![](https://i.imgsafe.org/2411b61f27.png)

# Piston.web - Standalone User Interface

Many may already know `piston` as a tool that simplifies interaction with Steem/Steemit. You can read, post, comment, edit, transfer funds and much more, if you are willing to use the command line.

This changes **now**. With `piston.web`, the toolbox now comes with **graphical user interface** that you can access via your browser. It is **fully independent of steemit.com**, which means that you can do what you love doing on Steem, even if steemit.com goes down.

# Available Features

* browsing steem posts
* reading full posts and comments
* reply to topics and comments
* upvote/downvote
* read account details
  * recommended posts
  * blog posts
  * funds
  * transaction history
* integrated wallet
* full encrypted (AES + BIP32) for private keys
* import keys from account name and password

# Screenshots

## Browse:
![](https://i.imgsafe.org/219c17ace1.png)

## Account
![](https://i.imgsafe.org/219c1dbdc5.png)

## Funds:
![](https://i.imgsafe.org/219c2ae8a0.png)

## Post:
![](https://i.imgsafe.org/219c26f1d0.png)

## Wallet:
![](https://i.imgsafe.org/219c2e7b58.png)

# Installation

Until we leave pre-alpha, piston.web is on a different branch.

    git clone https://github.com/xeroc/piston
    cd piston
    git checkout feature/standalone-web
    make install-user
    # install extra requirements for piston.web
    pip install -r requirements-web.txt

# Usage
    
    piston web

On first run, you will be asked to provide a passphrase for your new wallet. Empty password are allowed but result in private keys being stored in plain text.

After that, you will see

     * Running on http://127.0.0.1:5054/ (Press CTRL+C to quit)
     * Restarting with stat
     * Debugger is active!
     * Debugger pin code: 227-869-909

Ignore the debugging output and start using piston.web in your browser
by accessing

    http://127.0.0.1:5054/

NOTE: piston.web will only be reachable from the same machine (localhost).

# Technologies

## Backend

The backend is written in python using

* Flask (with Jinja2)
* python-steem.

It offers the HTML files and a Socket-IO for real-time communications.

## Frontend

These technologies have been used so far in piston.web:

* Bootstrap
* Markdown
* Font-Awesome
* Plain Javascript

## Wallet

The wallet is only accessible from the backend. All keys are encrypted with a random master password that is stored in an SQLite3 database in its AES encrypted form. Each private key is encrypted with the master password using BIP32 and stored in a SQLite3 database.  The wallet will make backups of the SQLite3 database every week and keep several weeks of backup.

# Todos

* Transfer of funds
* PowerUp, PowerDown
* Trading
* Account Administration (changing keys etc)
* Allow to attach JSON object to posts
* Secure socket.io with a password
* layout and style improvements

# Contributions

Currently, we are looking for the bravest of the bravest to help us test what is already there and give 

* bug reports
* improvement proposals
* feature request

Please use the [github issue tracker](https://github.com/xeroc/piston/issues) to make it easier for us to remember all the feedback.

# Important Note

piston.web is alpha software. For that reason, you need to expect it to break at any time. Use at your own risk.

# Update 1

I'd like to clarify that this GUI is **not** meant to replace steemit.com or be used as a hosted, public site. It rather offers a *personal*, *localhost-only* page that you can use to access your wallet. Exposing the piston.web to a publicly accessible port is **not** recommended!

# Update 2

I fixed the `sqlite3.OperationalError: unable to open database file` error earlier today so that people can actually take a look.

# Update 3

More short-term fixes for the weekend-testers:

    * [2016-07-23][bf3dae5] | [setup] make sure the user uses python3
    * [2016-07-23][c31eec7] | [web] highlight own posts
    * [2016-07-23][03e0d2f] | [web] fix reply identifier not in the form