How-To: Create an NNS motion proposal

This article explains one way to submit NNS motion proposals by using a few command line tools and a self-custody neuron.

Background

To properly follow what is going on, there are a few high-level points worth highlighting:

Only Neurons can submit NNS proposals

Neurons with at least 1 ICP and 6 months of dissolve delay can submit NNS proposals. So the first step is to create such a neuron.

The NNS Governance Canister accepts motion proposals

The Governance Canister is just a canister like any other, so it has a Candid file, it accepts messages, etc... This article describes a way where you can have your local computer send a message to the governance canister (signed on behalf of a neuron) that contains a motion proposal.

One-time setup

Install Tools

1. Install dfx

• dfx is the canister SDK and it will be used to send messages from your machine to NNS
• smartcontracts.org

$ dfx [OPTIONS] <SUBCOMMAND>

2. Install keysmith

• keysmith will be used to generate a privat/public key pair for the IC
• https://github.com/dfinity/keysmith
• this article will assume that you execute quill on your local machine by running

$ keysmith [OPTIONS] <SUBCOMMAND>

3. Install quill

• quill is a minimalist "governance toolkit". It is wrapper for crafting & sending messages to the NNS and manage one's neuron.
• https://github.com/dfinity/quill
• this article will assume that you execute quill on your local machine by running

$ target/release/quill [OPTIONS] <SUBCOMMAND>

Create a neuron via command-line tools

1. Create a private.pem (private/public keypair) and Ledger account id

Before one starts, they need a private/public keypair.

// Create seed phrase
$ keysmith generate -o seed.txt

//Create private.pem
$ keysmith private-key -o private.pem

//Derive Ledger account from private key
$ keysmith account -i 0

When done, your account id should look something like this: 612ec300g9ec990da900d6ec45919e7d5dbb9fa0dd8e69c54d374df93aa28d57.

2. Link this private/public keypair to dfx so you can use it as an "Identity"

In this case, the new identity is called "proposals"

$ dfx identity import proposals private.pem

• If you see “creating identity: proposals” in the terminal, this means it worked*
• further reading on dfx identities: dfx identity

3. Send ICP to the account ID generated in step 1

You should send at least 1.001 in order to have enough ICP to create a neuron and pay for the Ledger transaction fees.

To send ICP to the account, all you need is to input the account id in your wallet of choice.

4. Now that the account has the required ICP, spawn a neuron

Note: This section assumes you have 'quill installed properly.

4.1 Craft and send a message to spawn a neuron from the account

$ target/release/quill --pem-file private.pem neuron-stake --name $NAME --amount $AMOUNT > message.json

$ target/release/quill send message.json

• You should see a message with a neuron ID spawned

5. Increase neuron dissolve to at least 6 months

• Time is measured in milliseconds in the NNS
• One year: 31557600 milliseconds

5.1 Craft message to send the neuron

$ target/release/quill --pem-file private.pem neuron-manage 148885932052941245 --additional-dissolve-delay-seconds 31557600 > message.json

5.2 Send just-created message to the Governance canister

$ target/release/quill send message.json