Shell Chain Public Testnet

The Shell Chain WPoA testnet (chain ID 10) is live and serves the public RPC, explorer, and faucet for the network.

See also: Testnet Operator Guide · Consensus Details · JSON-RPC Reference · Faucet

---

Network Info

Parameter	Value
Network Name	Shell Testnet
Chain ID	10
Currency	SHELL
RPC URL	https://testnet-rpc.shell.org
WebSocket URL	wss://testnet-rpc.shell.org/ws
Explorer	https://explorer.shell.org
Consensus	WPoA (Weighted Proof of Authority)
Block time	~2 s

---

Add to Shella Wallet

Shella Chrome Wallet

Shella automatically includes the Shell Testnet preset. Click the network selector in the top-right and choose Shell Testnet.

Standard Ethereum wallets use ECDSA keys and cannot sign Shell Chain's post-quantum transactions. Use Shella Wallet, the Shell SDK, or a Shell keystore generated by shell-node.

---

Faucet

Visit explorer.shell.org/faucet to request testnet SHELL. The faucet accepts canonical Shell addresses (0x + 64 lowercase hex).

---

Deploying a Smart Contract

# Compile, deploy, and write through Shell SDK so transactions are signed
# with a Shell post-quantum keystore.
npx shell-sdk contract compile \
  --source contracts/MyContract.sol \
  --contract MyContract \
  --out artifacts/MyContract.json

npx shell-sdk contract deploy \
  --rpc https://testnet-rpc.shell.org \
  --chain-id 10 \
  --artifact artifacts/MyContract.json \
  --keystore funded-testnet-key.json \
  --password "$SHELL_KEYSTORE_PASSWORD"

npx shell-sdk contract write \
  --rpc https://testnet-rpc.shell.org \
  --chain-id 10 \
  --artifact artifacts/MyContract.json \
  --address 0xContractAddr \
  --function myFunction \
  --args 42 \
  --keystore funded-testnet-key.json \
  --password "$SHELL_KEYSTORE_PASSWORD"

---

Running a Read-Only Node

shell-node run \
  --genesis examples/genesis-testnet-wpoa.json \
  --datadir ~/.shell-testnet \
  --network testnet \
  --boot-nodes <bootstrap-multiaddr>

See the Testnet Operator Guide for full validator setup including keystores, monitoring, and upgrade procedures.

---

Explorer

Browse transactions and blocks at explorer.shell.org.

The explorer tracks the live public testnet at https://explorer.shell.org.

---

Known Limitations

• Testnet state may be reset without notice during protocol upgrades (breaking changes require fresh genesis).
• Maximum 100 SHELL per faucet request; 24-hour rate limit per IP.
• WPoA consensus requires quorum of validators — if fewer than 2 validators are online, block production pauses.