A watch-only Monero wallet extension for Chrome-based browsers.

Cypher aims to make Monero wallet visibility feel as simple as modern extension wallets—without pretending Monero has the same data model as transparent chains.

Our goal is to provide a clean, fast, trustworthy watch-only experience:

• See balance and transaction activity
• Track due updates and refresh state reliably
• Keep users clearly informed about privacy/trust tradeoffs
• Never blur the line between watch-only and spending capability

Most lightweight extension wallets are designed for transparent chains where account state is easy to query from RPC/indexers. Monero is different: privacy-by-design adds complexity.

Cypher focuses on practical UX first:

• Start lightweight (provider-backed watch-only)
• Build robust abstractions
• Improve privacy and infrastructure over time

1. Watch-only first

   • No spend key handling in MVP
   • No transaction signing in MVP

2. Security over speed

   • Encrypt sensitive local data
   • Minimize permissions
   • Avoid remote code and unsafe patterns

3. Clear trust boundaries

   • Make data-source trust explicit
   • Support provider abstraction from day one

4. Progressive hardening

   • MVP usability first
   • Privacy and infra upgrades in planned stages

• Import watch-only wallet data
  • Wallet name
  • Monero address
  • Optional private view key
  • Optional restore height
• Fetch and display
  • Current XMR balance
  • Recent transaction history
  • Last updated/sync metadata
• UX essentials
  • Manual refresh
  • Loading/error/empty states
  • Clear “Watch-only” labeling

• Sending transactions
• Managing seed phrase or private spend key
• Running a full Monero node inside the extension
• Advanced portfolio analytics

• UI: WXT + React + TypeScript
• State: lightweight client state store
• Storage: encrypted local persistence
• Data layer: provider interface (swappable)

Provider abstraction is mandatory so we can move from early provider APIs to stronger infrastructure without rewriting core app logic.

1. MVP (watch-only, provider-backed)
2. Multi-provider + fallback + better reliability
3. Privacy improvements (self-hosted/backend relay options)
4. Advanced account and sync tooling
5. (Optional future) signing architecture and security audit path

Project scaffold initialized with WXT + React.

Next milestone: implement watch-only import flow and first provider-backed balance fetch.