#asknostr

LEARNING 2 of 3 multisig and have question:

Supposing I have only the seed words from 2 of the coldcards

If I have the coldcard multisig export file that I used to create the wallet in sparrow, the .txt file, is that file enough to rebuild the wallet if for whatever reason the third seed was lost or compromised? Or similarly the sparrow wallet export file as .txt since they’re the same.

Do I need to secure generic .json files from all three coldcards as well? or is that overkill?

I just want to make sure that I sufficiently back up everything that needs to be backed up for a multisig setup.

Will zap for guidance. Thank you.

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I will have to look at my setup again, but I set my multi-sig up with sparrow. You need the QR code that is the combination of all three public keys. Without that you won't be able to "recover" somewhere else unless you have all 3 keys. I think that was the Sparrow.txt file.

Also nostr:npub1xsmvdul9cyz3822el3ld008mmueyz7yvlfghlzfx2r6g98lzy6jq68hmmk I highly recommend you write down which seed phrase is which. Mine was easy because I used 3 different brands. So I can say cold card is #1 and Jade is #2... But idk if you're an iOS user, I used blue wallet from the app store and set it up as a "watch-only" wallet. Basically you scan that QR code. It'll let you watch all your balances on your phone AND you can retrieve a receive address from wherever you are without needing to be at your sparrow setup. If you're ever in an "oh shit" moment, you can also enter the private keys into blue wallet and drain it to somewhere else quickly.

Just a thought for you.

If you have your multisig wallet set up in Sparrow you can export it in Sparrow's own format. It generates '.mv.db' file, it contains everything you need. You can test this with an empty test wallet.

You could save additional info to be more compatible with other wallets but why would you do that if Sparrow is free and open source?

You can backup Sparrow code and executable too if you want but since so many ppl use it there is a vanishingly low chance that you won't have access to a Sparrow version to use that backup.

Labels are precious too, and bare descriptor doesn't save that. It will also save gap limit I _think_ which helps Sparrow find your coins easier if you have many utxo-s.

Also, you are accustomed to Sparrow most probably. Using a different wallet is more risk, more things to verify etc. Stick with what has worked. So even though compatibility looks good on first look and experiments can be useful from time to time but you know...

Some time ago I made [this](https://v.nostr.build/GeeXk.mp4) video about multisig, check it out hope it helps.

When attempting to open the sparrow export file my computer opens DB Browser for SQLite and prompts for a passphrase.

I entered the password that I created for the wallet in sparrow and it fails to open.

Is that because I’m opening the file in general from my desktop and not in sparrow specifically? Will the file not open unless done so via sparrow?

Yes, you need to open with sparrow. It is its own format and will use your wallet encryption password.

You wouldn't use that file without sparrow wallet either way.

While you could in theory just manually decrypt(knowing the crypto algo from sparrow open-source code) and inspect the raw db file, you would never need to do that.

Save your wallet encryption psw in a safe place therefore too.

That’s what I figured.

Thanks again, truly.

There are a bunch of formats for storing the wallet descriptor (wallet information). You should test your setup with a small amount of SATs by typing everything back into your cold card and importing the wallet descriptor that you have backed up. Once you have verified that your able to move your SATs in the setting you described above, you don't need to trust us to give you good advice... Paranoia is a good thing sometimes 😀