Install the Citrate Keyring extension

source: citrate-wallet-extension/README.md, .github/workflows/release.yml, manifest.json

This walks you through loading the Citrate Keyring extension into Chrome, Edge, or Brave as an unpacked extension and creating your first account. It targets Citrate Network, chain id 40204. The software is prerelease and pre-audit, so use small testnet values only, and note there is no recovery phrase for the account you create here; if you forget the password, the account is gone.

What it is

The Citrate Keyring extension ships as a release archive of the Manifest V3 source plus an Argon2 WebAssembly module that the project builds per release with wasm-pack (wasm/build.md). You download the archive, verify its checksum, unzip it, and load it from disk with the browser's developer mode. There is no JavaScript build step on your side.

How to use it

You will need a Chromium-based browser, Chrome, Edge, or Brave, and the two release files from the project's GitHub Releases: the archive citrate-wallet-extension.zip and its checksum citrate-wallet-extension.zip.sha256.

Step 1, download the release

Download citrate-wallet-extension.zip and citrate-wallet-extension.zip.sha256 from GitHub Releases into the same directory.

Step 2, verify the checksum

bash

shasum -a 256 -c citrate-wallet-extension.zip.sha256

The output should end in : OK. If it does not match, stop and download again.

Step 3, unzip to a stable location

bash

mkdir -p ~/citrate-wallet-extension
unzip citrate-wallet-extension.zip -d ~/citrate-wallet-extension

Keep this folder. The browser loads the extension from disk, so do not move or delete it afterward.

Step 4, open the extensions page

Open the extensions page for your browser:

Chrome: chrome://extensions/
Edge: edge://extensions/
Brave: brave://extensions/

Step 5, enable developer mode

Turn on the Developer mode toggle, usually at the top right of the page.

Step 6, load the unpacked extension

Click Load unpacked and select the unzipped folder, the one that contains manifest.json. The extension appears in the list with its icon.

Step 7, create your first account

Open the extension popup.
Choose Create New Wallet and set a strong password.
The extension generates your address and stores it encrypted, AES-256-GCM under an Argon2id key derivation. There is no recovery phrase in this version, so the password is the only way back in.

Step 8, confirm it works

The popup shows your new address and Citrate Network, chain id 40204. Open a Citrate page, for example Citrate Chat. The page discovers the provider and asks to connect; a per-origin connection window opens. Approve it, then confirm that any transaction or message after that opens its own approval window. Nothing is signed without your approval.

Reference

Item	Detail	Source
Distribution	Release archive plus checksum, loaded unpacked in developer mode	`.github/workflows/release.yml`
Build step	None on your side; the Argon2 WebAssembly is built per release	`wasm/build.md`
Network	Fixed to Citrate Network, chain id 40204	`manifest.json`, `js/provider.js`
Account storage	AES-256-GCM under Argon2id, in `chrome.storage.local`	`js/crypto.js`, `js/background.js`

The full account model, the provider methods, and the linked smart-account path are documented on the Citrate Keyring extension.

Design rationale

The extension is loaded unpacked from a checksum-verified archive rather than from a store so the exact files you run are the ones you verified, which matters for a key-holding surface that is still pre-audit. The checksum step is the point of the tutorial, not a formality: it is what lets you trust the archive before the browser ever reads it.

Failure modes

The extension will not load: make sure you selected the folder that contains manifest.json, not the archive itself or a parent folder.
A page does not see the account: reload the page after loading the extension; the provider injects at document start, so a page opened earlier will not have it.
The checksum does not match: do not load the folder. Download the release files again.

For deeper troubleshooting, signing-path behaviour, and recovery, see the Citrate Keyring extension, passkeys, and guardians. To drive the same account from code, see the JavaScript SDK.

Access and canon

Public. Nothing here is a secret. The password and the key you create are held on your device. The hosts the extension reaches are public endpoints in its manifest. The software is prerelease and pre-audit; the account created here has no recovery phrase, so keep the password safe.

Source and verification

Source repo: citrate-wallet-extension, audited against SHA 543017d.
Files read: README.md, .github/workflows/release.yml, manifest.json, js/background.js, js/crypto.js, js/provider.js, wasm/build.md.
Status: Implemented (pre-audit), version 0.2.0. The download, verify, load-unpacked, and account-creation steps reflect the release workflow and the source as built. The account created here has no recovery phrase.