Trezor Suite® Getting Started™ — Developer Portal

This guide walks you from zero to a running integration with Trezor Suite® in your application. It focuses on developer experience — application architecture, key design patterns, and concrete code snippets you can adapt immediately. Whether you're prototyping a wallet feature or building a production-grade hardware wallet integration, this guide explains the 'why' and the 'how'.

Why integrate with Trezor Suite®?

Trezor Suite is the official desktop and web interface for Trezor hardware wallets. It offers secure key management, transaction signing, and a consistent UX that helps users manage their crypto safely. For developers, integrating with Trezor Suite means leveraging a battle-tested flow for wallet interactions while focusing on your product's unique features.

Core principles

• Security first: Keep private keys off the host and request signatures via the device.
• Minimal trust: Verify user intent for sensitive actions and present clear transaction details.
• Progressive UX: Provide fast, informative feedback and fallbacks for offline or disconnected devices.

What you need

At minimum you should have:

• A Trezor hardware wallet (Trezor One, Trezor Model T, or compatible device).
• Node.js v16+ or an environment capable of running modern JavaScript.
• Familiarity with web technologies and basic cryptographic concepts (signing, key derivation).

Recommended integration architecture

Design your application with three logical layers: UI, Wallet Adapter, and Backend Services. The UI handles user flows and displays transaction details. The Wallet Adapter encapsulates Trezor-specific logic (communication, device enumeration, request serialization). Backend Services validate data server-side, prepare transactions, and optionally provide analytics and key‑management tools.

Typical flow

1. User initiates a transaction in the UI.
2. UI requests a prepared payload from Backend Services.
3. Wallet Adapter sends the payload to the Trezor device for user confirmation and signing.
4. Signed transaction is returned to the UI and sent to the network by the backend.

Security considerations

Never serialize private keys or seed phrases in transit or storage. Use the Trezor device to sign messages and transactions. Use transport-level encryption (HTTPS) and consider additional application-level checks such as transaction whitelists, multi-signature verification, and rate-limiting for critical endpoints.

Quick start — code snippets

The following snippets illustrate a minimal integration pattern. They are intentionally concise — treat them as starting points for your own abstractions.

1) Install SDK

npm install trezor-connect --save

2) Initialize & connect

// minimal client initialization
import TrezorConnect from 'trezor-connect';

TrezorConnect.init({
  manifest: {
    email: 'dev@example.com',
    appUrl: 'https://your-app.example'
  }
});

// request an address
const res = await TrezorConnect.getAddress({
  path: "m/44'/0'/0'/0/0",
  showOnTrezor: true
});

3) Prepare & sign a transaction

Use your backend to assemble the transaction inputs/outputs and send only the safe-to-share structure to the client. Then call the signing method.

const signRes = await TrezorConnect.signTransaction({
  inputs: [...],
  outputs: [...]
});
if (signRes.success) {
  const signedTxHex = signRes.payload.serializedTx;
}

User experience guidelines

Good UX around hardware wallets prevents costly mistakes. Consider the following:

• Always show human-readable transaction summaries before requesting a signature.
• Offer guidance about device firmware and when updates are required.
• Preserve continuity: if a device disconnects mid-flow, save the in-progress transaction state securely (encrypted) so users can resume.

Error handling

Map device errors to clear UI messages. For example, distinguish between no device connected, user rejected, and firmware outdated. Provide actionable next steps.

Testing & CI

Automated testing for hardware integrations involves both unit tests and integration tests with real devices. In CI, use mock adapters to emulate Trezor behavior for fast feedback, and run periodic live-device test jobs to validate actual hardware behavior.

Mocks vs. real device checks

• Unit tests: Mock Trezor responses for success and common failure modes.
• Integration tests: Run with a physically connected device in a controlled test runner or dedicated lab environment.

Developer tools & resources

Make use of official SDKs, protocol docs, and community samples. The following section contains quick links and resources to accelerate development.

Office Links (10 colorful quick links)

These are example quick-links that you can adapt to your developer portal. Replace the placeholders with production URLs when ready.

Advanced topics

Multisignature workflows

Multisig adds resilience and shared custody. Trezor devices can participate as signers in multisig setups; however, key origin metadata and deterministic derivation paths must be carefully managed. Prefer PSBT (Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions) for interoperability across signers.

Firmware and compatibility

Monitor firmware release notes and maintain a compatibility matrix. Your integration should detect incompatible or legacy firmware and guide users to update securely.

Privacy considerations

Minimize telemetry; if collecting analytics, aggregate and anonymize usage data. Disclose what is collected and provide controls for opting out.

Tip: Treat the hardware wallet as the ultimate source-of-truth for key material — design your product assuming the device is honest and the host is potentially adversarial.

Conclusion

Integrating with Trezor Suite provides robust security and a familiar user experience. Start small: implement address discovery and simple signing flows, then iterate toward more advanced features like multisig, PSBT support, and an integrated firmware update path. Keep security and clear UX at the center of every step.

Thanks for building with Trezor. Happy coding — and keep keys safe.