Pocket Node Setup

Once you have your environment set up, you are now ready to deploy your node.

Create an account

An account is needed to participate at any level of the network.

pocket accounts create

> Enter Passphrase
> Account generated successfully:
> Address: <address>

pocket accounts import-armored </path/to/ppk.json>

Backup the account

Backup your private key to an encrypted and ASCII armored JSON file, to the specified --path , using the export option. You will be prompted for the decrypt passphrase and an encryption passphrase for the exported account. You will also have the option to add a hint to help remember your passphrase.

pocket accounts export <address> --path <path>

pocket accounts export 59f08710afbad0e20352340780fdbf4e47622a7c --path $HOME/super-secret-dir

Learn more about securely managing your POKT accounts.

Fund the account

To stake a node in Pocket Network, the account must have a balance above the minimum stake, which is 15,000 POKT (or 15,000,000,000 uPOKT).

Send POKT with the following command:

pocket accounts send-tx <fromAddr> <toAddr> <uPOKT amount> mainnet 10000 "tx message"

You won’t be able to send POKT using the command line until you have your node set up. Until then, you can use the Wallet app.

If you’re using the testnet, you can fund your account using the Testnet Faucet.

Set the account operator

pocket accounts set-validator <address>

Set Relay Chains

A Relay Chain is a blockchain that a Pocket node connects to or runs in order to service applications. Applications access Relay Chains through the serviceURI, the endpoint where nodes publicly expose the Pocket API. You can view a list of all the Relay Chains that Pocket supports.

Once you have your Relay Chains properly configured, you can set up your node to serve requests to those Relay Chains via the generate-chains command. Relay Chains are referenced through a four digit ID (example: 0021 for Ethereum Mainnet).

pocket util generate-chains

A wizard will step you through the process of adding each Relay Chain ID, and will output a $HOME/.pocket/config/chains.json file when done.

If you were only servicing Pocket nodes, the response would look like this:

> Enter the chain of the network identifier:
<Relay Chain ID> (Example: 0001)
> Enter the URL of the network identifier:
<Secure URL to Relay Chain>
Would you like to enter another network identifier? (y/n)
n

Setup the Genesis Configuration File

Genesis files can be found here:

• Mainnet Genesis File
• Testnet Genesis File

The appropriate genesis file should be placed at .pocket/config/genesis.json

mkdir -p $HOME/.pocket/config
curl -o $HOME/.pocket/config/genesis.json https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pokt-network/pocket-network-genesis/master/mainnet/genesis.json

mkdir -p $HOME/.pocket/config
curl -o $HOME/.pocket/config/genesis.json https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pokt-network/pocket-network-genesis/master/testnet/genesis.json

Test your node

Test that your node is configured correctly by simulating a relay.

pocket start --simulateRelay

Then send a curl request to your validator URL http://<your node>:<your pocket rpc port>/v1/client/sim to test if your node responds.

curl -X POST --data '{"relay_network_id":"<relay chain ID from chains.json>","payload":{"data":"{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"method\":\"eth_getBalance\",\"params\":[\"0xe7a24E61b2ec77d3663ec785d1110688d2A32ecc\", \"latest\"],\"id\":1}","method":"POST","path":"","headers":{}}}' <your node URL>:8081/v1/client/sim

If successful, you’ll see a 200 OK response. If you see a 400 Bad Request, you either have incorrect/missing parameters in the request or bad formatting in the data field.

Finally, stop your node with Ctrl-C. If you don’t, you’ll be leaving –simulateRelay running, which means anyone will have unfiltered access to your node.

Download snapshot

Downloading from the latest snapshot will drastically shorten the time it takes to sync the blockchain. The easiest way is by downloading with wget and extracting the archive as it downloads.

mkdir -p $HOME/.pocket/data
wget -qO- https://snapshot.nodes.pokt.network/latest.tar.gz | tar -xz -C $HOME/.pocket/data

Other options for downloading the latest snapshot can be found in the pocket-snapshotter repo.

Sync the blockchain

pocket start --seeds=<seeds> --mainnet

pocket start --seeds="64c91701ea98440bc3674fdb9a99311461cdfd6f@node1.mainnet.pokt.network:21656" --mainnet

See the section on seeds for more details.

Stake the node

Stake the account to participate in the network. Staking as a servicer node locks up POKT tokens that can be burned as a security mechanism for bad acting.

pocket nodes stake custodial <address> <amount> <relay_chains> <serviceURI> mainnet 10000 false

pocket nodes stake custodial 3ee61299d5bbbd2974cddcc194d9b547c7629546 20000000000 0001,0002 https://pokt.rocks:443 mainnet 10000 true

You should at least 1 POKT unstaked to pay the transaction fees for your node’s claim and proof transactions.

All node runners must always maintain a liquid (unstaked) balance of at least 0.02 POKT in order to submit the claim and proof transactions (which each have a transaction fee of 0.01 POKT) that generate their rewards. If a node successfully submits both the claim and proof, they will earn enough POKT to submit the next claims and proofs, and so on. However, if a node falls below a liquid balance of 0.02 POKT, their revenue will be halted.

Claim transactions have 3 sessions, the ClaimSubmissionWindow, to be successfully submitted after the conclusion of the session in which the work was done, otherwise they are lost. If a claim transaction fails, Pocket Core will auto-repeat the transaction once in each new session, until the claim is lost. This means your node will automatically take 3 attempts to submit the claim. There is a claim submission window because the global secret key that determines the required proof leaf is revealed once that window closes. Extending the claim submission window would delay the time at which the corresponding proof can be sent and rewards earned.

If you manage to successfully submit the claim transaction, you then have 120 blocks, the ClaimExpiration period, to submit the corresponding proof transaction, otherwise the pending claim expires. There is a claim expiration date because otherwise the claims would remain in the state and bloat the blockchain.