Local PayString Server

note

PayString was previously known as PayID.

To familiarize yourself and experiment with PayString, you can set up a local PayString server. Here is a simple method. For more options, including PayString deployment for production environments, see Deployment Overview.

If you haven't already, install Docker and Node on your machine.
The reference implementation server is available at https://github.com/paystring/paystring. You can download the reference implementation server by cloning the repository at the command line: git clone https://github.com/paystring/paystring.git
Go to the /paystring directory that you just created: cd paystring
Boot up the PayString HTTP server and a Postgres database to develop against: npm run devEnvUp

Create a PayString#

Now that you have a PayString server running, you can create a PayString. If your server is publicly accessible, other people could query your account information from your PayString server.

To create a PayString, with an XRP Ledger Testnet account, send this request to your server:

curl --location --request POST 'http://127.0.0.1:8081/users' \
  --header 'PayID-API-Version: 2020-06-18' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-raw '{
       "payId": "alice$127.0.0.1",
       "addresses": [
           {
               "paymentNetwork": "XRPL",
               "environment": "TESTNET",
               "details": {
                   "address": "rDk7FQvkQxQQNGTtfM2Fr66s7Nm3k87vdS",
                   "tag": "123"
               }
           }
       ]
   }'

PayString supports various payment networks. To create a second user with a Bitcoin testnet account, send this request to your server:

curl --location --request POST 'http://127.0.0.1:8081/users' \
  --header 'PayID-API-Version: 2020-06-18' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-raw '{
       "payId": "bob$127.0.0.1",
       "addresses": [
           {
               "paymentNetwork": "BTC",
               "environment": "TESTNET",
               "details": {
                   "address": "mxNEbRXokcdJtT6sbukr1CTGVx8Tkxk3DB"
               }
           }
       ]
   }'

Request a PayString#

After setting up a server and creating a PayString on the server, the next step is to request the PayString from the server. The PayString Protocol is what allows you to make these requests. And, when the server is publicly available, other wallets and entities can make similar requests to query any PayString and related account information stored on the server.

To request the PayString you created for Alice:

curl --location --request GET 'http://127.0.0.1:8080/alice' \
   --header 'PayID-Version: 1.0' \
   --header 'Accept: application/xrpl-testnet+json'

The response should have the following payload:

{
  "payId": "alice$127.0.0.1",
  "addresses": [
    {
      "paymentNetwork": "XRPL",
      "environment": "TESTNET",
      "addressDetailsType": "CryptoAddressDetails",
      "addressDetails": {
        "address": "rDk7FQvkQxQQNGTtfM2Fr66s7Nm3k87vdS",
        "tag:": "123"
      }
    }
  ]
}

To request the PayString you created for Bob:

curl --location --request GET 'http://127.0.0.1:8080/bob' \
   --header 'PayID-Version: 1.0' \
   --header 'Accept: application/btc-testnet+json'

That's it! You've set up a PayString server locally, created new PayStrings on your server, and requested those PayStrings by using the PayString Protocol.

If you want to clean up the Docker containers, you can run npm run devDown.

Now that you've set up the basics, learn more about PayString and what you can do with it.