How to run a Gnosis Chain node

Follow the hardware and software prerequisites.

Check which type of node you might want to run and the disk space required.

Install Erigon​

For MacOS and Linux, run the following commands to build from source the latest Erigon version:

git clone --branch v3.0.0-beta1 --single-branch https://github.com/erigontech/erigon.git
cd erigon
make erigon

This should create the binary at ./build/bin/erigon

Start Erigon​

If you want to be able to send transactions with your wallet and access the Gnosis Chain network directly, contribute to the network decentralization it is advised to run Erigon with Caplin, the internal Consensus Layer (CL).

Alternatively you can also run Prysm, Lighthouse or any other Consensus Layer client alongside with Erigon by adding the --externalcl flag. This will also allow you to access the Ethereum blockchain directly and give you the possibility to stake your ETH and do block production.

Erigon with Caplin

The basic command to run Erigon with Caplin on Gnosis Chain is:

./build/bin/erigon --chain=gnosis

Erigon with Lighthouse

1. Start Erigon:

   ./build/bin/erigon --externalcl
   

2. Install Lighthouse, another popular client that can be used with Erigon for block building. Follow the instructions until the chapter Build Lighthouse, skipping the make instruction.: https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/installation.html

3. Now compile Lighthouse in order to run Gnosis Chain using the feature flags :

   cd lighthouse
   env FEATURES=gnosis make
   

4. Because Erigon needs a target head in order to sync, Lighthouse must be synced before Erigon may synchronize. The fastest way to synchronize Lighthouse is to use one of the many public checkpoint synchronization endpoints:

   • https://checkpoint.gnosischain.com for Gnosis Chain
   • https://checkpoint.chiadochain.net for Chiado Testnet

5. To communicate with Erigon, the execution endpoint must be specified as :8551, where is either //localhost or the IP address of the device running Erigon.

6. Lighthouse must point to the JWT secret automatically created by Erigon in the datadir director. In the following example the default data directory is used.

Below is an example of Lighthouse running Gnosis Chain:

```bash
lighthouse \
--network gnosis beacon_node \
--datadir=data \
--http \
--execution-endpoint http://localhost:8551 \
--execution-jwt /home/usr/.local/share/erigon/jwt.hex \
--checkpoint-sync-url "https://checkpoint.gnosischain.com"
```

And an example of Lighthouse running Chiado testnet:

```bash
lighthouse \
--network chiado \
--datadir=data \
--http \
--execution-endpoint http://localhost:8551 \
--execution-jwt /home/usr/.local/share/erigon/jwt.hex \
--checkpoint-sync-url "https://checkpoint.chiadochain.net"
```

Basic Configuration​

• If you want to store Erigon files in a non-default location, add flag --datadir=<your_data_dir>. Default data directory is /home/usr/.local/share/erigon.
• Erigon is full node by default, use --prune.mode=archive to run a archive node or --prune.mode=minimal (EIP-4444). If you want to change type of node delete the --datadir folder content and restart Erigon with the appropriate flags.
• Add the flag --chain=chiado for Chiado testnet.
• --http.addr="0.0.0.0" --http.api=eth,web3,net,debug,trace,txpool to use RPC and e.g. be able to connect your wallet.
• To increase download speed add --torrent.download.rate=512mb (default is 16mb)
• To stop the Erigon node you can use the CTRL+C command.

Additional flags can be added to configure Erigon with several options.