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Overview

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for setting up and running an Initia L1 node. It covers everything from system requirements to connecting to the Initia network.

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System Requirements

Before proceeding, ensure your system meets the following minimum requirements:

  • CPU: 16 cores
  • Memory: 32GB RAM
  • Storage: 2 TB NVMe/SSD with Write Throughput > 1000 MiBps
  • Network: 100 Mbps bandwidth

We strongly recommend running Initia nodes on a Linux-based operating system. While it may be possible to run on other operating systems, we have not tested them and cannot guarantee the same environment settings and running conditions.

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Installation

There are two ways to install the initiad CLI:

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Option 1: Building from Source

1

Install Prerequisites

Install the required packages:

sudo apt install -y build-essential

Also, install the latest version of Go:

sudo apt install -y golang

Verify the installed versions:

make --version  # Must be 3.8 or later
go version      # Must be 1.22 or later
2

Build the Daemon

Clone and build the Initia node:

git clone git@github.com:initia-labs/initia.git
cd initia
git checkout $TAG  # Replace with desired version
make install

Verify the installation:

initiad version

If initiad is not found, check your $PATH environment variable to ensure it includes $GOBIN or $GOPATH/bin.

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Option 2: Using Pre-built Binaries

Download pre-built initiad binaries from the releases page. Choose the appropriate version for your operating system.

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System Configuration

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File Descriptor Limits

Initia requires a higher number of file descriptors than the default Linux limit. Adjust the system limits by adding the following to /etc/security/limits.conf:

* soft nofile 65535
* hard nofile 65535

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Node Setup

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Initialization

Initialize your node with a moniker (a human-readable name):

initiad init <moniker>

Note that

  • Moniker must contain only ASCII characters
  • Maximum length is 70 characters
  • The default home directory is ${HOME}/.initia
  • To use a different directory, add --home <YOUR_INITIA_HOME> to commands

Your private key is generated during initialization and stored in ${HOME}/.initia/config/priv_validator_key.json. IMPORTANT: Always backup your private key, especially for validator nodes. Loss of the private key may result in permanent node inaccessibility.

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Network Configuration

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Endpoints

An Initia node comes with multiple endpoint that you can either enable or disable.

EndpointDescriptionConfiguration File
RESTRESTful HTTP API~/.initia/config/app.toml
gRPC/gRPC-WEBgRPC API~/.initia/config/app.toml
RPCTendermint/CometBFT API~/.initia/config/config.toml
P2PGossip P2P Network~/.initia/config/config.toml

Validator nodes are not recommended to expose these endpoints publicly.

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Configuration Examples

  1. API Configuration (~/.initia/config/app.toml):
[api]
enable = true
swagger = true
address = "tcp://0.0.0.0:1317"

[grpc]
enable = true
address = "0.0.0.0:9090"

[grpc-web]
enable = true
address = "0.0.0.0:9091"
  1. RPC and P2P Configuration (~/.initia/config/config.toml):
[rpc]
laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26657"

[p2p]
laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26656"

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External Address Configuration

To allow external nodes to connect to your node, configure the external address in config.toml:

[p2p]
laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26656"
external_address = "YOUR_PUBLIC_IP:26656"

You can automatically set your public IP using:

sed -i -e 's/external_address = \"\"/external_address = \"'$(curl httpbin.org/ip | jq -r .origin)':26656\"/g' ~/.initia/config/config.toml

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Connecting to Initia Network

To fully connect to the network, you first need to first download the genesis file and configure your peers, and sync the node.

You can find information on the genesis file, peers, and state sync for the network you want to join in the networks page

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Genesis File

To start syncing the node, you first need to download the genesis file.

wget $GENESIS_FILE_URL -O $HOME/.initia/config/genesis.json

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Network Configuration

Once the genesis file is downloaded, you can configure the persistent peers in ~/.initia/config/config.toml:

persistent_peers = "peer1@ip1:port1,peer2@ip2:port2"

Replace peer1@ip1:port1,peer2@ip2:port2 with the list of peers for the network you want to join.

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State Sync & Snapshots

To then sync the node, you can use the state sync feature.

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Running as a Service (Optional)

To run Initia as a system service, create a initiad.service file in /etc/systemd/system:

[Unit]
Description=initiad

[Service]
Type=simple
User=ubuntu
ExecStart=/usr/bin/initiad start
Restart=on-abort
StandardOutput=syslog
StandardError=syslog
SyslogIdentifier=initiad
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Once the service file is created, you can enable and start the service:

systemctl enable initiad
systemctl start initiad

To then see the logs, you can use the following commands:

journalctl -t initiad    # View current logs
journalctl -t initiad -f # Follow logs in real-time
journalctl -t initiad -n <number> # View last N lines