Table of Contents

• 1. Overview
• 2. Build Guide
  • 2.1 Requirements
  • 2.2 Installation
• 3. Run an Aleo Node
  • 3.1 Run an Aleo Client
  • 3.2 Run an Aleo Prover
• 4. FAQs
• 5. Command Line Interface
• 6. Development Guide
  • 6.1 Quick Start
  • 6.2 Operations
• 7. Contributors
• 8. License

1. Overview

snarkOS is a decentralized operating system for zero-knowledge applications. This code forms the backbone of Aleo network, which verifies transactions and stores the encrypted state applications in a publicly-verifiable manner.

2. Build Guide

2.1 Definitions

The following snarkOS node types exist in the Aleo network:

• Validator: Validator nodes participate in consensus and must be started with an account that is bonded into the committee.
• Client: Clients do not participate in consensus but maintain a ledger. They are capable of providing information about the network as well as accepting solutions and transactions and communicating them to their peers. All clients run the same software, however, for the purposes of configuration management, this document defines two types of clients:
  • Core Client: Client node connected directly to a validator node.
  • Outer Client: Client node connected only to other clients or prover nodes.
• Prover: Prover nodes are dedicated to solving the Aleo puzzle. They do not participate in consensus or maintain a copy of the ledger.

2.2 Requirements

The following are the requirements to run an Aleo node:

• OS: 64-bit architectures only, latest up-to-date for security
  • Clients: Ubuntu 22.04 (LTS), macOS Ventura or later, Windows 11 or later
  • Validators: Ubuntu 22.04 (LTS)
• CPU: 64-bit architectures only, Latest Intel Xeon or Better
  • Clients: 24-cores (32-cores or larger preferred)
  • Validators: 64-cores (128-cores or larger preferred)
• RAM: DDR4 or better
  • Clients: 128GiB of memory (192GiB or larger preferred)
  • Validators: 256GiB of memory (384GiB or larger preferred)
• Storage: PCIe Gen 3 x4, PCIe Gen 4 x2 NVME SSD, or better
  • Clients: 2TB of disk space (4TB or larger preferred)
  • Validators: 4TB of disk space (6TB or larger preferred)
• Network: Symmetric, commercial, always-on
  • Clients: 250Mbps of upload and download bandwidth
  • Validators: 500Mbps of upload and download bandwidth

No explicit recommendations are made for proving nodes as proving hardware may be highly variable. If interested in running Aleo Provers nodes, please refer to resources published by the Aleo community.

2.3 Installation

Before beginning, please ensure your machine has Rust v1.79+ installed. Instructions to install Rust can be found here.

Start by cloning this GitHub repository:

git clone --branch mainnet --single-branch https://github.com/AleoNet/snarkOS.git

Next, move into the snarkOS directory:

cd snarkOS
git checkout tags/testnet-beta

[For Ubuntu users] A helper script to install dependencies is available. From the snarkOS directory, run:

./build_ubuntu.sh

Lastly, install snarkOS:

cargo install --locked --path .

Please ensure ports 4130/tcp and 3030/tcp are open on your router and OS firewall.

2.4 Port Configuration

2.4.1 For Core Clients

Port	Protocol	Allow/Deny	Source	Explanation
4130/tcp	TCP	Allow	All IPv4/IPv6	TCP traffic to peers

2.4.2 For Outer Clients

Port	Protocol	Allow/Deny	Source	Explanation
3030/tcp	TCP	Allow	All IPv4/IPv6	REST server
4130/tcp	TCP	Allow	All IPv4/IPv6	TCP traffic to peers

2.4.3 For Validators

Port	Protocol	Allow/Deny	Source	Explanation
4130/tcp	TCP	Allow	All IPv4/IPv6	TCP traffic to peers
5000/tcp	TCP	Allow	Trusted Validator IPs	TCP traffic between validators for BFT communication
3000/tcp	TCP	Allow	Internal VPC or VPN	Metrics dashboard, should only be open within an internal VPC or VPN
3030/tcp	TCP	Deny	All IPv4/IPv6	REST server. This should always be disabled for validators
9000/tcp	TCP	Allow	Internal VPC or VPN	Metrics export, should only be open within an internal VPC or VPN
9090/tcp	TCP	Allow	Internal VPC or VPN	Prometheus metrics, should only be open within an internal VPC or VPN

Note: Ensure that your open file limit is set to 16,384 or above. For the recommended setting run:

# Increase the open file limit for the current user (replace <username> with your username)
echo "<username> - nofile 65536" | sudo tee -a /etc/security/limits.conf
# Increase the default system open file limit
sudo bash -c 'echo "DefaultLimitNOFILE=65536" >> /etc/systemd/system.conf'

3. Run an Aleo Node

3.1 Run an Aleo Client

Start by following the instructions in the Build Guide. The guide below provides information on running core and outer clients (as defined in Section 2.2.) Aleo community members running validators are recommended to run 1-3 core clients as their exclusive client peers. This will ensure network traffic from the public internet is verified prior to reaching the validator.

Any client not connected directly to a validator can be considered an outer client.

3.1.1 Run an Aleo Core Client

The following command is recommended when starting a client node that is connected to a validator: snarkos start --client --nodisplay --node 0.0.0.0:4130 --peers "validator_ip:4130,core_client_ip_1:4130,core_client_ip_2:4130,core_client_ip3:4130,outer_client_ip_1:4130,..." --verbosity 1 --norest

To start a core client node, you can also run the following command from the snarkOS directory:

./run-core-client.sh

3.1.2 Run an Aleo Outer Client

The following command is recommended when starting a client node that is NOT connected to a validator: snarkos start --client --nodisplay --node 0.0.0.0:4130 --peers "core_client_ip_1:4130,core_client_ip_2:4130,core_client_ip3:4130,outer_client_ip_1:4130,..." --verbosity 1 --rest 0.0.0.0:3030

To start an outer client node, you can also run the following command from the snarkOS directory:

./run-outer-client.sh

3.2 Run an Aleo Validator

Start by following the instructions in the Build Guide.

The following command is recommended when starting a validator node: snarkos start --validator --nodisplay --bft 0.0.0.0:5000 --node 0.0.0.0:4130 --peers "validator_ip_1:4130,validator_ip_2:4130,...,core_client_ip_1:4130,core_client_ip_2:4130,..." --validators "validator_ip_1:5000,validator_ip_2:5000,..." --verbosity 1 --norest --private-key-file ~/snarkOS/privatekey

Instead of specifying a private key file (--private-key-file flag), the private key can also be defined explicitly (--private-key flag).

To start a validator, you can also run the following command from the snarkOS directory:

./run-validator.sh

3.3 Run an Aleo Prover

Start by following the instructions in the Build Guide.

Next, generate an Aleo account address:

snarkos account new

This will output a new Aleo account in the terminal.

Please remember to save the account private key and view key. The following is an example output:

 Attention - Remember to store this account private key and view key.

  Private Key  APrivateKey1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  <-- Save Me And Use In The Next Step
     View Key  AViewKey1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  <-- Save Me
      Address  aleo1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  <-- Save Me

Next, to start a proving node, from the snarkOS directory, run:

./run-prover.sh

When prompted, enter your Aleo private key:

Enter the Aleo Prover account private key:
APrivateKey1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

4. FAQs

1. My node is unable to compile.

• Ensure your machine has Rust v1.66+ installed. Instructions to install Rust can be found here.
• If large errors appear during compilation, try running cargo clean.
• Ensure snarkOS is started using ./run-client.sh or ./run-prover.sh.

2. My node is unable to connect to peers on the network.

• Ensure ports 4130/tcp and 3030/tcp are open on your router and OS firewall.
• Ensure snarkOS is started using ./run-client.sh or ./run-prover.sh.

3. I can't generate a new address

• Before running the command above (snarkos account new) try source ~/.bashrc
• Also double-check the spelling of snarkos. Note the directory is /snarkOS, and the command is snarkos

4. How do I use the CLI to sign and verify a message?

1. Generate an account with snarkos account new if you haven't already
2. Sign a message with your private key using snarkos account sign --raw -m "Message" --private-key-file=<PRIVATE_KEY_FILE>
3. Verify your signature with snarkos account verify --raw -m "Message" -s sign1SignatureHere -a aleo1YourAccountAddress

Note, using the --raw flag with the command will sign plaintext messages as bytes rather than Aleo values such as 1u8 or 100field.

5. Command Line Interface

To run a node with custom settings, refer to the options and flags available in the snarkOS CLI.

The full list of CLI flags and options can be viewed with snarkos --help:

snarkOS 
The Aleo Team <hello@aleo.org>

USAGE:
    snarkos [OPTIONS] <SUBCOMMAND>

OPTIONS:
    -h, --help                     Print help information
    -v, --verbosity <VERBOSITY>    Specify the verbosity [options: 0, 1, 2, 3] [default: 2]

SUBCOMMANDS:
    account    Commands to manage Aleo accounts
    clean      Cleans the snarkOS node storage
    help       Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
    start      Starts the snarkOS node
    update     Update snarkOS

The following are the options for the snarkos start command:

USAGE:
    snarkos start [OPTIONS]

OPTIONS:
        --network <NETWORK_ID>                  Specify the network ID of this node [default: 3]
        
        --validator                             Specify this node as a validator
        --prover                                Specify this node as a prover
        --client                                Specify this node as a client
        
        --private-key <PRIVATE_KEY>             Specify the node's account private key
        --private-key-file <PRIVATE_KEY_FILE>   Specify the path to a file containing the node's account private key
        
        --node <IP:PORT>                        Specify the IP address and port for the node server [default: 0.0.0.0:4130]
        --connect <IP:PORT>                     Specify the IP address and port of a peer to connect to
 
        --rest <REST>                           Specify the IP address and port for the REST server [default: 0.0.0.0:3030]
        --norest                                If the flag is set, the node will not initialize the REST server
        
        --nodisplay                             If the flag is set, the node will not render the display
        --verbosity <VERBOSITY_LEVEL>           Specify the verbosity of the node [options: 0, 1, 2, 3] [default: 2]
        --logfile <PATH>                        Specify the path to the file where logs will be stored [default: /tmp/snarkos.log]
        
        --dev <NODE_ID>                         Enables development mode, specify a unique ID for this node

6. Development Guide

6.1 Quick Start

In the first terminal, start the first validator by running:

cargo run --release -- start --nodisplay --dev 0 --validator

In the second terminal, start the second validator by running:

cargo run --release -- start --nodisplay --dev 1 --validator

In the third terminal, start the third validator by running:

cargo run --release -- start --nodisplay --dev 2 --validator

In the fourth terminal, start the fourth validator by running:

cargo run --release -- start --nodisplay --dev 3 --validator

From here, this procedure can be used to further start-up provers and clients.

6.2 Operations

It is important to initialize the nodes starting from 0 and incrementing by 1 for each new node.

The following is a list of options to initialize a node (replace <NODE_ID> with a number starting from 0):

cargo run --release -- start --nodisplay --dev <NODE_ID> --validator
cargo run --release -- start --nodisplay --dev <NODE_ID> --prover
cargo run --release -- start --nodisplay --dev <NODE_ID> --client
cargo run --release -- start --nodisplay --dev <NODE_ID>

When no node type is specified, the node will default to --client.

6.3 Local Devnet

6.3.1 Install tmux

To run a local devnet with the script, start by installing tmux.

macOS

To install tmux on macOS, you can use the Homebrew package manager. If you haven't installed Homebrew yet, you can find instructions at their website.

# Once Homebrew is installed, run:
brew install tmux

Ubuntu

On Ubuntu and other Debian-based systems, you can use the apt package manager:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install tmux

Windows

There are a couple of ways to use tmux on Windows:

Using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

1. First, install Windows Subsystem for Linux.
2. Once WSL is set up and you have a Linux distribution installed (e.g., Ubuntu), open your WSL terminal and install tmux as you would on a native Linux system:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install tmux

6.3.2 Start a Local Devnet

To start a local devnet, run:

./devnet.sh

Follow the instructions in the terminal to start the devnet.

6.3.3 View a Local Devnet

Switch Nodes (forward)

To toggle to the next node in a local devnet, run:

Ctrl+b n

Switch Nodes (backwards)

To toggle to the previous node in a local devnet, run:

Ctrl+b p

Select a Node (choose-tree)

To select a node in a local devnet, run:

Ctrl+b w

Select a Node (manually)

To select a node manually in a local devnet, run:

Ctrl+b :select-window -t {NODE_ID}

6.3.4 Stop a Local Devnet

To stop a local devnet, run:

Ctrl+b :kill-session

Then, press Enter.

Clean Up

To clean up the node storage, run:

cargo run --release -- clean --dev <NODE_ID>

7. Contributors

Thank you for helping make snarkOS better!
🧐 What do the emojis mean?

Howard Wu 💻 🚧 🤔 👀	Raymond Chu 💻 🚧 🤔 👀	ljedrz 💻 🚧 🤔 👀	Niklas Long 💻 🚧 🤔 👀	Collin Chin 💻 📖 👀	Mike Turner 💻 📖 👀	Georgios Konstantopoulos 💻
Kobi Gurkan 💻	Vesa-Ville 💻	jules 💻	Daniil 💻	akattis 💻	William Cannon 💻	wcannon-aleo 💻
Sam De Roeck 💻	soft2dev 💻	Ali Mousa 💻	pyk 💻	Belsy 💻	apruden2008 💻	Fabiano Prestes 💻
Haruka 💻	e4m7he6g 💻	Gregório Granado Magalhães 💻	Evgeny Garanin 💻	Macro Hoober 💻	code-pangolin 💻	kaola526 💻
clarenous 💻	Kostyan 💻	Austin Abell 💻	Youssef El Housni 💻	ghostant-1017 💻	Miguel Gargallo 💻	Chines Wang 💻
Ayush Goswami 💻	Tim - o2Stake 💻	liu-sen 💻	Palamar 💻	swift-mx 💻	Caesar Wang 💻	Paul IP 💻
Philip Glazman 💻	Ruslan Nigmatulin 💻	François Garillot 💻	aolcr 💻	Maciej Zwoliński 💻	Nacho Avecilla 💻	Max Bruce 💻
Belsy 💻	Santala 💻	deadline 💻	CedricYanYuhui 💻	Craig Johnson 💻	Vaclav Barta 💻	Dependabot 💻
Add your contributions

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind are welcome!

8. License

We welcome all contributions to snarkOS. Please refer to the license for the terms of contributions.