... just by using MetaMask Extension!
Yes, u read it right!
Earlier today, I took a look at a post by @thebeedevs, and it really caught my attention. It made me curious enough to take some extra time this evening and try everything out for myself. The post I read was this one: 👉 https://peakd.com/hive-139531/@thebeedevs/hive-snap-officially-supported-by-metamask-wallet
Since the topic was a bit technical, I first asked ChatGPT to explain the article in German, just to understand it more quickly and clearly. That really helped me get a better idea of what the Hive Snap integration with MetaMask is all about and how it works.
So I followed the steps – and yes, I went for it! I installed the Hive Snap extension into my MetaMask wallet and carefully followed the instructions given in the post.
The setup process was smoother than I expected. It is still new and experimental, but I think it has a lot of potential. Now I am looking forward to testing it a bit more and seeing how it could fit into my daily Hive routine.
While exploring the website https://auth.openhive.network, I noticed something interesting in the menu on the left side. There is an option to create a brand new Hive account – which works if a friend helps you using one of their account creation tickets. In my case, that friend was… well, me! Yes, kind of funny, but also very useful when testing things.
So I gave it a try. As a tech-savvy person, it was really easy for me to understand the steps. I logged in with my existing louis88 account using Hive Keychain and then used the special "Create a Wallet with a Friend" feature to generate a new account for my test identity @metamasktest1.
The whole process was fast and smooth. The site is well built, and everything worked as expected. It is great to see how Hive is becoming more user friendly, even for people who are new to blockchain. This tool is especially useful if you want to onboard someone directly or test new setups without waiting or using external services.
After that, I thought to myself – great! Now I have my new account "metamasktest1" linked inside my MetaMask wallet. During the account creation process, I actually did not see any private keys at all. That made me a bit unsure at first. I started to wonder if everything really worked the way it was supposed to.
So I tested it. I tried logging in using MetaMask through the Hive Snap interface – and to my surprise, it worked! The account was recognized right away and I was successfully authorized. That gave me a bit more confidence in the setup.
Next, I wanted to go one step further and interact with the blockchain. My goal was to write something directly to the Hive blockchain using my new MetaMask-linked Hive account. I tried to broadcast a custom JSON operation, but this is where I ran into a few problems.
The tool I was using asked me to manually input ref_block_num and ref_block_prefix, which are two technical values that are normally fetched automatically during a transaction. At that point, I realized I needed a bit more support.
So I turned to ChatGPT for help and tried to generate some custom code to handle this situation. Unfortunately, the first attempts did not work as expected. In the end, I had to write a small JavaScript snippet for the browser console. This script fetched the required blockchain data (like ref_block_num and ref_block_prefix) and inserted it into the transaction, together with the message I wanted to broadcast.
Final Custom JSON to Post:
And voilà – there it was! My first custom JSON message, successfully sent to the Hive blockchain using MetaMask and the Hive Snap extension. It felt great to see that it actually worked after all the setup and testing. The transaction showed up on the blockchain, and it was created fully through MetaMask – without using Keychain or any traditional Hive tools.
I can imagine that this kind of integration opens the door to many new use cases. From connecting Web3 apps to allowing more people from outside the Hive ecosystem to interact with the chain in a familiar way – there is a lot of potential here.
For my part, I am definitely going to dive deeper into this topic. I want to explore more possibilities, maybe build something small myself, or find ways to make onboarding even easier. There is so much to discover when two powerful tools like Hive and MetaMask come together.
I am especially looking forward to having deeper conversations with the team from @thebeedevs at the upcoming HiveFest. You guys really built something awesome here – and I am excited to see what comes next!
Thanks again – and let us keep building the future of Hive together!
PS: How do i get my Keys for this Account? :P Asking for a Friend.