unable to list accounts in web3.py via RPC

Question

I built a private chain on my computer using geth and I want to interact with it using web3.py. But there was something wrong.

I started the private chain(containing only one node) with the command

$ geth --datadir datadir --rpc --rpcport 8545 --port 30301 --ipcpath /tmp/geth.ipc --rpccorsdomain '*' --unlock 0

Having started the chain, I was able to use the environment in remix IDE via RPC. Then I followed the docs of web3.py and wrote some simple code:

from web3 import Web3, HTTPProvider
w3 = Web3(HTTPProvider('http://localhost:8545'))
print(w3.eth.blockNumber)
print(w3.personal.listAccounts)

What upset me was that the w3.eth.blockNumber worked just fine but the listAccounts didn't. Here is a picture of the error message :

Some info: OS: ubuntu16.04 geth: 1.8.2 web3.py: 3.16.5

A noobie here, please help T_T. I googled this but didn't find similar problems (maybe this is too simple?).

i'm not familiar with the python framework, but my instinct says to try w3.eth.accounts to fetch accounts — Chris, Mar 17, 2018 at 18:08
The personal API can be abused pretty easily over HTTP, so it is typically disabled by default over HTTP. Check geth --help for enabling personal api's over HTTP (but please don't do this on mainnet, with real assets at stake). — carver, Mar 21, 2018 at 17:52

z.h. · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-22 11:13:07Z

1

Thanks for the comments @carver and @Chris.

Just as carver said in the comments, the problem is that personal api is not enabled by default and I didn't add the --rpcapi flag.

solution

option 1 : start geth with the flag --rpcapi personal,web3,eth and any other flags necessary.

option 2 : use the eth.accounts, which is enabled by default.

answered Mar 22, 2018 at 11:13

z.h.

1214 bronze badges

i already had --rpcapi personal,web3,eth flag, but still can't access through personal but eth works, is it an error or wrong api instruction from web3py?
– TomSawyer
Jun 12, 2019 at 16:08

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