What I Did
I used a simple JavaScript script and the @solana/kit library to programmatically generate a new keypair, saved the secret key to a local .json file, and then wrote a second script to extract that seed so I could manually import it into my Phantom wallet extension for devnet testing.
What Surprised Me
The biggest shift from Web2 was realizing that my "identity" is just a cryptographic string of numbers; once I had that secret key, I could "teleport" my wallet from a raw JSON file on my hard drive directly into a browser extension instantly—no passwords or recovery emails required.
What’s Next
Now that I’ve mastered the "manual" side of key management, I’m looking forward to building a small frontend that allows users to connect their own wallets and sign transactions via the Wallet Adapter.
Note on Security:
- While this was an incredible learning experience to see how keypairs actually function, remember that storing unencrypted private keys in a .json file is high-risk! This wallet is strictly for devnet experimentation.