publicDecrypt

Decrypts a handle that has been marked as publicly decryptable on-chain and returns the plaintext value along with a signed decryption proof. Unlike decrypt, this method does not require the caller to be in the ACL, anyone can call it as long as the handle is public.

The decryption proof is a signed attestation returned by the Handle Gateway that can be verified in a smart contract to produce the plaintext value on-chain. Unlike decrypt, publicDecrypt does not involve EIP-712 signatures from the caller.

What happens under the hood

1. The SDK checks on-chain that the handle is publicly decryptable (isPubliclyDecryptable).
2. It calls the Handle Gateway's public decryption endpoint.
3. The gateway verifies the on-chain flag, decrypts the value internally via KMS, and returns a signed DecryptionProof.
4. The SDK extracts the plaintext from the proof and decodes it according to the Solidity type embedded in the handle.

Usage

import { createViemHandleClient } from '@iexec-nox/handle';
import { createWalletClient, custom } from 'viem';
import { arbitrumSepolia } from 'viem/chains';

const walletClient = createWalletClient({
  chain: arbitrumSepolia,
  transport: custom(window.ethereum),
});

const handleClient = await createViemHandleClient(walletClient);

const { value, solidityType, decryptionProof } =
  await handleClient.publicDecrypt(handle);

Parameters

handle Required *

Type: Handle<T> (a 0x-prefixed hex string, 32 bytes)

The handle to decrypt. It must be marked as publicly decryptable on-chain and created on the same chain as the one the client is connected to.

const { value, solidityType, decryptionProof } =
  await handleClient.publicDecrypt(handle); 

WARNING

The handle must be publicly decryptable. If it is not, the method throws an error. Use viewACL to check the isPublic flag before calling publicDecrypt.

Return Value

{
  value: boolean | string | bigint;
  solidityType: SolidityType;
  decryptionProof: `0x${string}`;
}

value

Type: boolean | string | bigint

The decrypted plaintext. The JavaScript type depends on the Solidity type encoded in the handle:

Solidity type	JavaScript type	Example
bool	boolean	true
string	string	"Hello, Nox!"
address, bytes, bytesN	string	"0x742d…bEb0"
uintN, intN	bigint	1000n

solidityType

Type: SolidityType

The Solidity type decoded from the handle (e.g. "uint256", "bool", "address").

decryptionProof

Type: string (0x-prefixed hex string)

A signed proof returned by the Handle Gateway. The proof contains the gateway signature (65 bytes) concatenated with the ABI-encoded decrypted value. This proof can be passed to a smart contract to verify the decryption and use the plaintext value on-chain.

const { value, solidityType, decryptionProof } =
  await handleClient.publicDecrypt(handle);

// Pass decryptionProof to a smart contract for on-chain verification
console.log(`${solidityType}:`, value);
console.log('proof:', decryptionProof);