Setup

This guide assumes you have followed the install guides from the previous section for your platform and a valid Node.js or React Native project setup.

Installing the required dependencies

First we have to install the minimal amount of dependencies that are required for using the Aries Ecosystem.

Node.js

yarn add @aries-framework/core@^0.3.0 @aries-framework/node@^0.3.0

React Native

yarn add @aries-framework/core@^0.3.0 @aries-framework/react-native@^0.3.0 react-native-fs react-native-get-random-values indy-sdk-react-native@^0.3.1

Additional setup

Node.js

no additional setup is required

React Native

Since React Native does not have an implementation for crypto.getRandomValues() we have to setup a polyfill for this. We have to do this at the entrypoint of the application. This could is most likely index.(js|ts|jsx|tsx) at the root of your application.

index.tsx

+ import 'react-native-get-random-values'

In addition you need add support for resolving modules with the .cjs extension, as this is used by some of AFJ's dependencies and not automatically supported by React Native.

metro.config.js

module.exports = {
  // ... other Metro config options ...
  resolver: {
    // make sure this includes `cjs` (and other extensions you need)
    sourceExts: ['js', 'json', 'ts', 'tsx', 'cjs'],
  },
}

Finally, if you're using Expo you need to add a custom resolution 'hack' that removes support for the legacy unimodules.

Yarn

For yarn we can replace the @unimodules/react-native-adapter and @unimodules/core dependencies with an empty directory. Make sure to create the noop directory in the root of your project and create a .gitkeep file in the directory so that the directory is committed to your repository.

package.json

{
  // ... other package.json options ...
  "resolutions": {
    "@unimodules/react-native-adapter": "./noop",
    "@unimodules/core": "./noop"
  }
}

NPM

Not supported at the moment. NPM overrides work different than Yarn resolutions, and thus we can't use the same trick. If you're using NPM, feel free to open a PR with a working solution.

Setting up the agent

this section does not assume any knowledge of the agent configuration. Here we will discuss in-depth what every field in the configuration does and when to set it.

In order to use the agent in the application we have to configure and initialize it. This following configuration is quite generic and possibly not enough for your specific use cases. Please refer to the tutorials for a more use-case-specific agent setup.

Node.js

import type { InitConfig } from '@aries-framework/core'
import { Agent } from '@aries-framework/core'
import { agentDependencies } from '@aries-framework/node'

const config: InitConfig = {
  label: 'docs-nodejs-agent',
  walletConfig: {
    id: 'wallet-id',
    key: 'testkey0000000000000000000000000',
  },
}

const agent = new Agent({
  config,
  dependencies: agentDependencies,
})

React Native

import type { InitConfig } from '@aries-framework/core'
import { Agent } from '@aries-framework/core'
import { agentDependencies } from '@aries-framework/react-native'

const config: InitConfig = {
  label: 'docs-rn-agent',
  walletConfig: {
    id: 'wallet-id',
    key: 'testkey0000000000000000000000000',
  },
}

const agent = new Agent({
  config,
  dependencies: agentDependencies,
})

Setting up the transports

After creating an Agent instance, we have to set an outbound transport that will handle traffic from the agent. It is also possible to set an inbound transport in the same way as the outbound transport, but it is built-in, so not required.

Node.js

Sets up an HTTP outbound and inbound transport.

import { HttpOutboundTransport, WsOutboundTransport } from '@aries-framework/core'
import { HttpInboundTransport } from '@aries-framework/node'

agent.registerOutboundTransport(new HttpOutboundTransport())
agent.registerInboundTransport(new HttpInboundTransport({ port: 3000 }))

React Native

For mobile agents the WebSocket transport is often required. We will go into more depth about the reasons for this in the mediation section TODO: mediator section

import { WsOutboundTransport, HttpOutboundTransport } from '@aries-framework/core'

agent.registerOutboundTransport(new WsOutboundTransport())
agent.registerOutboundTransport(new HttpOutboundTransport())

Initializing the agent

// ...

const agent = new Agent({
  config,
  dependencies: agentDependencies,
})

const initialize = async () => await agent.initialize().catch(console.error)

Full code snippet

Node.js

import type { InitConfig } from '@aries-framework/core'
import { Agent, HttpOutboundTransport } from '@aries-framework/core'
import { agentDependencies, HttpInboundTransport } from '@aries-framework/node'

// The agent initialization configuration
const config: InitConfig = {
  label: 'docs-nodejs-agent',
  walletConfig: {
    id: 'wallet-id',
    key: 'testkey0000000000000000000000000',
  },
}

// Creating an agent instance
const agent = new Agent({
  config,
  dependencies: agentDependencies,
})

// Registering the required in- and outbound transports
agent.registerOutboundTransport(new HttpOutboundTransport())
agent.registerInboundTransport(new HttpInboundTransport({ port: 3000 }))

// Function to initialize the agent
const initialize = async () => await agent.initialize().catch(console.error)

React Native

import type { InitConfig } from '@aries-framework/core'
import { Agent, WsOutboundTransport, HttpOutboundTransport } from '@aries-framework/core'
import { agentDependencies } from '@aries-framework/react-native'

// The agent initialization configuration
const config: InitConfig = {
  label: 'docs-rn-agent',
  walletConfig: {
    id: 'wallet-id',
    key: 'testkey0000000000000000000000000',
  },
}

// Creating an agent instance
const agent = new Agent({
  config,
  dependencies: agentDependencies,
})

// Registering the required outbound transport
agent.registerOutboundTransport(new HttpOutboundTransport())
agent.registerOutboundTransport(new WsOutboundTransport())

// Function to initialize the agent
const initialize = async () => await agent.initialize().catch(console.error)

Useful resources

• Hyperledger Aries RFC - 004: Agents