🛠️ Setting Up MetaMask 🦊 and Adding Lisk Networks via Chainlist: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

👋 Hello Devs!

I recently had to set up MetaMask and add custom blockchain networks — specifically Lisk Mainnet and Lisk Sepolia Testnet — as part of a class assignment. Since it was my first time doing this, I decided to document everything I did, step by step.

This post is for anyone who's new to MetaMask, EVM networks, or just wants a super simple guide to using Chainlist.org with MetaMask.

🧩 What Is MetaMask?

If you're totally new to Web3, MetaMask is a browser-based wallet that allows you to store crypto, interact with dApps, and switch between multiple blockchains — not just Ethereum.

By default, it only includes Ethereum Mainnet, so if you want to use networks like Polygon, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, or Lisk, you need to add them manually or through a tool like Chainlist.

🔧 Step 1: Installing MetaMask

I started by heading to:
👉 https://metamask.io

Then:

Installed the Chrome browser extension.
Created a new wallet (and safely saved my recovery phrase — never skip this!).
Opened the MetaMask extension popup, ready to go.

🌐 Step 2: Connecting MetaMask to Chainlist

Next, I visited https://chainlist.org to add the Lisk networks.

Here’s what I did:

Clicked “Connect Wallet” on Chainlist.
MetaMask popped up and I approved the connection.
Searched for “Lisk” — found both Lisk Mainnet and Lisk Sepolia Testnet.
Clicked “Add to MetaMask” for each network.

💡 Funny thing: no popup appeared after I clicked “Add to MetaMask,” but when I checked MetaMask, both networks were already listed and enabled!

🔄 Step 3: Switching Between Networks

Once the networks were added, I switched between them in MetaMask like this:

Lisk Mainnet appeared under my regular network list.
Lisk Sepolia Testnet was visible under the Test Networks section.
I clicked each one, and they loaded perfectly.

📸 Screenshots of My Setup

Here are screenshots I took while confirming everything was working:

✅ Lisk Mainnet selected in MetaMask:

✅ Lisk Sepolia Testnet selected in MetaMask:

⚠️ A Quick Note About RPC URLs

When I clicked the Lisk network in MetaMask, I noticed it listed two RPC URLs:

rpc.api.lisk.com ✅ (official and recommended)
lisk.drpc.org (an alternative)

I chose the first one since it’s the official RPC used by Lisk.

✅ What I Learned

Even though I didn’t see any popups, I learned that MetaMask can still add networks silently as long as it's connected to Chainlist.

It was super helpful to see how EVM-compatible networks work — and now I feel more confident adding others in the future.

🙌 Wrapping Up

If you're just getting started with MetaMask and blockchain networks, I highly recommend exploring Chainlist. It’s a beginner-friendly way to add networks quickly — even if the process isn’t always 100% predictable.

Thanks for reading! I hope this post saves you some time. Let me know if you’ve had similar experiences or want help adding other networks.