How to programmatically interact with the Farcaster decentralized social network using Python

Introduction

Farcaster is a decentralized social network (DeSoc) built on the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) and the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike traditional social media platforms, Farcaster allows users to own their own data and content, fostering a fairer and safer online experience. This article covers programming interactions with Farcaster using Python, enabling developers to automate tasks, build custom applications, and explore the possibilities of this innovative DeSoc platform.

Prerequisites

A non-root user with privileges sudo On a Linux-based operating system.
Python 3 is installed and a programming environment is set up on your computer or server.
A Forex trading account
Familiarity with the terminal environment

Step-1: Install the necessary Python libraries

At this point, install the Farcaster-py library, a standard Python development kit (SDK) for the Farcaster protocol, using the package installer. pip You will install.

If you haven't already enabled your development environment, make sure you have it enabled in the parent directory of your project. (farcaster-example) You are there and use the following command to activate the environment.

source env/bin/activate

Once your programming environment is enabled, your environment name is now prefixed. In this case, it's called ^env^. Depending on the version of Linux you're running, your prefix may look slightly different, but your environment name in parentheses should be the first thing you see on your line:

(env)sammy@localhost:$

This prefix indicates that the env environment is currently active, which may have a different name depending on how it was named during creation. Now, let's install the Python packages that we will need throughout this tutorial, using the command pip Let's install.

For installation farcaster-py Run the following command:

pip install -U farcaster

farcaster-py SDK It uses the Warpcast Application Programming Interface (API). Warpcast is one of many Farcaster clients, and you need a Farcaster account to use the Warpcast API.

Then, let's go to the library. dotenv Install , which is used to load environment variables from the file .env Will be used.

pip install python-dotenv

When farcaster-py and dotenv We have successfully installed it, it's good to move on to the next step.

Step-2 Connecting to Farcaster

In this step, you will use the storage key or private key of the Farcaster custodian account (provided by Warpcast) to connect to the API.

First, save your Farcaster private key in a file. environment. Save. You can do this by opening the file .env Do it using the following command:

nano .env

In the file environment. Type the following line and replace YOUR_MNEMONIC_HERE with your actual mnemonic phrase:

MNEMONIC=YOUR_MNEMONIC_HERE

Ctrl + O Press to save, then Enter to confirm the file name and finally Ctrl + X Press to exit the editor.

As a security precaution, you can run the following command to prevent unauthorized access to the sensitive note. This will set the permissions to read and write only for the owner.

chmod 600 .env

Now let's enter the Python command line shell and start interacting with Farcaster. Launch the shell using the Python command:

python

You should see output similar to the one below. This indicates that you have successfully logged into the Python shell.

OutputPython 3.9.2 (default, Feb 28 2021, 17:03:44)
[GCC 10.2.1 20210110] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

Once we're logged into the shell, we'll start typing our code. First, let's look at the library os, Warpcast and objects load_dotenv from the libraries in order farcaster and dotenv Let's enter.

import os
from farcaster import Warpcast
from dotenv import load_dotenv

Then, let's call load_dotenv(): Set environment variables in environment.

load_dotenv()

Successfully loaded environment variable True Outputs.

Now, instantiate the client using the Warpcast method with the MNEMONIC argument. Then the method get_healthcheck() Call to check if the client is connected.

client = Warpcast(mnemonic=os.environ.get(“MNEMONIC”))
client.get_healthcheck()

A successful health check should output True This means that our client has been successfully instantiated and can interact with the Farcaster network. Next, we will interact with the Farcaster network by publishing actors, deleting actors, and getting the Farcaster ID (FID).

Step-3: Interacting with Forexter

Now let's publish a cast. Casts refer to content that is broadcast to a specific group of followers or subscribers on Farcaster.

broadcast = client.post_cast(text=”Hello World!”)
hash = broadcast.cast.hash
print(hash)

The above code publishes the text “Hello World!” as an actor to the Farcaster network, and prints the last line of the actor’s hash as recorded on the network.

Next, let's read the actors we just published in the code. Since we have the hash, we can pass it as an argument in get_cast() Let's say, which returns the cast content if successful.

read = client.get_cast(hash)
text = read.cast.text
print(text)

This should print the content of the actor that was previously published as “Hello World!” Now that you are familiar with sending and receiving the content of an actor, you should try deleting an actor:

is_deleted = client.delete_cast(hash)
print(is_deleted)

If the actors have been removed, the above code will return the status of the actors being removed as True It prints.

As you may have noticed, in order to post content (casts) on Farcaster, you need to create an account. Behind the scenes, each user is assigned a Farcaster ID (FID) after creating an account. You can get your FID by running the following lines of code:

user = client.get_me()
fid = user.fid
print(fid)

Method get_me() Current user Farcaster receives that you are. If you would like to receive information about other users, you can use client.get_user() that takes an FID or client.get_user_username() which takes a username as an argument. Both methods return a model that contains the user object.

As Farcaster evolves, new opportunities emerge, inviting developers to explore and learn in this exciting ecosystem.

Result

This article provided a basic understanding of how to interact with Farcaster using Python. Using Python and Farcaster, developers like you can unlock the potential of this DeSoc platform by automating tasks, building custom applications, and helping to grow a decentralized, user-centric social web.