2000,
})


At this point the specific value of the total_deposit field isn’t too important, since it’s always possible to deposit more tokens to a channel if need be.

Successfully opening a channel returns the following information:

HTTP/1.1 201 CREATED
Content-Type: application/json

{
"channel_identifier": 13,
"balance": "2000",
"total_deposit": "2000",
"state": "opened",
"settle_timeout": "500",
"reveal_timeout": "50"
}


## Payments¶

Now that we have joined a token network, we can start making payments. For this, we need the address of the W-ETH token and the address of the recipient of the payment:

http

POST /api/v1/payments/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9 HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:5001
Content-Type: application/json

{
"amount": "42"
}


curl

curl -i -X POST http://localhost:5001/api/v1/payments/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-raw '{"amount": "42"}'


wget

wget -S -O- http://localhost:5001/api/v1/payments/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9 --header='Content-Type: application/json' --post-data='{"amount": "42"}'


httpie

echo '{
"amount": "42"


python-requests

requests.post('http://localhost:5001/api/v1/payments/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9', headers={
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
}, json={
'amount': '42',
})


This is an example of a direct transfer. Since we have an channel with the address we are sending to, 0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9, the payment goes straight to it. If we specify an address that we do not have a direct channel with, Raiden will try to do a mediated transfer, i. e. to find a path from us to the target address in the network of channels.

It’s as simple as that to do payments using the Raiden Network. The first payment is done after just two API calls - one to join the token network and one to do the payment. The third call to open a direct channel is optional.

Let’s say we know someone with the address 0x00014853D700AE1F39BA9dbAbdeC1c8683CF1b2A, who is also part of the W-ETH token network. Even though we do not have a channel with this person it is as easy as above to send a payment. All we need is the address:

http

POST /api/v1/payments/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x00014853D700AE1F39BA9dbAbdeC1c8683CF1b2A HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:5001
Content-Type: application/json

{
"amount": "73"
}


curl

curl -i -X POST http://localhost:5001/api/v1/payments/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x00014853D700AE1F39BA9dbAbdeC1c8683CF1b2A -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-raw '{"amount": "73"}'


wget

wget -S -O- http://localhost:5001/api/v1/payments/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x00014853D700AE1F39BA9dbAbdeC1c8683CF1b2A --header='Content-Type: application/json' --post-data='{"amount": "73"}'


httpie

echo '{
"amount": "73"
}' | http POST http://localhost:5001/api/v1/payments/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x00014853D700AE1F39BA9dbAbdeC1c8683CF1b2A Content-Type:application/json


python-requests

requests.post('http://localhost:5001/api/v1/payments/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x00014853D700AE1F39BA9dbAbdeC1c8683CF1b2A', headers={
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
}, json={
'amount': '73',
})


Just like this we can send payments to anyone who is part of the token network for the W-ETH token.

## Depositing tokens¶

If we spend more tokens than we receive and hence deplete our channels, it it possible to “top up” channels. For this we need the token address and the partner address:

http

PATCH /api/v1/channels/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9 HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:5001
Content-Type: application/json

{
"total_deposit": "4000"
}


curl

curl -i -X PATCH http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-raw '{"total_deposit": "4000"}'


wget

wget -S -O- --method=PATCH http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9 --header='Content-Type: application/json' --body-data='{"total_deposit": "4000"}'


httpie

echo '{
"total_deposit": "4000"


python-requests

requests.patch('http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9', headers={
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
}, json={
'total_deposit': '4000',
})


Notice that we need to specify the total deposit, not the amount we wish to top up: We initially deposited 2000 wei and want to add 2000 more, so we give a total_deposit of 4000. This way the top-up request is idempotent - if it is sent repeatedly (by accident or as part of an attack) it will have no further effect.

## Channel status¶

We can at any point in time see things like how many tokens we have spent in a specific channel and how many tokens we have received. We do this by querying the status of a specific channel by it’s channel_identifier:

http

GET /api/v1/channels/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9 HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:5001
Content-Type: application/json


curl

curl -i http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9 -H 'Content-Type: application/json'


wget

wget -S -O- http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9 --header='Content-Type: application/json'


httpie

http http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9 Content-Type:application/json


python-requests

requests.get('http://localhost:5001/api/v1/channels/0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2/0x61C808D82A3Ac53231750daDc13c777b59310bD9', headers={
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
})


This returns the following JSON response:

.. sourcecode:: http

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json

{
"channel_identifier": "0xa24f51685de3effe829f7c2e94b9db8e9e1b17b137da59fa727a793ae2cae776",
"balance": "3958",
"state": "open",
"settle_timeout": "500",
"reveal_timeout": "50"
}


We can see that the current balance of the channel is 3958 which matches with the two deposits and one payment we’ve made 2000 + 2000 - 42.

If we send more payments and receive some payments we can see how the balance of the channel updates accordingly.

## Wrap-up¶

It is easy to get started doing payments using the Raiden Network. As a matter of fact one can even receive tokens through the Raiden Network without having any ether or any tokens. To achieve this the receiver needs to have a full Raiden node running as well as rely on the senders of the payments to be willing to pay the transaction fees for the on-chain transactions.

This tutorial does not mention how to close and settle a specific channel or how to leave a token network. Please consult the API documentation.