Maintaining Persistent Wallet Connections: A Guide to Metamask with Ethers.js

As cryptocurrency adoption grows, wallets are becoming increasingly important for storing and managing digital assets. However, maintaining a persistent wallet connection is crucial for seamless interactions between applications, especially when using frameworks like Web3-react. In this article, we will explore the problem of refreshing wallet connections on Ethers.js and propose a solution with Metamask.

The Problem: Refreshing Wallet Connections

When a page refreshes or navigates to different tabs, it is essential to maintain a persistent wallet connection to avoid losing funds or access to assets. Unfortunately, this is often achieved by recreating the entire application context on each request, which can be time-consuming and inefficient.

Web3-react approach

In Web3-react, you typically use the setInterval function to manually refresh your wallet connections. This approach works well when using a single-page application (SPA) with minimal complexity:

import React from 'react';
import Web3React from 'web3-react';
const App = () => {
const [wallet, setWallet] = React.useState(null);
React.useEffect(() => {
const intervalId = setInterval(() => {
// Reconnect to the blockchain at regular intervals
}, 30000); // Adjust this value as needed
return () => clearInterval(intervalId);
}, []);
useEffect(() => {
if (wallet) {
// Initialize wallet connection when component is mounted
}
}, [wallet]);
const handleDisconnect = async () => {
wait setWallet(null);
};
return (
{wallet && 
Connected to blockchain!
}
Disconnect
);
};

The Downside: Web3-react

While this approach is simple, it has several drawbacks:

• Recreate the entire application context: Every time a page refreshes or navigates to different tabs, a new instance of your application is created, which can lead to performance issues and increased memory usage.

• Inefficient Resource Usage

  : The setInterval function reuses an existing interval identifier, wasting system resources and potentially causing conflicts with other applications.

The Solution: Metamask

To overcome these limitations, you need a more robust solution that allows for persistent wallet connections across multiple refreshes. Enter Metamask, a popular wallet management library for Ethers.js.

Metamask Configuration

Install Metamask via npm or yarn:

npm install metamask

Create a new file called metamask.config.json with the following content:

{
"wallets": {
"mainnet": {
"url": "
}
}
}

Replace YOUR_PROJECT_ID with your actual Infura project ID.

Using Metamask in your application

To integrate Metamask into your application, import the necessary files and configure it as follows:

import Web3 from 'web3';
import { metamask } from 'metamask';
const web3 = new Web3(window.ethereum);
window.addEventListener('load', () => {
const wallet = window.metamask.connection;
// Initialize the connection to the wallet when the component is mounted
});
// Handle reconnections and disconnections
metamask.on('connected', () => {
console.log('Connected to the blockchain!');
});
metamask.on('disconnected', () => {
console.log('Disconnected from the blockchain.');
});

Example Use Cases

Here are some example use cases for maintaining persistent wallet connections with Metamask:

• Single Page Applications: Keep your application context persistent across different tabs and pages, ensuring users can access their wallets without interruption.

ethereum convert depreciate