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Run a CKB Mainnet Node and Testnet Node with Docker

We have introduced Run a CKB Mainnet Node & Run a CKB Testnet Node.If you want to run CKB node or miner process quickly for testing, it is recommended to use Docker. Before follow the instructions below, you need to Install Docker first.

Run a CKB Mainnet Node​

Get CKB image​

The docker container connects to mainnet by default and will run the latest release version.

docker run --rm -it nervos/ckb:latest run

Let me introduce tags listed in DockerHub.

  • Tag latest means that the image is built from the latest master branch of ckb.
  • Tags vx.y.z means that the image is built from the historical release version.
  • Tags vx.y.z-rc means that the image is built from the preview release version.

Mount the configuration file and Run a CKB Mainnet node​

It is recommended to mount a volume at /var/lib/ckb in the container.There is an example to mount a volume, generate config files in the volume and start CKB from it.

  • Create a volume
docker volume create ckb-mainnet
  • Initialize the directory with mainnet chain spec.
docker run --rm -it \
  -v ckb-mainnet:/var/lib/ckb \
  nervos/ckb:latest init --chain mainnet --force
  • Create a container ckb-mainnet-node to run a node:
docker create -it \
  -v ckb-mainnet:/var/lib/ckb \
  --name ckb-mainnet-node \
  nervos/ckb:latest run
  • Copy the generated config files from the container:
docker cp ckb-mainnet-node:/var/lib/ckb/ckb.toml .
docker cp ckb-mainnet-node:/var/lib/ckb/ckb-miner.toml .

  • Edit the config files. If you want to run a miner, remember to replace [block_assembler] section in ckb.toml. you can refer to Configure the Block Assembler.

  • Copy back the edited config files back to container:

tar --owner=1000 --group=1000 -cf - ckb.toml ckb-miner.toml | \
  docker cp - ckb-mainnet-node:/var/lib/ckb/
  • start the node:
docker start -i ckb-mainnet-node
  • And start the miner in the same container
docker exec ckb-mainnet-node ckb miner

Run a CKB Testnet node​

Get the CKB image​

After the release of ckb v0.26.1, by modifying the environment variable CKB_CHAIN, you can run CKB Testnet node with default configuration，such as:

docker run -e CKB_CHAIN=testnet --rm -it nervos/ckb:latest run

Mount the configuration file and Run a CKB Testnet node​

  • Create a volume
docker volume create ckb-testnet
  • Initialize the directory with testnet chain spec.
docker run --rm -it \
  -v ckb-testnet:/var/lib/ckb \
  nervos/ckb:latest init --spec testnet --force
  • Create a container ckb-testnet-node to run a node:
docker create -it \
  -v ckb-testnet:/var/lib/ckb \
  --name ckb-testnet-node \
  nervos/ckb:latest run
  • Copy the generated config files from the container:
docker cp ckb-testnet-node:/var/lib/ckb/ckb.toml .
docker cp ckb-testnet-node:/var/lib/ckb/ckb-miner.toml .

  • Edit the config files. If you want to run a miner, remember to replace [block_assembler] section in ckb.toml. you can refer to Configure the Block Assembler.

  • Copy back the edited config files back to container:

docker cp ckb-testnet-node:/var/lib/ckb/ckb.toml .
docker cp ckb-testnet-node:/var/lib/ckb/ckb-miner.toml .
  • start the node:
docker start -i ckb-testnet-node
  • And start the miner in the same container
docker exec ckb-testnet-node ckb miner