Configure Wallet Recovery - Crossmint Docs

This page has been updated for Wallets SDK V1. If you are using the previous version, see the previous version docs or the V1 migration guide.

A recovery signer lets users regain access to their wallet when their primary (device) signer is no longer available — for example, when they switch to a new phone or clear their browser data. The recovery signer authorizes the enrollment of a new device signer on the new device. Recovery signers are configured at wallet creation time. You can choose from email OTP, SMS OTP, or a server signer depending on your application’s needs.

Recovery signers can also sign transactions when needed — they are not limited to recovery only. However, they involve higher friction (OTP verification or server-side signing), so they are best reserved for recovery flows and as a fallback.

Prerequisites

A Crossmint API key with wallets.create scope
For email OTP: the user’s email address
For SMS OTP: the user’s phone number in E.164 format (e.g., +1234567890)
For server signer: a signer secret stored on your server

Email OTP Recovery

The user verifies ownership of their email address via a one-time password sent by Crossmint. This is the most common recovery method for consumer applications.

React
Node.js
React Native
Flutter
REST

Using createOnLogin on the provider (recommended):

import {
    CrossmintProvider,
    CrossmintAuthProvider,
    CrossmintWalletProvider,
} from "@crossmint/client-sdk-react-ui";

function App({ children }) {
    return (
        <CrossmintProvider apiKey="YOUR_CLIENT_API_KEY">
            <CrossmintAuthProvider
                loginMethods={["email", "google"]}
            >
                <CrossmintWalletProvider
                    createOnLogin={{
                        chain: "base-sepolia",
                        recovery: { type: "email" },
                    }}
                >
                    {children}
                </CrossmintWalletProvider>
            </CrossmintAuthProvider>
        </CrossmintProvider>
    );
}

Or using createWallet directly:

import { useWallet } from "@crossmint/client-sdk-react-ui";

const { createWallet } = useWallet();

const wallet = await createWallet({
    chain: "base-sepolia",
    recovery: {
        type: "email",
        email: "user@example.com", // Omit when using CrossmintAuthProvider (auto-populated)
    },
});

import {
    createCrossmint,
    CrossmintWallets,
} from "@crossmint/wallets-sdk";

const crossmint = createCrossmint({
    apiKey: "YOUR_SERVER_API_KEY",
});
const crossmintWallets = CrossmintWallets.from(crossmint);

try {
    const wallet = await crossmintWallets.createWallet({
        chain: "base-sepolia",
        owner: "email:user@example.com",
        recovery: {
            type: "email",
            email: "user@example.com",
        },
    });
} catch (error) {
    console.error("Failed to create wallet:", error);
}

import {
    CrossmintProvider,
    CrossmintAuthProvider,
    CrossmintWalletProvider,
} from "@crossmint/client-sdk-react-native-ui";

function App({ children }) {
    return (
        <CrossmintProvider apiKey="YOUR_CLIENT_API_KEY">
            <CrossmintAuthProvider
                loginMethods={["email", "google"]}
            >
                <CrossmintWalletProvider
                    createOnLogin={{
                        chain: "base-sepolia",
                        recovery: { type: "email" },
                    }}
                >
                    {children}
                </CrossmintWalletProvider>
            </CrossmintAuthProvider>
        </CrossmintProvider>
    );
}

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:crossmint_flutter/crossmint_flutter_ui.dart';

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      home: CrossmintWalletProvider(
        config: CrossmintWalletProviderConfig(
          clientConfig: const CrossmintClientConfig(
            apiKey: 'YOUR_CLIENT_API_KEY',
            appScheme: 'myapp',
          ),
          walletControllerConfig: const CrossmintWalletControllerConfig(
            createOnLogin: CrossmintCreateOnLoginConfig(
              chain: 'base-sepolia',
              recovery: CrossmintEmailSignerConfig(),
            ),
          ),
          otpPromptBuilder: crossmintDefaultOtpPromptBuilder,
        ),
        child: const HomeScreen(),
      ),
    );
  }
}

When CrossmintEmailSignerConfig() is used with createOnLogin, the email is auto-populated from the authenticated user.

curl --request POST \
    --url https://staging.crossmint.com/api/2025-06-09/wallets \
    --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    --header 'X-API-KEY: YOUR_SERVER_API_KEY' \
    --data '{
        "type": "evm-smart-wallet",
        "config": {
            "adminSigner": {
                "type": "email",
                "email": "user@example.com"
            }
        }
    }'

The REST API uses the legacy field name adminSigner for the recovery signer. The SDK uses recovery.

SMS OTP Recovery

The user verifies ownership of their phone number via a one-time password delivered by SMS (or optionally WhatsApp). This is ideal for mobile-first applications.

React
Node.js
React Native
Flutter
REST

Using createOnLogin on the provider:

import {
    CrossmintProvider,
    CrossmintAuthProvider,
    CrossmintWalletProvider,
} from "@crossmint/client-sdk-react-ui";

function App({ children }) {
    return (
        <CrossmintProvider apiKey="YOUR_CLIENT_API_KEY">
            <CrossmintAuthProvider
                loginMethods={["email", "google"]}
            >
                <CrossmintWalletProvider
                    createOnLogin={{
                        chain: "base-sepolia",
                        recovery: {
                            type: "phone",
                            phone: "+1234567890",
                        },
                    }}
                >
                    {children}
                </CrossmintWalletProvider>
            </CrossmintAuthProvider>
        </CrossmintProvider>
    );
}

Or using createWallet directly:

import { useWallet } from "@crossmint/client-sdk-react-ui";

const { createWallet } = useWallet();

const wallet = await createWallet({
    chain: "base-sepolia",
    recovery: {
        type: "phone",
        phone: "+1234567890", // E.164 format required
    },
});

import {
    createCrossmint,
    CrossmintWallets,
} from "@crossmint/wallets-sdk";

const crossmint = createCrossmint({
    apiKey: "YOUR_SERVER_API_KEY",
});
const crossmintWallets = CrossmintWallets.from(crossmint);

try {
    const wallet = await crossmintWallets.createWallet({
        chain: "base-sepolia",
        owner: "phone:+12223334444",
        recovery: {
            type: "phone",
            phone: "+12223334444", // E.164 format required
        },
    });
} catch (error) {
    console.error("Failed to create wallet:", error);
}

import {
    CrossmintProvider,
    CrossmintAuthProvider,
    CrossmintWalletProvider,
} from "@crossmint/client-sdk-react-native-ui";

function App({ children }) {
    return (
        <CrossmintProvider apiKey="YOUR_CLIENT_API_KEY">
            <CrossmintAuthProvider
                loginMethods={["email", "google"]}
            >
                <CrossmintWalletProvider
                    createOnLogin={{
                        chain: "base-sepolia",
                        recovery: {
                            type: "phone",
                            phone: "+1234567890",
                        },
                    }}
                >
                    {children}
                </CrossmintWalletProvider>
            </CrossmintAuthProvider>
        </CrossmintProvider>
    );
}

import 'package:crossmint_flutter/crossmint_flutter_ui.dart';

CrossmintWalletProvider(
  config: CrossmintWalletProviderConfig(
    clientConfig: const CrossmintClientConfig(
      apiKey: 'YOUR_CLIENT_API_KEY',
      appScheme: 'myapp',
    ),
    walletControllerConfig: const CrossmintWalletControllerConfig(
      createOnLogin: CrossmintCreateOnLoginConfig(
        chain: 'base-sepolia',
        recovery: CrossmintPhoneSignerConfig(phone: 'YOUR_E164_PHONE_NUMBER'),
      ),
    ),
    otpPromptBuilder: crossmintDefaultOtpPromptBuilder,
  ),
  child: const HomeScreen(),
)

Phone numbers must be in E.164 format (e.g. +1234567890).

curl --request POST \
    --url https://staging.crossmint.com/api/2025-06-09/wallets \
    --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    --header 'X-API-KEY: YOUR_SERVER_API_KEY' \
    --data '{
        "type": "evm-smart-wallet",
        "config": {
            "adminSigner": {
                "type": "phone",
                "phone": "+1234567890"
            }
        }
    }'

Server Signer as Recovery

Use a server signer as the recovery signer when you want your backend to manage recovery without user-facing OTP flows. This is common for AI agents, backend automation, and hybrid architectures where the server creates wallets that clients later use.

import {
    createCrossmint,
    CrossmintWallets,
} from "@crossmint/wallets-sdk";

const crossmint = createCrossmint({
    apiKey: "YOUR_SERVER_API_KEY",
});
const crossmintWallets = CrossmintWallets.from(crossmint);

const wallet = await crossmintWallets.createWallet({
    chain: "base-sepolia",
    recovery: {
        type: "server",
        secret: process.env.CROSSMINT_SIGNER_SECRET,
    },
});

For more on generating and managing server signer secrets, see the Server Signer guide.

How Recovery Works on a New Device

When a user accesses their wallet from a new device where no device signer exists:

The user authenticates via your app — the SDK retrieves the wallet
The SDK detects no local device signer on this device
On the first transaction (or when recover() is called), the SDK triggers the recovery flow:
- Email OTP: Crossmint sends a one-time code to the user’s email
- SMS OTP: Crossmint sends a one-time code to the user’s phone
- Server signer: your backend signs the recovery approval automatically
The recovery signer authorizes a new device signer for this device
All subsequent transactions on the new device are frictionless

import { useWallet } from "@crossmint/client-sdk-react-ui";

const { wallet } = useWallet();

// Check if recovery is needed on this device
if (wallet.needsRecovery()) {
    // Trigger recovery proactively (optional)
    await wallet.recover();
}

The previous device’s signer remains valid. Each device maintains its own independent device signer.

Choosing a Recovery Method

Method	Best For	User Friction	Server Required
Email OTP	Consumer apps with email-based auth	Medium (OTP prompt)	No
SMS OTP	Mobile-first apps	Medium (OTP prompt)	No
Server signer	AI agents, backend automation, hybrid apps	None (automatic)	Yes

Next Steps

Device Signer

Understand how the default client-side signer works

Server Signer

Set up server-side signing with key derivation

Add Signers

Add passkeys or external wallets to an existing wallet

​Prerequisites

​Email OTP Recovery

​SMS OTP Recovery

​Server Signer as Recovery

​How Recovery Works on a New Device

​Choosing a Recovery Method

​Next Steps

Device Signer

Server Signer

Add Signers

Prerequisites

Email OTP Recovery

SMS OTP Recovery

Server Signer as Recovery

How Recovery Works on a New Device

Choosing a Recovery Method

Next Steps