3Box - Social profiles for web3 applications

3Box provides social infrastructure to power decentralized applications and networks. Ethereum Profiles allow users to create a rich social presence that unites and gives them control over their data and experiences on the decentralized web. These built on our distributed social databases that let developers store and access information in users' profiles, making distributed data infrastructure and sharing information between dapps much simpler.

What is 3Box

Head to 3Box.io and create your own profile to see how users can view, edit and control their 3Box data and profile. All functionality in the 3Box dapp can also be accessed from our APIs.

Next, integrate 3Box-JS into your application to ease user onboarding and deliver a richer user experience via profiles and social connections. 3box-js will enable you to Get, Set and Remove data associated with an Ethereum account.

Integration

Install 3Box

$ npm install 3Box

Import 3Box into your project

Import the 3box module

const Box = require('3box')

or use the dist build in your html code

<script type="text/javascript" src="../dist/3box.js"></script>

Usage

Get public user data using getProfile

You can retrieve publicly saved data (e.g., name, photo) about ethereum addresses using the getProfile static method directly from the Box message, with no user signing.

Using async/await

const profile = await Box.getProfile('0x12345abcde')
console.log(profile)

or using .then

Box.getProfile('0x12345abcde').then(profile => {
  console.log(profile)
})

Interacting with private data

To get data in a user's 3Box or read private data, you must call the openBox method. This will prompt the user to authenticate your dapp.

openBox

Using async/await ('0x123..' represents an Ethereum address)

const box = await Box.openBox('0x12345abcde', ethereumProvider)

We recommend adding a listener using the onSyncDone method to let you know when all the users data has synced to the network after the first time you open a user's 3Box, making it safe to set data. 

box.onSyncDone(yourCallbackFunction)

Get, Set and Remove data

Once a user has authenticated your dapp, you can use the box instance object to interact with data in the users private store and profile. In both the profile and the private store you use a key to set a value.

Using async/await

// use the public profile
// get
const nickname = await box.public.get('name')
console.log(nickname)
// set
await box.public.set('name', 'oed')
// remove
await box.public.remove('name')
// use the private store
// get
const email = await box.private.get('email')
console.log(email)
// set
await box.private.set('email', '[email protected]')
// remove
await box.private.remove('email')

You can see the 3Box API documentation for further information.

Make your data accessible

We encourage you to use or add to our key conventions to build strong cross-dapp experiences and sharing.

Use our other functionality

You can also use our 3box-activity to get a users Ethereum activity feed, our verified fields to get a more trusted view of who a user is, and more coming soon. Follow the latest here.

Use 3Box profiles & data to make great user experiences

Our mission is to enable anyone to create trust and connection online, and we do that by helping you create great communities and experiences. Here are some of the things are partners are using 3Box for - let us know how you use it.

Chat with us

Stop by our Discord Community for support, the latest news, or good conversation about our latest #book-club reading.