Trezor

Trezor Suite® – Getting Started™ Developer Portal

A practical developer's guide for integrating, testing, and building on top of Trezor Suite. Colorful, clear, and code-ready.

Introduction

Welcome to the Trezor Suite® – Getting Started™ Developer Portal. This guide is written for engineers, product managers, and technical founders who want to build secure, wallet-connected experiences that talk to Trezor devices through Trezor Suite. We'll walk through setup, common integration patterns, code samples, testing, and security considerations — all arranged with semantic headings (H1 → H5) to make reusing and publishing easy.

Getting started: Setup & prerequisites

System requirements (H3)

Before you begin, ensure your development environment matches the necessary constraints:

Step-by-step install (H4)

Use this minimal setup to run a local demo app that interacts with Trezor Suite:

mkdir trezor-demo
cd trezor-demo
npm init -y
npm install @trezor/connect
# create index.html and index.js to experiment locally
Local dev tips (H5)
Note: The official Trezor libraries commonly used are @trezor/connect (JS) or platform-specific SDKs. Replace packages with your preferred stable client libraries where applicable.

API overview & architecture

How Trezor Suite exposes capabilities (H3)

At a high level, Trezor Suite and the Trezor libraries provide:

  1. Device discovery and handshake.
  2. Account and path management (derivation path interaction).
  3. Transaction signing primitives.
  4. Event notifications and user confirmations.

Common API actions (H4)

Message formats (H5)

Most libraries accept a structured JSON request object and return a secure JSON response (often with device signature fields). Maintain strict typing in TypeScript to prevent mistakes.

// Minimal example with a pseudo-client
import TrezorConnect from '@trezor/connect';

await TrezorConnect.init({ manifest: { email: 'dev@example.com', appUrl: 'https://example.com' }});
const response = await TrezorConnect.getPublicKey({ path: "m/44'/0'/0'/0/0" });
if (response.success) {
  console.log(response.payload);
}

Examples & integration patterns

Standard Wallet Flow (H3)

A typical flow for a web wallet or dApp integrates these steps:

  1. Discover device and request user approval.
  2. Fetch public keys and display addresses for user verification.
  3. Create and serialize the unsigned transaction on the server or client.
  4. Send the unsigned payload to the Trezor device for signing.
  5. Transmit the signed transaction to the network.

Server vs Client signing (H4)

Keep private keys only on the hardware device. Servers should compile tx data but never request private keys or signatures without an explicit user flow.

Small example: signing flow (H5)
// Pseudo-code: client triggers sign
const unsignedTx = await fetch('/api/create-tx', { method:'POST' }).then(r=>r.json());
const signResult = await TrezorConnect.signTransaction({ inputs: unsignedTx.inputs, outputs: unsignedTx.outputs, coin: 'Bitcoin' });
if (signResult.success) {
  await fetch('/api/broadcast', {
    method:'POST', body: JSON.stringify({ rawTx: signResult.payload.serializedTx })
  });
}
Pro tip: Build robust UX for hardware confirmations — clearly show the amount, destination, and fees before shipping the payload to the device.

Security considerations

Threat model (H3)

When building on top of hardware wallets, assume a hostile environment: compromised browsers, malicious clipboard scrapers, and network attackers. The device protects private keys, but your app must protect metadata and signing decisions.

Best practices (H4)

Recovery & backups (H5)

Emphasize user education: recovery seeds are the last-resort secret. Do not accept recovery seeds into any online form. Offer downloadable, printable guides for secure seed storage.

UX & best practices

Designing the signing UX (H3)

A user-centered signing UX reduces errors and increases confidence. Use clear steps, confirmations, and resist the urge to shortcut device confirmations.

Microcopy suggestions (H4)

Accessibility (H5)

Ensure text alternatives for images, keyboard navigation, and assistive technology compatibility. Use large, readable fonts for critical transaction summaries.

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Device not detected (H3)

Common fixes:

Signature mismatch (H4)

If signatures don't validate, re-check the serialized transaction format, correct inputs ordering, and ensure chain parameters (e.g., segwit vs legacy) match.

Support & community (H5)

Offer links to official support channels and community forums. Encourage reproducible bug reports with device model, firmware version, and logs (without secrets).

Glossary

Key terms (H3)

Helpful abbreviations (H4)

  1. HID — Human Interface Device
  2. WebUSB — Browser USB API
  3. API — Application Programming Interface

Resources & 10 office links

Below are ten quick links you can use in an "office" resource section — replace # with your production URLs as needed.

Developer checklist (H3)

Sample manifest (H4)

{
  "email": "developer@example.com",
  "appUrl": "https://your-app.example"
}

Conclusion & Next steps

Building on top of Trezor Suite opens a path to secure, user-trusted crypto experiences. Start small: wire up device discovery, fetch public keys, and implement a single sign flow. Iterate on UX, add robust error handling, and always prioritize security.

Next steps (H3)

  1. Clone a sample repo and run through device onboarding.
  2. Create a testnet integration for safe end-to-end testing.
  3. Collect user feedback on the approval flow and refine microcopy.

Share & collaborate (H4)

If you’re publishing this internally or externally, maintain the H1–H5 structure so search engines and screen readers can correctly index the content. Add your real links in the "office links" section — they’re placeholders now for quick templating.

Final thought (H5)

Hardware wallets give you the highest assurance of key custody — design your product to respect and enhance that promise.