Running a full node

The Namada Ledger

In order to make any interactions with the Namada blockchain through the Namada client namadac, the ledger must be running.

To start a local Namada ledger node, one can run:

namada ledger
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Note: You must have joined a network before you start the ledger. It throws an error if no network has been configured.

The node will attempt to connect to the persistent validator nodes and other peers in the network, and synchronize to the latest block.

By default, the ledger will store its configuration and state in your base directory. You can use the --base-dir CLI global argument or BASE_DIR environment variable to change it.

Assuming you do not have a custom base_dir, you can export the BASE_DIR environment variable as follows:

export BASE_DIR=$(namadac utils default-base-dir)

When the ledger is run for the first time, the MASP-parameters will be downloaded. This is essential for producing the zero knowledge proofs required to make shielded transactions.

The ledger wasm files

The ledger will also download the genesis block, which contains the initial state of the blockchain. The ledger also needs access to the built WASM files that are used in the genesis block. These files are included in release and shouldn't be modified, otherwise your node will fail with a consensus error on the genesis block. By default, these are expected to be in the wasm directory inside the chain directory that's in the base directory, i.e $BASE_DIR/$CHAIN_ID/wasm. The wasm directory can also be set with the --wasm-dir CLI global argument, NAMADA_WASM_DIR environment variable or the configuration file.

Ledger configuration

The ledger configuration is stored in $BASE_DIR/$CHAIN_ID/config.toml (with default --base-dir). It is created when you join the network. You can modify that file to change the configuration of your node. All values can also be set via environment variables.