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wallet-cli contract clear-abi

Clear the ABI a contract stores on chain.

Synopsis

wallet-cli contract clear-abi <address>
                              [--dry-run | (--sign-only | --build-only) [--expiration <ms>] | --wait [--wait-timeout <ms>]]
                              [--permission-id <n>] [options]

Description

Removes the ABI held on chain for a contract. This cannot be undone — the ABI is gone from the chain, and anything that decoded calls by reading it (explorers, SDKs, contract call) must supply its own from then on.

TRON only — there is no on-chain ABI to clear on an EVM chain; that network fails with family_mismatch.

What it does not touch: the bytecode and the contract's state are unaffected, and the contract stays callable exactly as before. The ABI is auxiliary metadata, not part of execution.

Only the contract's deployer can do this — the address the chain records as the contract's origin, visible in contract info. Other accounts fail with not_contract_deployer.

By default the command returns at submission (stage: "submitted"), not confirmation — add --wait to block until confirmed/failed. Requires an account. The master password (via --password-stdin) is needed only by the modes that sign — --dry-run and --build-only do not unlock the wallet and run without it. Watch-only accounts fail with watch_only_no_signer in a signing mode.

The Ledger TRON app cannot parse this governance contract type. Ledger accounts may dry-run or build, but signing modes fail with ledger_unsupported before device interaction.

Options

Option Description
<address> Required. Contract whose ABI to clear
--dry-run Build and estimate only, no signature/broadcast; excludes --sign-only / --build-only
--sign-only Sign without broadcasting, output the signed hex; excludes --dry-run / --build-only; pairs with --expiration
--build-only Build and estimate, output the unsigned hex; excludes --dry-run / --sign-only; pairs with --expiration
--expiration <ms> Transaction expiration in ms, up to 86400000 (24h); only with --sign-only or --build-only; omitted = node default (~60s)
--permission-id <n> Permission group to sign with (0=owner, 1=witness, 2-9=active); default 0
--wait / --wait-timeout <ms> Poll after broadcast until confirmed/failed (cap default: config waitTimeoutMs, built-in 60000)
--password-stdin Master password from stdin (fd 0)

Plus the global options.

Examples

In the examples, $PW is your master password (from an environment variable, password manager, etc.), fed on stdin via --password-stdin.

echo "$PW" | wallet-cli contract clear-abi TQ5nJ8mV...4wRe --network tron:3448148188 --wait --password-stdin
✅ ABI cleared
  Contract  TQ5nJ8mV...4wRe
  Deployer  TQkXm4vN...5Zt7Uw (main)
  TxID      3f7...
  Block     57,882,140
  Fee       0 TRX  (287 bandwidth)
  Status    success
echo "$PW" | wallet-cli contract clear-abi TQ5nJ8mV...4wRe --network tron:3448148188 --wait --password-stdin -o json
{"schema":"wallet-cli.result.v1","success":true,"command":"contract.clear-abi","data":{"kind":"contract-clear-abi","stage":"confirmed","txId":"3f7...","confirmed":true,"blockNumber":57882140,"failed":false,"contractAddress":"TQ5nJ8mV...","deployerAddress":"TQkXm4vN...","feeSun":0,"energyUsed":0,"netUsed":287,"energyFeeSun":0,"netFeeSun":0,"resource":{"netUsage":287,"netFeeSun":0,"energyUsage":0,"energyFeeSun":0}},"meta":{"durationMs":6510,"warnings":[]},"chain":{"family":"tron","network":"tron:3448148188","chainId":"3448148188"}}

Output

data varies by stage:

Stage Fields
default (submit) kind: "contract-clear-abi", stage: "submitted", txId, contractAddress, deployerAddress
--wait (confirmed) above, plus stage: "confirmed", confirmed (boolean), blockNumber, flat settlement fields when returned (feeSun, energyUsed, netUsed, energyFeeSun, netFeeSun), their governance compatibility view resource (netUsage, netFeeSun, energyUsage, energyFeeSun), and failed

Exit status

0 submitted (or built/signed in early-exit modes) · 1 execution failure (contract_not_found — no such contract, not_contract_deployer, watch_only_no_signer, ledger_unsupported, auth_failed) · 2 usage error (invalid_value — malformed address).

See also

contract info · contract deploy · Script safety