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Raspberry Pi OS Local Dev Build Instructions

Since v0.6.0, official releases use our custom SeedSigner OS. However, project contributors looking to do rapid development cycles can use any recent standard Raspberry Pi OS image. This guide was tested with raspios_arm64 2025-12-04.

The setup no longer requires manual Python compilation or a specific old OS image.

The installation process requires an internet connection on the Pi to download the necessary libraries and code.
If your Pi does not have onboard Wi-Fi, you have two options:

  1. Run these steps on a separate Raspberry Pi with onboard Wi-Fi, then move the SD card to the target Pi when complete.
  2. OR configure the Pi directly by relaying through your computer's internet connection over USB. See instructions here.

Use the Pi's onboard Wi-Fi only if you are setting up a local development environment, never for real funds or binary image creation.

For the following steps you'll need to either connect a keyboard & monitor to the Raspberry Pi or SSH into it.

Flash the OS image

Use Raspberry Pi Imager to write a recent Raspberry Pi OS (or Raspberry Pi OS Lite) image to a microSD card (4 GB or larger). The 64-bit (arm64) image is recommended.

Configure the Pi

Launch the Raspberry Pi's System Configuration tool:

sudo raspi-config

Set the following:

  • Interface Options:
    • SPI: enable
    • I2C: enable (optional, only needed for I2C-based displays)
  • Interface Options → Serial Port:
    • Disable the login shell over the serial port
    • Keep the serial port hardware enabled

When you exit the System Configuration tool, reboot when prompted and then continue.

Install system dependencies

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y \
    git \
    libzbar0 \
    libpcsclite-dev \
    python3-pip \
    --no-install-recommends

Clone SeedSigner

git clone --recursive https://github.com/3rdIteration/seedsigner
cd seedsigner

Install Python dependencies

pip3 install -r requirements.txt
pip3 install -r requirements-raspi.txt

If you encounter permission errors, use pip3 install --break-system-packages or install inside a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install -r requirements-raspi.txt

Run SeedSigner

python src/main.py

Configure auto-start at boot

To have SeedSigner start automatically when the Raspberry Pi boots, create a systemd service:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/seedsigner.service

Add the following contents. If you are not using the username pi, replace pi in the three places below with your username:

[Unit]
Description=Seedsigner

[Service]
User=pi
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/seedsigner
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 src/main.py
StandardOutput=null
StandardError=null
Restart=no

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Note: Restart=no ensures that if the code crashes, systemd will not keep restarting it.

Use CTRL-X and y to exit and save changes.

Enable the service to start at boot:

sudo systemctl enable seedsigner.service

Now reboot the Raspberry Pi:

sudo reboot

After the Raspberry Pi reboots, the SeedSigner splash screen should appear on the LCD display (it may take up to 60 seconds).

Optional: kill the auto-start process on SSH login

When testing new code on the device, you may want to automatically kill the running SeedSigner instance each time you SSH in. Add the following to ~/.profile:

nano ~/.profile

Add at the end:

# Find the SeedSigner process and kill it
kill $(ps aux | grep '[m]ain.py' | awk '{print $2}') 2>/dev/null || true

Local testing and development

Run specific branches or PRs

The default branch is dev. If you want to run a specific release tag or a specific branch:

# release tag for v0.6.0:
git checkout 0.6.0

And if you want to test a pull request (PR), for example PR #123:

git fetch origin pull/123/head:pr_123
git checkout pr_123

where pr_123 is any name you want to give to the new branch in your local repo that will hold the PR.

Change the host name

For those who will use the SeedSigner installation for testing/development, it can be helpful to change the system's host name so it doesn't potentially conflict with other Raspberry Pis that may already be present on your network. (For those who don't plan to use the installation for testing or development, you can skip this portion of the process.) To change the host name first edit the "hostname" with the command:

sudo nano /etc/hostname

and change "raspberrypi" to "seedsigner" (or another name). Use CTRL-X and y to exit and save changes.

You'll also need to edit the "hosts" file with the command:

sudo nano /etc/hosts

and change "raspberrypi" to "seedsigner" (or the other name you previously chose). Use CTRL-X and y to exit and save changes.

Set a static IP

Your local machine that sshs into the SeedSigner can sometimes get confused if you're connecting to different SeedSigners that are all identified as pi@seedsigner.local. In this case it helps to set a static ip and just ssh directly to that instead.

First find your current nameserver:

sudo cat /etc/resolv.conf

This is the address of your local machine that is connected to your SeedSigner via usb (or it'll be the wifi router's address if you're using a Raspi with wifi and are keeping it enabled for ssh access).

Set a static ip: sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf and add to the end:

interface usb0
static ip_address=192.168.1.200/24
static routers=192.168.1.254
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.254
  • interface will be usb0 for usb connections; wlan0 for wifi.
  • static ip_address is the ip address you want the SeedSigner to use. It should match the nameserver ip you found above for all but the last part of the ip (note: the /24 should always be included as-is).
  • static routers should be your nameserver ip.
  • static domain_name_servers should also be the nameserver ip.

CTRL-X and y to save changes.

After your next reboot, access this SeedSigner using its new static ip:

# Use the static ip you set above:
ssh pi@192.168.1.200

# But the hostname will still work, too:
ssh pi@seedsigner.local

More convenient ssh access:

Power SeedSigner devs will find themselves connecting to a lot of different SeedSigners. This can cause headaches with ssh's built-in protections; a different device that uses the same ssh credentials is normally a potential spoofing attack. But we're doing this to ourselves on purpose and so we can carve out exceptions.

On your local machine, run nano ~/.ssh/config and add to the end:

host seedsigner.local
 StrictHostKeyChecking no
 UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null
 User pi
 LogLevel QUIET

# Set this to the static ip you set above:
host 192.168.1.200
 StrictHostKeyChecking no
 UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null
 User pi
 LogLevel QUIET

The first entry prevents warnings for the default pi@seedsigner.local connections.

The second entry does the same for a specific static ip; you'll want this if you configure all your SeedSigners to use the same static ip.

CTRL-X and y to save changes.

Bypass ssh password

You can also configure the SeedSigner so that you don't have to enter the pi password when you ssh in.

run ssh-copy-id with the same values that you connect via ssh:

ssh-copy-id pi@seedsigner.local

# or if you're connecting over static ip, something like:
ssh-copy-id pi@192.168.1.200

You'll be prompted to enter the password to complete it.

Note: If you don't have any ssh keys on your local machine, you'll need to create a set with ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com". Then try running ssh-copy-id again.

Disable wifi/Bluetooth when using other Raspi boards

If you plan to use your installation on a Raspberry Pi that is not a Zero version 1.3, but rather on a Raspberry Pi that has WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities, it is a good idea to disable the following WiFi & Bluetooth, as well as other relevant services (assuming you are not creating this installation for testing/development purposes). Enter the followiing commands to disable WiFi, Bluetooth, & other relevant services:

sudo systemctl disable bluetooth.service
sudo systemctl disable wpa_supplicant.service
sudo systemctl disable dhcpcd.service
sudo systemctl disable sshd.service
sudo systemctl disable networking.service
sudo systemctl disable dphys-swapfile.service
sudo ifconfig wlan0 down

Please note that if you are using WiFi to connect/interact with your Raspberry Pi, the last command will sever that connection.

You can now safely power the Raspberry Pi off from the SeedSigner main menu.

If you do not plan to use your installation for testing/development, it is also a good idea to disable WiFi and Bluetooth by editing the config.txt file found in the installation's "boot" partition. You can add the following text to the end of that file with any simple text editor (Windows: Notepad, Mac: TextEdit, Linux: nano):

dtoverlay=disable-bt
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi

If you used option #2 above and don't plan to continue to access your SeedSigner via SSH over USB, it is a good idea to reverse the steps you took to enable it -- those instructions can be found near the end of this guide.

Please remember that it can take up to a minute for the GUI to appear when powering your SeedSigner on.

Optional: Run the tests

see: tests/README.md