Lisk SDK

Logo

The Lisk SDK is an open-source software development kit that enables developers to build scalable blockchain applications in JavaScript & TypeScript.

Highlights

The most important highlights and features of the Lisk SDK:

  • One blockchain per app: Each Lisk application runs on its own customized blockchain.

  • Programming language: JS logo (JavaScript) & TS logo (TypeScript)

  • Consensus algorithm: Lisk PoS & Lisk BFT

  • Completely modular: Configure, exchange, or extend any of the blockchain-related logic in the application with Modules and Commands and Plugins.

  • Convenient development tools:

    • Lisk Commander:

      • Bootstrap a complete, default Lisk client with a single command.

      • Generate skeletons for modules, commands, and plugins.

      • Use the Lisk SDK libraries directly in the terminal via the interactive Lisk console.

      • Many other convenient CLI tools such as creating accounts, encrypting passphrases/messages, and more. Dashboard Plugin: Communicate conveniently with the blockchain during development via a dashboard.

    • SDK testing utilities: simplifies the testing of all components of a blockchain client by providing dedicated fixtures, mock-ups, and utility functions.

  • Interoperable: Make your blockchain interoperable with other Lisk applications, by registering it as a sidechain on the Lisk mainchain. For more information see Lisk Interoperability.

Lisk SDK overview

Lisk SDK ecosystem diagram
Figure 1. Lisk SDK ecosystem

As shown in the image above, Lisk Framework is built on top of Lisk Elements and uses a lot of its functions to complement its logic. Developers can use Lisk Commander to generate a default blockchain client that is based on the Framework components, and add their specific business logic on top.

The Lisk SDK operates on the Node.js. Its three components Lisk Framework, Lisk Elements, and Lisk Commander each provide specific utilities to blockchain developers, as described in the following section.

Hardware requirements

Below are the recommended hardware requirements to run applications built with the SDK.

CPU

4 core fast CPU

RAM

8GB RAM

Storage

SSD: 50GB+

Lisk SDK components

Component Description

Lisk Framework

Lisk Framework is an application framework responsible for establishing and maintaining the interactions between the different components of a blockchain client.

Lisk Elements

Lisk Elements is a collection of libraries, each of which implements a certain type of blockchain functionality such as cryptography, transactions, p2p, etc. Each library of Lisk Elements is also published as an NPM package, and can be installed separately if needed. For more information about Lisk Protocol, see Lisk Improvement Proposals.

Lisk Commander

Lisk Commander is a command line tool that provides various commands to simplify the development and management of Lisk apps. For example, it allows the user to bootstrap a complete blockchain client with just one command.