Ledger® Live Wallet – Getting Started™ Developer Portal

A practical, colorful developer-focused guide to get you building with Ledger Live — secure keys, integration patterns, best practices, and example code.

Introduction

Welcome to the developer portal companion article for Ledger Live Wallet. This guide walks you through everything you need to know to get started as a developer: the core concepts, security model, connection options, APIs, SDKs, recommended UX flows, and example snippets to bootstrap integrations. Whether you are building a custodial service, a dApp integration, or tooling for power users, this article is designed to be a practical reference you can return to.

What is Ledger Live?

Ledger Live is a family of wallet products and associated developer tooling provided by Ledger. At its core, Ledger Live is the secure client that interacts with Ledger hardware wallets (Trezor-style but Ledger-specific hardware) allowing users to manage private keys offline while interacting with online services through carefully designed APIs. For developers, the most relevant surfaces are the APIs for communicating with a Ledger device, the app ecosystem, and integration points for signing, verifying, and broadcasting transactions.

Key components

  • Ledger Hardware — Secure Element chip and firmware where private keys live.
  • Ledger Live App — Desktop and mobile applications that manage accounts, transact, and update device firmware.
  • Developer SDKs — Libraries and documentation for integrating hardware wallets into web and native apps.
  • APIs and App Catalog — Pre-approved apps for different blockchains, and APIs for signing and broadcasting.

Getting started — prerequisites

Before integrating with Ledger Live, make sure you have the following:

Developer prerequisites

  1. A code editor (VS Code recommended) and Node.js installed for JavaScript SDKs.
  2. A Ledger device (Ledger Nano S Plus / Ledger Nano X or equivalent) with firmware updated.
  3. The Ledger Live desktop or mobile app installed to manage accounts during testing.
  4. A basic understanding of the blockchain you are integrating with (accounts, addresses, transactions).

Security mindset

Always remember: private keys never leave the Ledger secure element. Your integration should never ask users to export private keys or enter private keys into your app — instead use the signing flows that send transaction data to the device for user confirmation.

Connection patterns

There are multiple ways to connect with Ledger devices depending on your platform and UX expectations.

USB / WebHID / Bluetooth

On web, modern browsers support WebHID and WebUSB — these allow a web application to communicate directly with a Ledger device. On mobile, BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) is used (Ledger Nano X). For desktop apps, native USB APIs or libraries may be used.

Web integration flow (example)

Typical browser flow:

  1. User clicks "Connect Ledger" in your web app.
  2. Your app requests permission to the device (WebHID/WebUSB).
  3. Establish a secure session and query accounts.
  4. Send transactions to the device for signing and obtain the signature to broadcast.

Developer SDKs and libraries

Ledger and the community maintain SDKs for common platforms. Use official libraries where possible and follow the documentation for your targeted blockchain.

JavaScript / TypeScript

The JavaScript ecosystem tends to be the most common for web dApps. Libraries typically exposed are:
@ledgerhq/hw-transport-webusb, @ledgerhq/hw-transport-webhid, and specific blockchain integration packages such as @ledgerhq/hw-app-eth for Ethereum.

Example: Checking a Ledger device (pseudo-code)

// pseudo-code (JS/TS)
import TransportWebHID from '@ledgerhq/hw-transport-webhid'
import AppEth from '@ledgerhq/hw-app-eth'

async function connectLedger(){
  const transport = await TransportWebHID.create()
  const eth = new AppEth(transport)
  const address = await eth.getAddress("44'/60'/0'/0/0")
  console.log('address', address)
}

Note: Use the exact API names and versions from the SDK docs. This snippet is illustrative and omits error handling and UX touches like timeouts and retries.

Common integration patterns

Different apps have different requirements — here are common patterns and recommended approaches.

Read-only account discovery

Query the Ledger device for public addresses and display balances in a read-only mode. This avoids prompting users for a signature until they explicitly choose to transact.

Transaction signing

When the user decides to send funds, construct a transaction object in your app, present a summary for review (amount, destination, fee), and then send an encoded payload to the Ledger device to be signed. After the device returns an approved signature, broadcast the transaction using your node or a public RPC endpoint.

Safety checklist before requesting a signature

  • Show a clear transaction summary to the user.
  • Verify recipient address and amount client-side and explain fee structure.
  • Include chain ID/nonce and any gas or fee breakdown for transparency.

UX and accessibility best practices

Design your flows so both newcomers and power users feel comfortable:

Progressive disclosure

Start with a simple onboarding screen that explains "What a hardware wallet does" and allow an "Advanced" toggle for technical users to see raw transaction data.

Clear error messaging

Map common device errors to friendly messages. Example: "Please unlock your Ledger and open the Ethereum app" rather than a cryptic USB error code.

Accessibility

Make sure keyboard and screen-reader flows are supported. Device prompts can be time-sensitive — give clear instructions on the screen and allow the user to reattempt if the device times out.

Security considerations (developer checklist)

Security should be the top priority when building wallet integrations. Below is a checklist every integration should consider.

Never expose private keys

All signing operations should be routed to the Ledger device. Do not ask users to paste seed phrases or keys into your app.

Use secure channels

When communicating with backend servers, use TLS and strict certificate validation. Protect any user session tokens and avoid long-lived credentials that could be abused.

Defense in depth

Validate transactions server-side where applicable, rate-limit sensitive endpoints, and monitor for unusual patterns that might indicate key compromise or UI redressing attempts.

Example: Ethereum flow

This example covers the high-level flow for an Ethereum transaction with Ledger Live as the signing device.

Steps

  1. Discover the user’s address via the Ledger Ethereum app.
  2. Build a raw transaction in your app with recipient, amount, gasPrice, gasLimit, and nonce.
  3. Send transaction payload to Ledger for signing.
  4. Receive signature (r, s, v) and reconstruct the raw signed transaction.
  5. Broadcast the signed transaction to an Ethereum node or RPC provider.

Notes on chain and replay protection

Include the chain ID in the signing payload to protect against replay attacks across chains. Use canonical serialization when reconstructing the raw transaction after receiving the signature.

Testing and staging

Test your integration on testnets and simulate device flows as much as possible. Ledger devices often have a developer mode or test app flows — consult the SDK docs for simulation options.

Automated testing strategies

  • Mock transport layers in unit tests so signing calls can be validated without a physical device.
  • Use e2e flows with a supervised device for integration tests that confirm the end-to-end UX.
  • Record and replay user interactions in staging to catch UI regressions.

Publishing and compliance

If you publish a product that uses Ledger integrations, remember compliance and user safety obligations. Provide clear documentation and privacy terms describing how account info and metadata are handled. If you store account identifiers, ensure users can delete their data on request.

Versioning

Version your integration and keep compatibility notes for SDK changes. Users often have older device firmware; include helpful compatibility guidance in release notes.

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Common issues

Device not detected

Steps: ensure device unlocked, Ledger Live closed (on desktop sometimes it holds the device), check cable and USB permission, try WebHID if WebUSB fails, or use the desktop bridge if provided.

App not open on device

Make sure the correct blockchain app is open on the Ledger device (e.g. the Ethereum app when interacting with ETH).

Developer resources and links

Below are colorful quick links to popular office resources and references. (Ten "Office" links are included per the request; replace or update URLs as needed.)

Office Link 1 Office Link 2 Office Link 3 Office Link 4 Office Link 5 Office Link 6 Office Link 7 Office Link 8 Office Link 9 Office Link 10

Conclusion

This guide presented a practical overview to help you get started integrating with Ledger Live and Ledger devices. It focused on connection patterns, security best practices, SDK usage, and UX considerations. Use this as a living document: update it when the SDKs or device capabilities evolve, and always emphasize user safety in your flows.

Next steps

  1. Install the Ledger Live app and update your device firmware.
  2. Pick an SDK and run the sample code to discover addresses.
  3. Build a simple transaction flow in a testnet environment.
  4. Iterate on UX and harden your security posture before going to production.