Your Solana wallet
How signing in to Sciencera with a Solana wallet really works — what it does, what it doesn't, and what it means for your privacy and security.
What "sign in with wallet" means
There's no email or password in Sciencera. Your wallet is your identity.
When you connect, the app reads your public address — a string like GK...x1Y (43-44 characters). That public address is what Sciencera knows you by. It can't read your private keys; those never leave your wallet extension.
Connecting is read-only — nothing is signed, nothing leaves your wallet, no SOL is spent. You're just letting the app see your public address.
Wallets we support
| Wallet | Type |
|---|---|
| Phantom | Browser extension (most common) |
| Solflare | Browser extension |
| Torus | Social login fallback |
| Ledger | Hardware wallet |
If you don't have one yet, phantom.com is the easiest start.
What happens when you connect
- Click Connect wallet in Sciencera.
- A wallet picker appears — choose yours.
- Your wallet extension pops a confirmation dialog: "Sciencera wants to view your public address."
- Approve. The app now knows your public address.
That's it. The app loads your dashboard. Your wallet stays connected — next time you visit, it auto-reconnects silently. You can disconnect anytime from the wallet pill in the top bar.
The wallet pill (top right)
When connected, you see a pill with:
- A truncated version of your address (
xxxx…yyyy) - A green dot indicating active connection
Click it for a small menu:
- Copy address — copies your full public address to the clipboard
- View on Solscan — opens the Solana block explorer at your address
- Disconnect — disconnects the wallet (you can reconnect anytime)
What gets signed (and when)
In the current app, nothing gets signed yet. Connecting is purely read-only. No SOL is spent, no transactions go on chain.
When the next wave of features comes online (proposal submission to chain, credential issuance, status updates), each will require a wallet signature. The flow:
- The app builds a transaction.
- Your wallet shows you exactly what's being signed — what action, what fees, what accounts are touched.
- You explicitly approve or reject.
- If approved, the wallet signs and the transaction goes to Solana.
You're always the one approving. Sciencera never holds your private keys, can never sign on your behalf, and can never spend SOL from your wallet without your explicit click.
Multiple wallets
Each wallet is a separate identity in Sciencera. Your activity, credentials, and proposals all bind to the wallet that did them. Switching wallets means switching identities — your previous wallet's history isn't lost; it's just bound to that other wallet.
If you want a single identity across multiple devices, use a wallet that supports cross-device sync (Phantom does this with their account login feature).
Privacy
A wallet's public address is exactly that — public. By design, anyone can see it on the blockchain. So:
- Your wallet address is not private. It's the equivalent of a public username.
- Your wallet content (SOL balance, NFTs, transactions) is also public. That's how blockchains work.
- Your private key is private. Never shared with anyone, ever. Not Sciencera, not customer support, not "an admin."
Sciencera's design ensures no personally identifying information goes on chain beyond your wallet address. Your name, affiliation, ORCID, and proposal content stay in access-controlled storage. The blockchain only has fingerprints.
Network
By default, the app talks to Solana mainnet-beta (the production blockchain). For now, since no on-chain transactions happen yet, this connection is mostly used to read public data and prepare for the next wave of features.
If you operate your own RPC (a Solana endpoint), you can configure the app to use it instead. This is an advanced setting and not required to use Sciencera.
Security tips
- Your recovery phrase is the master key. Write it down offline. Never type it into a website. Never share it. Sciencera will never ask for it.
- Verify URLs. Use app.sciencera.tech directly. Phishing wallets often live at look-alike URLs.
- Check transaction details before signing. Your wallet shows you what's being signed. If anything looks unexpected, reject and ask.
- Use a hardware wallet for large value. Ledger or similar adds a physical confirmation step.
Troubleshooting
The wallet won't connect. Refresh the page. Make sure your wallet extension is unlocked. Try disconnecting and reconnecting from the wallet pill.
The page shows a hydration mismatch on first load. Hard refresh (Ctrl-Shift-R or Cmd-Shift-R). If it persists, clear your browser's site data for sciencera.tech and reconnect.
The wallet adapter modal looks broken. Make sure your browser extension is up to date. If issues persist, try a different supported wallet.
I disconnected and now I can't see my proposals. Your data is bound to your wallet. Reconnect the same wallet you used before — your proposals, credentials, and activity will reappear.
Where to go next
- Inside the app — page-by-page tour
- Where your data lives — on chain, off chain, in your browser
- Getting started — your first session
- How it works — the trust line in plain terms