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Authentication

This covers the signup and signin process for the Provider Portal, including how to authenticate using your Bittensor provider hotkey. A provider account is created on first successful wallet-hotkey login after the hotkey is registered on subnet 51.

Prerequisites​

Before you can access the Provider portal, you'll need:

  • A valid Bittensor provider hotkey registered on subnet 51
  • A provider hotkey you can sign with, either through a browser wallet extension or the Lium CLI on a machine with the Bittensor wallet available
  • A Discord account if you plan to enable extra subnet incentives

Login options​

For first login, use wallet-hotkey authentication. For subsequent logins, you can use either:

  1. Login with Password
  2. Login with Wallet Hotkey

Login with Provider Hotkey​

  1. Add your Provider Hotkey into a wallet extension: import your provider hotkey into any SS58-compatible wallet extension. Common options include the Polkadot.js extension and the Bittensor Wallet extension.
  2. Login with Wallet Hotkey: Go to signature login page and login with wallet hotkey.
  3. If Discord is not connected yet, the portal shows a Discord onboarding prompt. Follow it, or continue and connect later from Profile Settings.

Browserless login with the CLI​

If you do not want to use a browser extension, the CLI can create and authenticate the provider account with the local Bittensor hotkey:

lium config set provider.coldkey <wallet>
lium config set provider.hotkey <hotkey>
lium provider portal login

For automation, add --json:

lium provider portal login --json

The command signs the current Unix timestamp with the hotkey, calls the Provider Portal API, and stores the provider JWT locally under ~/.lium/provider/.

After login, connect Discord from the CLI:

lium provider config connect-discord

On headless machines or agent flows:

lium provider config connect-discord --json --no-wait

The JSON output includes the Discord authorization URL. Open that URL as the Discord account owner to approve the connection.

Login with password​

  1. After wallet-hotkey login, go to Profile Settings and set your password.
  2. Your password will be linked with your hotkey.
  3. Once you set your password, you can use password login for later sessions.

You can also set the password from the CLI after lium provider portal login:

lium provider config set-password
Note

The Profile page password form asks for your current password. If no password is set yet, leave the current password field empty. The CLI set-password command uses hotkey signature authentication instead.

Connect Discord after login​

After you can access the Provider Portal, connect Discord from Profile Settings. See Connect Discord for the incentive eligibility and renter support details.

Troubleshooting Authentication​

Common Issues​

"Provider Hotkey not registered in Bittensor subnet 51" Error​

  • Confirm your hotkey is properly registered on the Bittensor network
  • Confirm your provider is running properly — for self-hosted setups see the self-hosted provider setup; if you opted into the Lium.io Central Provider Server, check that the toggle is still enabled in your profile