Skip to main content

Working With Parent Accounts

In this doc, we'll continue from the perspective of a wallet or marketplace app seeking to facilitate a unified account experience, abstracting away the partitioned access between accounts into a single dashboard for user interactions on all their owned assets.

Objectives​

  • Understand the Hybrid Custody account model
  • Differentiate between restricted child accounts and unrestricted owned accounts
  • Get your app to recognize β€œparent” accounts along with any associated β€œchild” accounts
  • View Fungible and NonFungible Token metadata relating to assets across all of a user's associated accounts - their wallet-mediated β€œparent” account and any hybrid custody model β€œchild” accounts
  • Facilitate transactions acting on assets in child accounts

Design Overview​

info

TL;DR: An account's HybridCustody.Manager is the entry point for all of a user's associated accounts.

The basic idea in the (currently proposed) standard is relatively simple. A parent account is one that has received delegated (albeit restricted) access on another account. The account which has delegated authority over itself to the parent account is the child account.

In the Hybrid Custody Model, this child account would have shared access between the app - the entity which created likely custodies the account - and the linked parent account.

How does this delegation occur? Typically when we think of shared account access in crypto, we think keys. However, Cadence enables accounts to link Capabilities to themselves and issue those Capabilities to other parties (more on capability-based access here).

We've leveraged this feature in a (proposed) standard so that apps can implement a hybrid custody model whereby the app creates an account it controls, then later delegates access on that account to the user once they've authenticated with their wallet.

All related constructs are used together in the HybridCustody contract to define the standard.

Parent accounts own a Manager resource which stores Capabilities to ChildAccount (restricted access) and OwnedAccount (unrestricted access) resources, both of which are stored in any given child account.

Therefore, the presence of a Manager in an account implies there are potentially associated accounts for which the owning account has delegated access. This resource is intended to be configured with a public Capability that enables querying of an account's child account addresses via getAccountAddresses() and getOwnedAccountAddresses().As you can deduce from these two methods, there is a notion of "owned" accounts which we'll expand on in a bit.

A wallet or marketplace wishing to discover all of a user's accounts and assets within them can do so by first looking to the user's Manager.

Identifying Account Hierarchy​

To clarify, insofar as the standard is concerned, an account is a parent account if it contains a Manager resource, and an account is a child account if it contains at minimum an OwnedAccount or additionally a ChildAccount resource.

Within a user's Manager, its mapping of childAccounts points to the addresses of its child accounts in each index, with corresponding values giving the Manager access to those accounts via correspondingChildAccount Capability.

HybridCustody Conceptual Overview

Likewise, the child account's ChildAccount.parentAddress (which owns a Manager) points to the user's account as its parent address. This makes it easy to both identify whether an account is a parent, child, or both, and its associated parent/child account(s).

OwnedAccount resources underly all account delegations, so can have multiple parents whereas ChildAccounts are 1:1. This provides more granular revocation as each parent account has its own Capability path on which its access relies.

Restricted vs. Owned Accounts​

It's worth noting here that ChildAccount Capabilities enable access to the underlying account according to rules configured by the child account delegating access. The ChildAccount maintains these rules along with an OwnedAccount Capability within which the AuthAccount Capability is stored. Anyone with access to the surface level ChildAccount can then access the underlying AuthAccount, but only according the pre-defined rule set. These rules are fundamentally a list of Types that can/cannot be retrieved from an account.

The app developer can codify these rule sets on allowable Capability types in a CapabilityFilter along with a CapabilityFactory defining retrieval patterns for those Capabilities. When delegation occurs, the developer would provide the CapabilityFilter and CapabilityFactory Capabilities to an OwnedAccount resource which stores them in a ChildAccount resource. Then, capabilities are created for the OwnedAccount and ChildAccount resource and are given to the specified parent account.

So, if an app developer wants to enable Hybrid Custody but doesn't want to allow parent accounts to access FungibleToken Vaults, for example, the app developer can codify rule sets enumerating allowable Capability types in a CapabilityFilter along with a CapabilityFactory defining retrieval patterns for those Capabilities.

When delegation occurs, they would provide the CapabilityFilter and CapabilityFactory Capabilities to an OwnedAccount. This OwnedAccount then wraps the given filter & factory Capabilities in a ChildAccount along with a Capability to itself before publishing the new ChildAccount Capability for the specified parent account to claim.

info

Note that by enumerating allowable Types in your CapabilityFilter.Filter implementation, you're by default excluding access to anything other than the Types you declare as allowable.

As mentioned earlier, Managers also maintain access to "owned" accounts - accounts which define unrestricted access as they allow direct retrieval of encapsulated AuthAccount objects. These owned accounts, found in Manager.ownedAccounts, are simply OwnedAccount Capabilities instead of ChildAccount Capabilities.

HybridCustody Total Overview

Considerations​

Do note that this construction does not prevent an account from having multiple parent accounts or a child account from being the parent to other accounts. While initial intuition might lead one to believe that account associations are a tree with the user at the root, the graph of associated accounts among child accounts may lead to cycles of association.

We believe it would be unlikely for a use case to demand a user delegates authority over their main account (in fact we'd discourage such constructions), but delegating access between child accounts could be useful. As an example, consider a set of local game clients across mobile and web platforms, each with self-custodied app accounts having delegated authority to each other while both are child accounts of the user's main account.

Ultimately, it will be up to the implementing wallet/marketplace how far down the graph of account associations they'd want to traverse and display to the user.

Implementation​

From the perspective of a wallet or marketplace app, some relevant things to know about the user are:

  • Does this account have associated linked (child) accounts?
  • What are those associated linked accounts, if any?
  • What NFTs are owned by this user across all associated accounts?
  • What are the balances of all FungibleTokens across all associated accounts?

And with respect to acting on the assets of child accounts and managing child accounts themselves:

  • Accessing an NFT from a linked account's Collection
  • Removing a linked account

Examples​

Query Whether an Address Has Associated Accounts​

This script will return true if a HybridCustody.Manager is stored and false otherwise

get_child_addresses.cdc

_10
import "HybridCustody"
_10
_10
pub fun main(parent: Address): Bool {
_10
let acct = getAuthAccount(parent)
_10
if let manager = acct.borrow<&HybridCustody.Manager>(from: HybridCustody.ManagerStoragePath) {
_10
return manager.getChildAddresses().length > 0
_10
}
_10
return false
_10
}

Query All Accounts Associated with Address​

The following script will return an array of addresses associated with a given account's address, inclusive of the provided address.

get_child_addresses.cdc

_10
import "HybridCustody"
_10
_10
pub fun main(parent: Address): [Address] {
_10
let acct = getAuthAccount(parent)
_10
let manager = acct.borrow<&HybridCustody.Manager>(from: HybridCustody.ManagerStoragePath)
_10
?? panic("manager not found")
_10
return manager.getChildAddresses() // Could also call getOwnedAddresses() for owned account addresses
_10
}

Query All Owned NFT Metadata​

While it is possible to iterate over the storage of all associated accounts in a single script, memory limits prevent this approach from scaling well.

Since some accounts hold thousands of NFTs, we recommend breaking up iteration, utilizing several queries to iterate over accounts and the storage of each account. Batching queries on individual accounts may even be required based on the number of NFTs held.

  1. Get all associated account addresses (see above)
  2. Looping over each associated account address client-side, get each address's owned NFT metadata

For simplicity, we'll show a condensed query, returning NFT display views from all accounts associated with a given address for a specified NFT Collection path.

get_nft_display_view_from_public.cdc

_52
import "NonFungibleToken"
_52
import "MetadataViews"
_52
import "HybridCustody"
_52
_52
/// Returns resolved Display from given address at specified path for each ID or nil if ResolverCollection is not found
_52
///
_52
pub fun getViews(_ address: Address, _ resolverCollectionPath: PublicPath): {UInt64: MetadataViews.Display} {
_52
_52
let account: PublicAccount = getAccount(address)
_52
let views: {UInt64: MetadataViews.Display} = {}
_52
_52
// Borrow the Collection
_52
if let collection = account
_52
.getCapability<&{NonFungibleToken.CollectionPublic, MetadataViews.ResolverCollection}>(resolverCollectionPath).borrow() {
_52
// Iterate over IDs & resolve the view
_52
for id in collection.getIDs() {
_52
if let display = collection.borrowViewResolver(id: id).resolveView(Type<MetadataViews.Display>()) as? MetadataViews.Display {
_52
views.insert(key: id, display)
_52
}
_52
}
_52
}
_52
_52
return views
_52
}
_52
_52
/// Queries for MetadataViews.Display each NFT across all associated accounts from Collections at the provided
_52
/// PublicPath
_52
///
_52
pub fun main(address: Address, resolverCollectionPath: PublicPath): {Address: {UInt64: MetadataViews.Display}} {
_52
_52
let allViews: {Address: {UInt64: MetadataViews.Display}} = {address: getViews(address, resolverCollectionPath)}
_52
let seen: [Address] = [address]
_52
_52
/* Iterate over any associated accounts */
_52
//
_52
if let managerRef = getAuthAccount(address).borrow<&HybridCustody.Manager>(from: HybridCustody.ManagerStoragePath) {
_52
_52
for childAccount in managerRef.getChildAddresses() {
_52
allViews.insert(key: childAccount, getViews(address, resolverCollectionPath))
_52
seen.append(childAccount)
_52
}
_52
_52
for ownedAccount in managerRef.getOwnedAddresses() {
_52
if seen.contains(ownedAccount) == false {
_52
allViews.insert(key: ownedAccount, getViews(address, resolverCollectionPath))
_52
seen.append(ownedAccount)
_52
}
_52
}
_52
}
_52
_52
return allViews
_52
}

At the end of this query, the caller will have a mapping of Display views indexed on the NFT ID and grouped by account Address. Note that this script does not take batching into consideration and assumes that each NFT resolves the MetadataViews.Display view type.

Query All Account FungibleToken Balances​

Similar to the previous example, we recommend breaking up this task due to memory limits.

  1. Get all linked account addresses (see above)
  2. Looping over each associated account address client-side, get each address's owned FungibleToken Vault metadata

However, we'll condense both of these steps down into one script for simplicity:

get_all_vault_bal_from_storage.cdc

_63
import "FungibleToken"
_63
import "MetadataViews"
_63
import "HybridCustody"
_63
_63
/// Returns a mapping of balances indexed on the Type of resource containing the balance
_63
///
_63
pub fun getAllBalancesInStorage(_ address: Address): {Type: UFix64} {
_63
// Get the account
_63
let account: AuthAccount = getAuthAccount(address)
_63
// Init for return value
_63
let balances: {Type: UFix64} = {}
_63
// Track seen Types in array
_63
let seen: [Type] = []
_63
// Assign the type we'll need
_63
let balanceType: Type = Type<@{FungibleToken.Balance}>()
_63
// Iterate over all stored items & get the path if the type is what we're looking for
_63
account.forEachStored(fun (path: StoragePath, type: Type): Bool {
_63
if type.isInstance(balanceType) || type.isSubtype(of: balanceType) {
_63
// Get a reference to the resource & its balance
_63
let vaultRef = account.borrow<&{FungibleToken.Balance}>(from: path)!
_63
// Insert a new values if it's the first time we've seen the type
_63
if !seen.contains(type) {
_63
balances.insert(key: type, vaultRef.balance)
_63
} else {
_63
// Otherwise just update the balance of the vault (unlikely we'll see the same type twice in
_63
// the same account, but we want to cover the case)
_63
balances[type] = balances[type]! + vaultRef.balance
_63
}
_63
}
_63
return true
_63
})
_63
return balances
_63
}
_63
_63
/// Queries for FT.Vault balance of all FT.Vaults in the specified account and all of its associated accounts
_63
///
_63
pub fun main(address: Address): {Address: {Type: UFix64}} {
_63
_63
// Get the balance for the given address
_63
let balances: {Address: {Type: UFix64}} = { address: getAllBalancesInStorage(address) }
_63
// Tracking Addresses we've come across to prevent overwriting balances (more efficient than checking dict entries (?))
_63
let seen: [Address] = [address]
_63
_63
/* Iterate over any associated accounts */
_63
//
_63
if let managerRef = getAuthAccount(address)
_63
.borrow<&HybridCustody.Manager>(from: HybridCustody.ManagerStoragePath) {
_63
_63
for childAccount in managerRef.getChildAddresses() {
_63
balances.insert(key: childAccount, getAllBalancesInStorage(address))
_63
seen.append(childAccount)
_63
}
_63
_63
for ownedAccount in managerRef.getOwnedAddresses() {
_63
if seen.contains(ownedAccount) == false {
_63
balances.insert(key: ownedAccount, getAllBalancesInStorage(address))
_63
seen.append(ownedAccount)
_63
}
_63
}
_63
}
_63
_63
return balances
_63
}

The above script returns a dictionary of balances indexed on the type and further grouped by account Address.

The returned data at the end of address iteration should be sufficient to achieve a unified balance of all Vaults of similar types across all of a user's associated account as well as a more granular per account view.

You might consider resolving FungibleTokenMetadataViews to aggregate more information about the underlying Vaults.

Access NFT in Child Account from Parent Account​

A user with NFTs in their child accounts will likely want to utilize said NFTs. In this example, the user will sign a transaction a transaction with their authenticated account that retrieves a reference to a child account's NonFungibleToken.Provider, enabling withdrawal from the child account having signed with the parent account.

withdraw_nft_from_child.cdc

_37
import "NonFungibleToken"
_37
import "FlowToken"
_37
import "HybridCustody"
_37
_37
transaction(childAddress: Address, providerPath: PrivatePath, withdrawID: UInt64) {
_37
_37
let providerRef: &{NonFungibleToken.Provider}
_37
_37
prepare(signer: AuthAccount) {
_37
// Get a reference to the signer's HybridCustody.Manager from storage
_37
let managerRef: &HybridCustody.Manager = signer.borrow<&HybridCustody.Manager>(
_37
from: HybridCustody.ManagerStoragePath
_37
) ?? panic("Could not borrow reference to HybridCustody.Manager in signer's account at expected path!")
_37
_37
// Borrow a reference to the signer's specified child account
_37
let account: &{AccountPrivate, AccountPublic, MetadataViews.Resolver}? = managerRef
_37
.borrowAccount(addr: childAddress)
_37
?? panic("Signer does not have access to specified child account")
_37
_37
// Get a reference to the child NFT Provider and assign to the transaction scope variable
_37
let cap: Capability = account.getCapability(
_37
path: providerPath,
_37
type: Type<&{NonFungibleToken.Provider}>()
_37
) ?? panic("Cannot access NonFungibleToken.Provider from this child account")
_37
_37
// We'll need to cast the Capability - this is possible thanks to CapabilityFactory, though we'll rely on the relevant
_37
// Factory having been configured for this Type or it won't be castable
_37
self.providerRef = cap as! Capability<&{NonFungibleToken.Provider}>
_37
}
_37
_37
execute {
_37
// Withdraw the NFT from the Collection
_37
let nft <- self.providerRef.withdraw(withdrawID: withdrawID)
_37
// Do stuff with the NFT
_37
// ...
_37
}
_37
}

At the end of this transaction, you withdrew an NFT from the specified account using an NFT Provider Capability. A similar approach could get you any allowable Capabilities from a signer's child account.

Revoking Secondary Access on a Linked Account​

The expected uses of child accounts for progressive onboarding implies that they will be accounts with shared access. A user may decide that they no longer want secondary parties to have access to the child account.

There are two ways a party can have delegated access to an account - keys and AuthAccount Capability. With ChildAccount mediated access, a user wouldn't be able to revoke anyone's access except for their own. With unrestricted access via OwnedAccount, one could remove parents (OwnedAccount.removeParent(parent: Address)) thereby unlinking relevant Capabilities and further destroying their ChildAccount and CapabilityDelegator resources.

Ultimately, things are not entirely straightforward with respect to AuthAccount Capabilities, at least not until Capability Controllers enter the picture. This is discussed in more detail in the Flip. For now, we recommend that if users want to revoke secondary access, they transfer any assets from the relevant child account and remove it from their Manager altogether.

Remove a Child Account​

As mentioned above, if a user no longer wishes to share access with another party, it's recommended that desired assets be transferred from that account to either their main account or other linked accounts and the linked account be removed from their HybridCustody.Manager. Let's see how to complete that removal.

remove_child_account.cdc

_10
import "HybridCustody"
_10
_10
transaction(child: Address) {
_10
prepare (acct: AuthAccount) {
_10
let manager = acct.borrow<&HybridCustody.Manager>(from: HybridCustody.ManagerStoragePath)
_10
?? panic("manager not found")
_10
manager.removeChild(addr: child)
_10
}
_10
}

After removal, the signer no longer has delegated access to the removed account via their Manager and the caller is removed as a parent of the removed child.

Note also that it's possible for a child account to remove a parent. This is necessary to give application developers and ultimately the owners of these child accounts the ability to revoke secondary access on owned accounts.