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Pi Developer Guide

Getting Started Checklists

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Registering for an Account and Initial Setup
  3. Launching on Pi Mainnet
  4. Special Considerations

Introduction

This is a step-by-step set of tasks that must be accomplished in order to get your Pi App from 0 to 1 and available to users in the Pi Ecosystem. For a quick way to get with explinations see our Quick Start page that details the intial steps of this checklist to get you underway if this is your first time developing on Pi.

Registering for an Account and Initial Setup

  1. Download the Pi App
  2. Register for an account
    • Use a referral code if you have one; you can sign up without a code
    • This will get you 1 Pi
  3. Download and Sign into the Pi Browser
  4. Verify Email Address - Required Prior to Step 5
    • Enter the Pi Mining App and click on the ‘☰’ in the top left corner.
    • Select the Profile option and confirm email address.
  5. Register your App
    • Enter your App Name, App Description, and App’s Network
    • What you put for “App Name” will determine your App’s URL, so we advise using only letters, numbers, and spaces, and no special characters.
    • For “Description”, provide information on what your app does, what it would be used for, and some of its high-level features.
    • The ‘App Network’ option lets you select the host network that your app is connecting to. It’s important to select the network, either Pi Mainnet or Pi Testnet, that you wish to deploy on as the Pi SDK will automatically connect your app to the corresponding network.
      Note: that an app can only connect to one network at a time, and once you’ve registered the app, this option cannot be changed.
    • See our Pi Mainnet vs Testnet Page for more on selecting a network
  6. Configure App Hosting
    • Either setup hosting of your web app through a third-party provider or host it on Pi Network’s Pi Engine.
    • Note: All hosting on Pi Network will undergo a brief manual review, but you can continue setting up the app during this waiting period. If approved, the project will be added to your Gitlab Account.
    • Note: Pi Network is not currently offering hosting of your app - coming soon!
  7. Create Wallet
    • Create a wallet at wallet.pi. Before continuing to the next step, you must confirm access by opening the wallet you created.
  8. Read the documentation provided in the Pi Developer Guide and Code App
    • To create your app, you can use any web app development platform you’re familiar with. You just need to end up with the entry URL to your front end. For testing purposes, you can use the Pi Network Sandbox environment (explained further on) in conjunction with your local environment. Eventually, if your app is self-hosted, you’ll need the URL of the app on the hosting environment.
  9. Configure your App’s Development URL
    • Enter the URL that the app will be accessed from on your local host, while running in the sandbox mode. For example, Rails and React typically default to http://localhost:3000, while Python Flask defaults to http//localhost:5000. The Pi Demo App uses http://localhost:3314 (the normal 3000 default with the addition of 314 as a reference to the number Pi).
    • Note: This is not the user facing (Production URL) accessed on the web.
  10. Run your development App in the sandbox
    • First, set sandbox flag to “true” within your FE app code. Copy URL from dev portal and paste in your desktop browser. A page with a code should appear. In the Pi Mining App, navigate to the Pi Utilities screen from the hamburger menu on the top left. On the Pi Utilities screen, go to the bottom of the screen and click on the “Authorize Sandbox” link. Enter the code here and click “Continue” in order to authorize this sandbox environment to sign into your Pi Network account and access your apps. Your browser will now be in sandbox mode and connected to your pi account.
  11. Deploy your app in a production environment
    • Enter the desired Production URL. This is the URL the app will be accessible from within the pi browser.
  12. Validate Domain Ownership
    • Prove ownership of your domain by adding the provided validation key to a .txt file named ‘validation-key.txt’ and place it on your hosting domain. Click on the step to get your validation key and URL to place the file.
  13. Process a transaction on your app
    • Have your app process a User-to-App Pi Transaction to confirm you have successfully connected to the Pi Ecosystem.

Launching on Pi Mainnet

  • Complete the steps above before proceeding
  1. Obtain a Mainnet Wallet
    • Pi KYC is required
    • Slots to apply are currently sent on an invitation basis
    • The wallet address of the Pioneer who registers the Developer Portal project will be used for all mainnet transfers associated with the app.
  2. Create a Developer Portal Project directed at the Pi Mainnet
  3. Verify App URL
    • URL cannot match the URL that is verified of another Developer Portal Project
    • If adjusting the URL of another Developer Portal Project then you must verify a new URL on the other project prior to being able to reuse that URL on another project.
  4. Generate API Key
    • API calls will fail if the API Key from a Testnet application is not updated
    • This will cause Payment failures
  5. Launch App and test Pi Mainnet functionality

Special Considerations

  • To process payments successfully on Pi Mainnet a wallet that has received a migration is required
  • Maintain compliance with the Developer Terms of Service