The Zcash Devtool is a platform for hacking on Zcash. It is built by developers, for developers, for testing & development of new Zcash functionality; and should not be considered production-ready. The command line API that this tool exposes can & will change at any time and without warning. DO NOT commit significant funds to the management of the zcash-devtool embedded wallet.
Video tutorial of Zcash Devtool:
Kris Nuttycombe (@nuttycom) presented this tool during ZconVI.
For a step by step guide for how to get started using these tools, see this walkthrough. It documents a full walkthrough of how to set up and use the zcash devtool tooling. It is intended to serve as a guide for how to get setup and how to add your own functionality to the tool.
Quick start
The commands below were checked against zcash-devtool main (commit 5a26ee8, August 2026). The tool changes without notice, so run --help on any command if something here no longer matches.
Install
There are no prebuilt binaries. Install Rust, then build from source:
Code-highlight
git clone https://github.com/zcash/zcash-devtool.git
cd zcash-devtool
cargo run --release -- --help
The examples below call the built binary, target/release/zcash-devtool. cargo run --release -- ... works the same way.
Create a testnet wallet
Start on testnet. Testnet coins (TAZ) have no value.
-w is the wallet directory. It goes after wallet and before the subcommand.
-i is an age identity file. The wallet's mnemonic phrase is encrypted to it, and the file is created if it doesn't exist. Keep it: send, shield and other spending commands need it to decrypt the seed.
-n is the network: test or main.
-s picks the light wallet server. The default, zecrocks, connects to the zec.rocks server for the chosen network.
To restore an existing wallet, use restore-mnemonic in place of init. It prompts for the phrase.
balance lists each pool separately, including Ironwood:
propose shows the transaction a send would build, without sending it. list-tx and list-unspent show the wallet's history and notes.
Any command that talks to a server also accepts --connection tor, which routes the connection through the built-in Tor client.
Inspect addresses, keys and transactions
inspect decodes Zcash data offline: addresses, keys, and raw transactions. Add --lookup to fetch more information from the chain, such as a transaction by its ID.
Ironwood notes are sent to the same Orchard receiver in a unified address, so addresses did not change with NU6.3.
Build transactions in steps with PCZTs
A PCZT (partially created Zcash transaction) splits building a transaction into separate steps: create, prove, sign, and send. Each step can run on a different machine, for example with a hardware signer such as Keystone. Each pczt command reads the PCZT from a file or stdin and writes it to a file (--output) or stdout, so the steps can be piped:
plan previews the note splits and the transfer schedule, and changes nothing.
commit builds and pre-signs the first preparation transactions. Add --external to leave them unsigned for an external signer such as Keystone.
status shows the migration's progress and the next step.
advance proves the next transaction whose anchor is ready.
The migration commands are still being built. advance stops at the first transaction that is ready to broadcast, because broadcasting is not implemented in the tool yet. For everyday use, move funds with a wallet that supports Ironwood. See Shielded Pools.
Security Warnings:
DO NOT USE THIS IN PRODUCTION!!!
The app has not been written with security in mind. It does however have affordances such as encryption of the mnemonic seed phrases that should make it viable for small scale experimentation, at your own risk.
