Table of Contents

• 1. Overview
• 2. Build Guide
  • 2.1 Requirements
  • 2.2 Installation
• 3a. Run an Aleo Client Node
• 3b. Run an Aleo Mining Node
• 4. Testnet2 FAQs
• 5. Command Line Interface
• 6. Development Guide
• 7. License

1. Overview

snarkOS is a decentralized operating system for private applications. It forms the backbone of Aleo and enables applications to verify and store state in a publicly verifiable manner.

2. Build Guide

2.1 Requirements

The following are minimum requirements to run an Aleo node:

• CPU: 16-cores (32-cores preferred)
• RAM: 16GB of memory (32GB preferred)
• Storage: 128GB of disk space
• Network: 50 Mbps of upload and download bandwidth

Please note to run an Aleo mining node that is competitive, the machine will require more than these requirements.

2.2 Installation

Before beginning, please ensure your machine has Rust v1.56+ installed. Instructions to install Rust can be found here.

Start by cloning the snarkOS Github repository:

git clone https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkOS.git --depth 1

Next, move into the snarkOS directory:

cd snarkOS

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

./testnet2_ubuntu.sh

3a. Run an Aleo Client Node

Start by following the instructions in the Build Guide.

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

./run-client.sh

3b. Run an Aleo Mining Node

Start by following the instructions in the Build Guide.

Next, to generate an Aleo miner address, run:

snarkos experimental new_account 

or from the snarkOS directory, run:

cargo run --release -- experimental new_account

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
     View Key  AViewKey1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  <-- Save Me
      Address  aleo1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  <-- Use Me For The Next Step

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

./run-miner.sh

When prompted, enter your Aleo miner address:

Enter your Aleo miner address:
aleo1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mining Report

After the mining node has booted up, a periodic report is provided with the status of mined blocks:

INFO Mining Report (confirmed_blocks = 1, pending_blocks = 5, miner_address = aleo1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)

This report can also be queried after the mining node has already ran, by running cargo run --release -- miner stats aleo1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in the snarkOS directory, or snarkos miner stats aleo1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

4. Testnet2 FAQs

1. My node is unable to compile.

• Ensure your machine has Rust v1.56+ 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-miner.sh.

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

• Ensure ports 4132/tcp and 3032/tcp are open on your router and OS firewall.
• Ensure snarkOS is started using ./run-client.sh or ./run-miner.sh.

3. I can't generate a new address

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

4. Can I coordinate mining across multiple machines/instances of snarkOS?

• Yes. Just spin up multiple instances of snarkOS across multiple machines (not the same machine) and input the same miner address. At the moment, Aleo does not integrate with any other mining pool protocols (like stratum). But if anyone wants to implement, please apply for a grant!

5. Command Line Interface

To run a node with custom settings, refer to the full list of 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 <[email protected]>

USAGE:
    snarkos [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [SUBCOMMAND]

FLAGS:
        --display    If the flag is set, the node will render a read-only display
    -h, --help       Prints help information
        --norpc      If the flag is set, the node will not initialize the RPC server
    -V, --version    Prints version information

OPTIONS:
        --connect <connect>          Specify the IP address and port of a peer to connect to
        --dev <dev>                  Enables development mode, specify a unique ID for the local node
        --miner <miner>              Specify this as a mining node, with the given miner address
        --network <network>          Specify the network of this node [default: 2]
        --node <node>                Specify the IP address and port for the node server [default: 0.0.0.0:4132]
        --operator <operator>        Specify this as an operating node, with the given operator address
        --pool <pool>                Specify the pool that a prover node is contributing to
        --prover <prover>            Specify this as a prover node, with the given prover address
        --rpc <rpc>                  Specify the IP address and port for the RPC server [default: 0.0.0.0:3032]
        --password <rpc-password>    Specify the password for the RPC server [default: pass]
        --username <rpc-username>    Specify the username for the RPC server [default: root]
        --verbosity <verbosity>      Specify the verbosity of the node [options: 0, 1, 2, 3] [default: 2]

SUBCOMMANDS:
    clean           Removes the ledger files from storage
    experimental    Experimental features
    help            Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
    miner           Miner commands and settings
    update          Updates snarkOS to the latest version

6. Development Guide

In one terminal, start the first node by running:

cargo run --release -- --dev 1 --node 0.0.0.0:4135 --rpc 0.0.0.0:3035 --miner aleo1d5hg2z3ma00382pngntdp68e74zv54jdxy249qhaujhks9c72yrs33ddah

After the first node starts, in a second terminal, run:

cargo run --release -- --dev 2

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

7. License