Introduction to EIP-1193

2025-03-26

Author of this section: @Fish

we speak in the third connect Wallet how to connect wallets is described in, but the principle of connecting wallets is not explained in depth. EIP1193 and EIP6963 are two important protocols that define the standards for DApp connected wallets. EIP1193 is the earliest standard, but there are some defects. EIP6963 is an improvement of EIP1193 and solves those defects.

This article will introduce the basic concepts of these two protocols to help you understand the logic of linked wallets.

EIP1193

the canonical address of the EIP1193 is https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-1193 it defines how to interact with the wallet through JavaScript in the browser. With this specification, the wallet can provide the relevant interface according to it, and DApp can call the interface provided by the wallet according to it.

This definition is very simple, in fact, it is the global object of the browser runtime. window on ethereum the format of the object, which defines a number of methods and events.

For DApp, it needs to be checked window.ethereum exists, and if it exists, then it can call window.ethereum on the way to interact with the wallet. It is similar to calling other APIs of the browser, such window.localStorage .

Here is a simple example to get the ID of the chain:

const ethereum = window.ethereum;

ethereum
  .request({ method: "eth_chainId" })
  .then((chainId) => {
    console.log(`hexadecimal string: ${chainId}`);
    console.log(`decimal number: ${parseInt(chainId, 16)}`);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(`Error fetching chainId: ${error.code}: ${error.message}`);
  });

you can try running in the browser's console to see the effect:

for more methods, it is also modified accordingly. request the parameters of the call are sufficient, and the supported methods can refer JSON-RPC API . Of course, for some methods that may not be supported by wallets, you need to do a good job of exception handling. There are also some wallet-specific methods or some already established methods that you need to check the wallet's documentation.

Generally speaking, in DApp you should use something like web3.js , ethers , viem such SDKs interact with wallets. These SDKs will help you encapsulate some methods to make it easier for you to interact with wallets.

The above is the basic concept of EIP1193, but EIP1193 has a major flaw. It is window.ethereum There is only one object, so when the user installs multiple wallets, the user can only choose one wallet to use. This will lead to a scramble between wallets. window.ethereum on the one hand, it damages the user experience, and on the other hand, it is not conducive to the healthy competition between wallets.

For a long time before, the wallet approach to this problem was generally to inject its own unique objects, such as TokenPocket. window.tokenPocket . However, this approach is not standard or a good solution. In addition, this approach will also cause DApp to need to adapt to many wallets, increasing the development cost of DApp.

So there is EIP6963, and we will introduce EIP6963 next.

EIP6963

the canonical address for EIP6963 is https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-6963 .

EIP6963 is no longer passed window.ethereum object to interact with the wallet, but by going to the wallet. window send events to interact with the wallet. This solves the problem of EIP1193. Multiple wallets can interact with DApp without competing. window.ethereum Object.

In addition, the wallet can also actively inform DApp of its existence by sending events, so that DApp can know which wallets the user has installed and then interact with the wallet according to the user's choice.

Technically speaking, it is through the browser. window.addEventListener to listen for messages, through window.dispatchEvent to send a message. Of all messages type all have eip6963: prefix. For specific message content definitions, see the specification document.

For developers, just like EIP1193, you can use some community libraries, so you can avoid paying attention to details. For example, if you use wagmi, then by configuring multiInjectedProviderDiscovery you can access the EIP6963.

If you use Ant Design Web3 , by configuring WagmiWeb3ConfigProvider of eip6963 You can use EIP6963 in DApp. The pop-up of its connected wallets will automatically add detected wallets.

Here is our modified example based on the previous lesson example:

export default function Web3() {
  return (
    <WagmiWeb3ConfigProvider
      config={config}
      wallets={[MetaMask()]}
+     eip6963={{
+       autoAddInjectedWallets: true,
+     }}
    >
      <Address format address="0xEcd0D12E21805803f70de03B72B1C162dB0898d9" />
      <NFTCard
        address="0xEcd0D12E21805803f70de03B72B1C162dB0898d9"
        tokenId={641}
      />
      <Connector>
        <ConnectButton />
      </Connector>
      <CallTest />
    </WagmiWeb3ConfigProvider>
  );
}

which configures eip6963 this enables the use of connecting wallets through the EIP6963 protocol, avoiding possible conflicts between multiple wallets. Also added autoAddInjectedWallets the configuration enables the detected wallet to be automatically added to the UI of Ant Design Web3, improving the user experience and allowing the user to freely choose the wallet he has installed.

Summary

whether it is EIP1193 or EIP6963, they both interact with the wallet through the browser's JavaScript API. It requires that the wallet can inject objects or send events to the DApp's runtime, such as through the Chrome browser plug-in, or you access the DApp in the browser built into the wallet.

However, for some scenarios, users do not have a plug-in installed, or access DApp in the mobile browser, and cannot use the plug-in. Or the user needs to connect to the DApp with a wallet client installed on another phone. Neither EIP1193 nor EIP6963 can meet these scenarios. Therefore, we also need other ways to connect wallets, such as WalletConnect. We'll cover how to use WalletConnect to connect wallets in the next section.