multichainr

multichainr is a comprehensive R interface to the MultiChain blockchain JSON-RPC API. It allows you to manage blockchain nodes, create and query data streams, issue assets, manage permissions, build raw transactions, and much more -- all from within R.

Prerequisites

R >= 3.6.0
MultiChain >= 2.0 -- download from multichain.com/download-install
Pandoc (only if building vignettes locally)

Make sure the MultiChain binaries (multichaind, multichain-util) are accessible. Set the path via:

mc_set_path("/path/to/multichain/binaries")

or add MULTICHAIN_PATH to your .Renviron file.

Installation

# From GitHub (development version)
# remotes::install_github("datascienceadvice/multichainr")
install.packages("multichainr", repos = c('https://datascienceadvice.r-universe.dev', 'https://cloud.r-project.org'))

# From CRAN (once published)
install.packages("multichainr")

Quick Start

library(multichainr)

# Set path to MultiChain binaries
mc_set_path(Sys.getenv("MULTICHAIN_PATH"))

# Create and start a local blockchain
mc_node_init("my_first_chain")
mc_node_start("my_first_chain")

# Connect to the node
config <- mc_get_config("my_first_chain")
conn <- mc_connect(config)

# Check node status
info <- mc_get_info(conn)
cat("Node balance:", info$balance, "\n")
cat("Block height:", info$blocks, "\n")

# Create a stream and publish data
mc_create_stream(conn, "mystream", open = TRUE)
mc_publish(conn, "mystream", "key1", list(text = "Hello, MultiChain!"))

# Query the stream
items <- mc_list_stream_items(conn, "mystream")
print(items)

# Clean up
mc_node_stop(conn)

Core Features

Area	Key Functions
Connection	`mc_connect()`, `mc_get_config()`
Node Management	`mc_node_init()`, `mc_node_start()`, `mc_node_stop()`
Addresses	`mc_get_new_address()`, `mc_get_addresses()`, `mc_validate_address()`
Assets	`mc_issue()`, `mc_issue_from()`, `mc_list_assets()`, `mc_get_asset_info()`
Streams	`mc_create_stream()`, `mc_publish()`, `mc_list_stream_items()`
Permissions	`mc_grant()`, `mc_revoke()`, `mc_list_permissions()`
Payments	`mc_send()`, `mc_send_asset()`, `mc_send_with_data()`
Raw Transactions	`mc_create_raw_transaction()`, `mc_sign_raw_transaction()`, `mc_decode_raw_transaction()`
Atomic Exchange	`mc_create_raw_exchange()`, `mc_append_raw_exchange()`, `mc_complete_raw_exchange()`
Smart Filters	`mc_create_stream_filter()`, `mc_create_tx_filter()`, `mc_test_tx_filter()`
Libraries & Variables	`mc_create_library()`, `mc_create_variable()`, `mc_set_variable_value()`
Subscriptions	`mc_subscribe()`, `mc_unsubscribe()`
Binary Cache	`mc_create_binary_cache()`, `mc_txout_to_binary_cache()`
Network	`mc_add_node()`, `mc_get_peer_info()`, `mc_ping()`
Messaging	`mc_sign_message()`, `mc_verify_message()`
Wallet	`mc_backup_wallet()`, `mc_encrypt_wallet()`, `mc_dump_privkey()`

Documentation

Full reference documentation is available at the package website (once published) or via R's built-in help:

?mc_connect    # help for a specific function
help(package = "multichainr")  # list all exported functions

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

Open an issue to report bugs or suggest features.
Submit a pull request with a clear description of the change.
Ensure devtools::check() passes before submitting.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License -- see the LICENSE file for details.