How to set up a Frame wallet? (Privacy focus)

Understanding Frame Wallet Architecture

1. Frame is a browser-based Ethereum wallet designed specifically for desktop environments, emphasizing minimal data exposure and deterministic key derivation.

2. It does not store private keys on remote servers or sync them across devices—keys remain strictly local within the browser’s secure storage partition.

3. The wallet leverages Web Crypto API for all cryptographic operations, avoiding third-party crypto libraries that may introduce unverifiable dependencies.

4. Frame communicates with Ethereum nodes exclusively through user-configured RPC endpoints, giving full control over which infrastructure handles transaction broadcasting and state queries.

5. No telemetry, no analytics, and no automatic wallet backup uploads are enabled by default—every network interaction requires explicit user consent.

Installation and Isolation Best Practices

1. Download Frame only from its official GitHub repository releases page—never from third-party extension stores or mirrored sites.

2. Install it as an unpacked extension in Chromium-based browsers using developer mode to avoid signing-related obfuscation layers.

3. Run Frame in a dedicated browser profile with no other extensions enabled—this prevents potential DOM injection or storage enumeration by malicious add-ons.

4. Disable browser features like autofill, password managers, and site permissions for camera/microphone/location when using Frame.

5. Use operating system-level sandboxing tools such as Firejail (Linux) or Sandboxie (Windows) to restrict Frame’s filesystem and network access scope.

Private Key Handling and Seed Management

1. Frame generates a BIP-39 mnemonic only during initial setup and never transmits it anywhere—not even to clipboard history if clipboard access is denied at OS level.

2. The mnemonic is encrypted using a user-defined passphrase before being written to IndexedDB, with encryption performed via AES-GCM using a salt derived from the passphrase and browser origin.

3. Frame does not auto-import mnemonics from other wallets—manual entry is required, and each word is validated against the official BIP-39 wordlist before acceptance.

4. Recovery phrases are never rendered fully on screen at once; instead, they appear one group of three words at a time to reduce screenshot leakage risk.

5. When unlocking, Frame clears decrypted key material from memory immediately after signing, using zero-fill techniques compliant with W3C Secure Context guidelines.

Network Configuration for Anonymity

1. Configure Frame to use a local Ethereum node or a trusted RPC provider that supports HTTP headers for origin masking—avoid public gateways that log IP addresses and request patterns.

2. Route all Frame-related traffic through Tor or a hardened SOCKS5 proxy configured at the OS level, ensuring DNS queries also traverse the same encrypted path.

3. Disable ENS resolution within Frame unless manually verifying contract addresses off-chain—ENS lookups can leak domain names and associated wallet activity.

4. Set custom chain IDs and block explorers per network to prevent accidental metadata leakage to centralized indexers during transaction inspection.

5. Disable automatic gas estimation and manually specify gas limits and prices—this avoids repeated calls to fee APIs that correlate wallet usage with real-time market behavior.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does Frame support hardware wallet integration?Frame does not interface with USB or Bluetooth hardware signers. It operates solely as a software wallet with local key management.

Q: Can I use Frame with privacy-focused chains like Aztec or Penumbra?No. Frame currently supports only EVM-compatible networks with standard JSON-RPC interfaces—zero-knowledge rollups requiring custom signing logic are unsupported.

Q: Is Frame compatible with mobile browsers?Frame is intentionally incompatible with iOS Safari and Android Chrome due to restrictive WebExtension APIs and lack of persistent IndexedDB support on those platforms.

Q: Does Frame inject scripts into dApps I visit?Frame does not perform any script injection. It exposes a standard window.ethereum provider interface but refrains from modifying page DOM or intercepting web requests beyond necessary RPC handling.