Interface: Signer

A Signer represents an account on the Ethereum Blockchain, and is most often backed by a private key represented by a mnemonic or residing on a Hardware Wallet.

The API remains abstract though, so that it can deal with more advanced exotic Signing entities, such as Smart Contract Wallets or Virtual Wallets (where the private key may not be known).

Hierarchy

• Addressable

• ContractRunner

• NameResolver

  ↳ Signer

Properties

provider

• provider: null | Provider

The [[Provider]] attached to this Signer (if any).

Overrides

ContractRunner.provider

Methods

call

▸ call(tx): Promise\<string>

Evaluates the //tx// by running it against the current Blockchain state. This cannot change state and has no cost in ether, as it is effectively simulating execution.

This can be used to have the Blockchain perform computations based on its state (e.g. running a Contract's getters) or to simulate the effect of a transaction before actually performing an operation.

Parameters

Name	Type
tx	TransactionRequest

Returns

Promise\<string>

Overrides

ContractRunner.call

---

connect

▸ connect(provider): Signer

Returns a new instance of this Signer connected to //provider// or detached from any Provider if null.

Parameters

Name	Type
provider	null | Provider

Returns

Signer

---

estimateGas

▸ estimateGas(tx): Promise\<bigint>

Estimates the required gas required to execute //tx// on the Blockchain. This will be the expected amount a transaction will require as its gasLimit to successfully run all the necessary computations and store the needed state that the transaction intends.

Keep in mind that this is best efforts, since the state of the Blockchain is in flux, which could affect transaction gas requirements.

Parameters

Name	Type
tx	TransactionRequest

Returns

Promise\<bigint>

Throws

UNPREDICTABLE_GAS_LIMIT A transaction that is believed by the node to likely fail will throw an error during gas estimation. This could indicate that it will actually fail or that the circumstances are simply too complex for the node to take into account. In these cases, a manually determined gasLimit will need to be made.

Overrides

ContractRunner.estimateGas

---

getAddress

▸ getAddress(): Promise\<string>

Get the address of the Signer.

Returns

Promise\<string>

Overrides

Addressable.getAddress

---

getNonce

▸ getNonce(blockTag?): Promise\<number>

Gets the next nonce required for this Signer to send a transaction.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
blockTag?	BlockTag	The blocktag to base the transaction count on, keep in mind many nodes do not honour this value and silently ignore it [default: "latest"]

Returns

Promise\<number>

---

populateCall

▸ populateCall(tx): Promise\<TransactionLike\<string>>

Prepares a TransactionRequest for calling:

• resolves to and from addresses
• if from is specified , check that it matches this Signer

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
tx	TransactionRequest	The call to prepare

Returns

Promise\<TransactionLike\<string>>

---

populateTransaction

▸ populateTransaction(tx): Promise\<TransactionLike\<string>>

Prepares a TransactionRequest for sending to the network by populating any missing properties:

• resolves to and from addresses
• if from is specified , check that it matches this Signer
• populates nonce via signer.getNonce("pending")
• populates gasLimit via signer.estimateGas(tx)
• populates chainId via signer.provider.getNetwork()
• populates type and relevant fee data for that type (gasPrice for legacy transactions, maxFeePerGas for EIP-1559, etc)

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
tx	TransactionRequest	The call to prepare

Returns

Promise\<TransactionLike\<string>>

Note

Some Signer implementations may skip populating properties that are populated downstream; for example JsonRpcSigner defers to the node to populate the nonce and fee data.

---

resolveName

▸ resolveName(name): Promise\<null | string>

Resolves an ENS Name to an address.

Parameters

Name	Type
name	string

Returns

Promise\<null | string>

Overrides

ContractRunner.resolveName

---

sendTransaction

▸ sendTransaction(tx): Promise\<TransactionResponse>

Sends %%tx%% to the Network. The signer.populateTransaction(tx) is called first to ensure all necessary properties for the transaction to be valid have been popualted first.

Parameters

Name	Type
tx	TransactionRequest

Returns

Promise\<TransactionResponse>

Overrides

ContractRunner.sendTransaction

---

signMessage

▸ signMessage(message): Promise\<string>

Signs an [[link-eip-191]] prefixed personal message.

If the %%message%% is a string, it is signed as UTF-8 encoded bytes. It is not interpretted as a [[BytesLike]]; so the string "0x1234" is signed as six characters, not two bytes.

To sign that example as two bytes, the Uint8Array should be used (i.e. new Uint8Array([ 0x12, 0x34 ])).

Parameters

Name	Type
message	string | Uint8Array

Returns

Promise\<string>

---

signTransaction

▸ signTransaction(tx): Promise\<string>

Signs %%tx%%, returning the fully signed transaction. This does not populate any additional properties within the transaction.

Parameters

Name	Type
tx	TransactionRequest

Returns

Promise\<string>

---

signTypedData

▸ signTypedData(domain, types, value): Promise\<string>

Signs the [[link-eip-712]] typed data.

Parameters

Name	Type
domain	TypedDataDomain
types	Record\<string, TypedDataField[]>
value	Record\<string, any>

Returns

Promise\<string>