Create your first wallet

1Before you start

Every Divi wallet is built from one recovery phrase of 12 or 24 English words. The app shows it once, when the wallet is made. Whoever has the words has the coins, and there is no reset button. So the only job in this tutorial that really matters is step 9: putting the phrase in a password manager.

Install a password manager first if you do not have one: Proton Pass (free), or 1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane, Keeper or Apple Passwords. You will paste the phrase into a new secure note.
Practise on testnet. Every app below has a testnet mode, and testnet coins are free from the faucet. All the outputs on this page come from testnet: addresses start with x or y instead of D.
Not sure which app? Which wallet should I use? compares them. Most people need only one.

Nobody will ever ask for your phrase Not Divi support, not this site, not a "wallet validation" page, not a helpful stranger in Telegram. Anyone who asks is stealing. See Avoid scams.

2IronDivi node

The IronDivi node makes a wallet by itself the first time it starts with an empty data folder. Nothing to click. If you have not installed it yet, Install IronDivi comes first.

Start the node on testnet, pointing it at a new folder:

irondivid --testnet --datadir ~/divi-test --staking=false

Among the first lines it prints you will see:

INFO irondivid: Creating new wallet at "/home/you/divi-test/wallet"
WARN irondivid: new wallet created; retrieve the seed with the dumphdinfo RPC
INFO irondivid: New wallet created successfully

The node deliberately does not print the phrase into its log. Logs are not secret; the wallet is.

Ask the node for the phrase, once. Give irondivi-cli the same config file the node uses so it can log in:
```
irondivi-cli -c ~/divi-test/irondivi.conf dumphdinfo
```
```
{
  "hdseed": "64 hex characters",
  "mnemonic": "word word word … (24 words)",
  "mnemonicpassphrase": ""
}
```
Copy the 24 words of mnemonic into your password manager now (step 9). Then clear the terminal: clear on Linux or Mac, cls on Windows.
Get your first receiving address:
```
irondivi-cli -c ~/divi-test/irondivi.conf getnewaddress
```
```
y7gUWYoP3JfvjhJs5qBLQwtKvorfCpVKzM
```
A testnet address starts with y (or x); a mainnet one starts with D.
Check the wallet exists and is empty:
```
irondivi-cli -c ~/divi-test/irondivi.conf getwalletinfo
```
```
{
  "active_wallet": "wallet.dat",
  "balance": 0.0,
  "encryption_status": "unencrypted",
  "hdmasterkeyid": "bd14f173a60740f73365091f7b4b9d14924db9d0",
  …
}
```
encryption_status: unencrypted is the state you will fix in the next tutorial, Encrypt your wallet. hdmasterkeyid is a fingerprint of your phrase; the same phrase always gives the same id, which is how you can tell two wallets are the same one.

Restoring instead of creating. To rebuild a wallet from a phrase you already have, start the node for the first time, with an empty wallet folder, with the phrase in the WALLET_MNEMONIC environment variable. The node then derives the same keys instead of random ones. The safe way to do that without the phrase landing in your shell history is in step 10.

3IronDivi Web Wallet

Open services.divi.domains/testnet/wallet/ for practice, or /wallet/ for real coins. The page header says TESTNET on the practice copy, so you always know which one you are in.

Click Create New Wallet.
Choose 12 Words or 24 Words, then Generate New Wallet. Twelve is plenty and easier to type; twenty-four is what the node and the C++ wallet produce. Either works everywhere.
The next screen, Your Recovery Phrase, shows the words. Use Copy to Clipboard, paste them into the password manager, then click I've Saved My Phrase.
The wallet checks you really saved it on the Check Your Recovery Phrase screen. If you need to look again, Show My Phrase Again.
You land on the main screen: Total Balance 0.00000000 DIVI, an Addresses list and a + New button for more addresses.

The phrase and keys are generated in your browser and stay there; the site only relays signed transactions. Closing the tab does not delete the wallet, but clearing the browser's site data does, which is exactly why the phrase lives in the password manager. To get it back: Restore Existing Wallet, paste the 12 or 24 words, Restore Wallet.

4IronDivi browser extension

Version 0.0.1 is loaded from the source repository in developer mode (Chrome, Edge or Firefox), and it starts on Testnet, which is the right place to learn. The install itself is in Install IronDivi.

Open the extension and choose Create New Wallet (or Import Recovery Phrase if you have one).
Fill in Wallet Name, Password and Confirm Password. This password only unlocks the extension on this computer; it is not the recovery phrase and does not recover anything.
Pick Word Count: 12 words or 24 words. Click Create Wallet.
The extension says "Write down these words in order and store them safely. Never share them with anyone." Click Show Phrase, and put the words in the password manager.

Later, when a website wants to talk to your wallet, the extension opens a Connect Site request you approve or reject; nothing connects silently.

5IronDivi Telegram wallet

Open @divi_wallet_bot and press Start. The bot is on mainnet by default; /network testnet switches this chat to testnet, and /network alone shows which one you are on.
Send /wallet. The bot replies with an Open Wallet button rather than words in the chat: wallets are made inside a small app that Telegram opens, so the phrase never passes through the chat or the bot's servers.
In the app, create the wallet, choose an unlock pattern, and save the phrase it shows into the password manager.
Back in the chat, /newaddress gives you a receiving address, and /balance <address> shows its balance.

/restore opens the same app to rebuild a wallet from a phrase; /forgot helps if you lose the unlock pattern but still have the phrase; /settings can wipe the wallet from this phone.

6Divi Desktop

Download Divi Desktop 2.0.0 for Windows, Mac or Linux from diviproject.org/downloads and nowhere else. On first launch it creates a wallet and walks you through saving the recovery phrase, then starts downloading the chain, which takes a while the first time. Put the phrase in the password manager when it is shown.

Divi Desktop runs the C++ node underneath, so if you ever need the phrase again it is one command in its debug console: dumphdinfo, exactly as in step 8. We could not re-check the exact wording of the Desktop setup screens for this version on the day; if yours differ, the idea is the same: save the words, then confirm them.

7BoxWallet

BoxWallet (v0.8.38) is a free command-line helper that installs the official C++ node for you, on Linux, a Raspberry Pi, Mac or Windows.

Download the build for your machine from github.com/richardltc/boxwallet/releases and unpack it.
Run ./boxwallet coin and choose Divi. It downloads the Divi binaries and creates a new wallet.
Run ./boxwallet start to start the node, then ./boxwallet dash. The first dashboard run is a short wizard that helps you secure the wallet.
Your recovery phrase comes from the node BoxWallet installed: divi-cli dumphdinfo, as in step 8. Save it to the password manager.

8C++ Divi command line

The original node, divid 3.0.0, also makes a wallet by itself on first start. It writes wallet.dat into its data folder (testnet3/ inside it on testnet).

Start it on testnet: divid -testnet -daemon (or put testnet=1 in divi.conf). The log, debug.log, ends its wallet setup with init message: Loading wallet... (100.00 %).

Show the phrase once:

divi-cli -testnet dumphdinfo

{
    "hdseed" : "64 hex characters",
    "mnemonic" : "word word word … (24 words)",
    "mnemonicpassphrase" : ""
}

Same three fields as IronDivi, same meaning. Save the 24 words, then clear the screen.

First address and wallet state:

divi-cli -testnet getnewaddress
y6SiJwDifwqZyPxGGTHFrzwAxycL9BFfSn

divi-cli -testnet getwalletinfo
{
    "active_wallet" : "wallet.dat",
    "walletversion" : 120200,
    "balance" : 0.00000000,
    …
    "keypoolsize" : 1999,
    "encryption_status" : "unencrypted"
}

Restoring. The C++ node takes the phrase as a startup setting, mnemonic=, on its first start with no wallet.dat. Put the line in divi.conf rather than on the command line, start the node once, and delete the line again, so the phrase does not stay in a readable file or in your shell history.

9Save the phrase properly

In your password manager, create a new secure note (Proton Pass: Note; 1Password: Secure Note; Bitwarden: Secure note; Apple Passwords: a note on a new entry).
Title it with the app and the date, for example Divi IronDivi node, 21 Oct 2026.
Paste the words, in order, one line or one space apart. Add the hdmasterkeyid if you have it; it helps you tell wallets apart later.
Save, close the terminal or the phrase screen, and empty the clipboard by copying something harmless.
Let the password manager sync so the note is on more than one device. That sync is your off-site copy.

Why a password manager and not paper first A good password manager encrypts the note, syncs it to a second device, and survives a house fire, a move and a spilled coffee. Paper does none of that, and a photo of paper is the worst of both. If you also want paper, make it a second copy, not the first.

The phrase is the backup of everything the wallet makes for itself. Back up your wallet explains the two cases where a wallet file still matters, and why that file is only ever copied after encrypting it.

10Prove it: restore from the phrase

Do this once, on testnet, before you trust the phrase with real coins. We did it for this page with a second IronDivi node in a fresh folder, so no existing wallet was touched.

Stop nothing; just pick an empty folder and free ports. Read the phrase from the password manager into the environment without typing it on a command line. On Linux or Mac, read -s hides what you paste:

read -s WALLET_MNEMONIC   # paste the words, press Enter; nothing is shown
export WALLET_MNEMONIC
irondivid --testnet --datadir ~/divi-restore --staking=false --port 53120 --rpcport 53121
unset WALLET_MNEMONIC

Compare the fingerprint:
```
irondivi-cli -c ~/divi-restore/irondivi.conf getwalletinfo | grep hdmasterkeyid
  "hdmasterkeyid": "bd14f173a60740f73365091f7b4b9d14924db9d0"
```
It matches the original wallet in step 2, so the restored wallet is the same wallet. Its balance shows up once this node has synced the chain.
Stop the test node and delete ~/divi-restore. You have proved the phrase works.

Troubleshooting

dumphdinfo says the wallet is locked. You have already encrypted it. Unlock first with walletpassphrase; see Encrypt your wallet.

The web wallet shows a different balance after I restored. Restore with the same word count and the exact words; one wrong word gives a different, empty wallet. Check the phrase against the password manager, not against memory.

I restored in IronDivi but WALLET_MNEMONIC was ignored. It is only read when the wallet folder does not exist yet. Point --datadir at a new, empty folder.

My address starts with y but the exchange wants D. You are on testnet. Testnet coins have no value and cannot be sent to mainnet addresses. Start the app in mainnet mode for real coins.

Still stuck? Ask the Divi chatbot, or see all tutorials.

← Which wallet should I use? Encrypt your wallet →