Ledger Live Integrations – Ledger Developer Portal

Why integrate with Ledger Live?

Ledger Live is the secure, user-facing bridge between hardware wallets and decentralized applications. Integrating with Ledger Live enables your product to let users access accounts stored on Ledger devices, sign transactions, and manage apps in a trusted environment. For many users, Ledger Live is the canonical desktop/mobile interface — integrations improve trust, on-device security, and adoption.

Business & user benefits

• Higher conversion because users trust device-backed signing.
• Simplified onboarding — users can pair their device via Ledger Live rather than installing separate drivers.
• Improved support surface: users already familiar with Ledger Live are more likely to adopt integrated features.

When to choose a Ledger Live integration

Consider integration when your product requires custody-protected signing, account discovery from a hardware device, or publishing transactions that must be confirmed on device. If you need purely custodial features or server-side signing, Ledger Live integration may be unnecessary.

Integration approaches: quick overview

1. Deep integration via SDKs

Use the Ledger SDKs (JS, Rust, etc.) and transports (WebUSB, WebHID, Bluetooth) to communicate directly with the device. This approach gives full control: account discovery, transaction serialization, and signing flows happen inside your app while the user confirms on the device.

2. Ledger Live — App-to-App flow

For better platform parity and UX, many integrations use Ledger Live as a companion app. Your web or mobile app requests Ledger Live to open a secure pairing flow; Ledger Live mediates device access and returns signed payloads. This mitigates driver and transport complexities for your product.

3. Hybrid: server + on-device signing

Do off-chain or pre-processing on the server, but require on-device confirmation for final transaction signing. This reduces client complexity while retaining security-critical user confirmation on the device.

Security & UX checklist

Security-first requirements

1. Always display transaction summary to users before request for signature.
2. Use canonical serialization formats (BIP-44/BIP-32 for key derivation, EIP-155 for Ethereum chain id handling).
3. Validate device attestation and firmware version when possible.
4. Never send private keys or seed material to your servers or client code — signing must remain on-device.

UX considerations

Smooth onboarding is critical: guide users to install Ledger Live (if required), attach their device, and enable the relevant app on the device (e.g., Ethereum app). Provide clear success and failure states, and a retry path if the device disconnects or the user rejects a signature.

Developer example: simple Web integration (JS)

Below is a minimal JavaScript example showing how an application can open a transport and request an account public key. This is illustrative — use official packages and the latest API for production.

// Example: connect to Ledger device with ledgerhq libraries (illustrative)
import TransportWebUSB from "@ledgerhq/hw-transport-webusb";
import AppEth from "@ledgerhq/hw-app-eth";

async function getAddress(){
  const transport = await TransportWebUSB.create();
  const eth = new AppEth(transport);
  const result = await eth.getAddress("44'/60'/0'/0/0");
  console.log("address:", result.address);
  await transport.close();
}

getAddress().catch(err => console.error(err));

Note: in production, handle permission prompts, device removal, and provide user-friendly error messages.

Testing & CI: how to validate integrations

Local test strategies

Emulators and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing are complementary. Use Ledger's simulated device environments where available for unit tests, and a small matrix of physical devices in CI for regression tests (firmware versions, OS combinations).

Automated checks

Automate the following in your CI pipeline:

• IDL/schema validation for transaction payloads.
• Integration smoke tests that assert successful device detection and a signature roundtrip.
• Visual regression for modal flows and messages presented to the user.

Best practices for documentation & support

Documentation essentials

Provide: clear prerequisites (firmware, Ledger Live version, installed app), step-by-step pairing instructions, troubleshooting FAQ, and a changelog for API/SDK upgrades.

Support and feedback loop

Collect device, OS, Ledger Live, and firmware versions when users report integration bugs (with consent). This accelerates triage because many issues correlate to specific firmware or OS transport issues.

10 official Ledger links (quick access)

Below are ten official Ledger resources useful for developers. Each link is styled so it’s highly visible in your documentation or blog page.

Tip: Replace or augment these with internal docs, your app’s integration guide, or links to example repos to make the page actionable for developers onboarding to your project.

Conclusion & next steps

Integrating with Ledger Live brings strong security guarantees and a familiar UX for users who custody assets on hardware wallets. Start small — implement account discovery and a safe signing flow, then iterate on UX and test coverage. Keep the user’s security and clarity top of mind: on-device confirmation, transparent payload displays, and concise documentation will differentiate your integration.

Action checklist (quick)

• Choose a transport approach (direct vs. Ledger Live mediated).
• Implement and test an account discovery flow.
• Validate transaction serialization and on-device confirmations.
• Document prerequisites and troubleshooting steps.