How to start a node as a leader candidate

Gathering data

Like in the passive node case, two things are needed to connect to an existing network

the hash of the genesis block of the blockchain, this will be the source of truth of the blockchain. It is 64 hexadecimal characters.
the trusted peers identifiers and access points.

The node configuration could be the same as that for running a passive node.

There are some differences depending if you are connecting to a network running a genesis or bft consensus protocol.

In order to be able to generate blocks in an existing genesis network, a registered stake pool is needed.

Put the node id and private keys in a yaml file in the following way:

filename: node_secret.yaml

genesis:
  sig_key: Content of stake_pool_kes.prv file
  vrf_key: Content of stake_pool_vrf.prv file
  node_id: Content of stake_pool.id file

jormungandr --genesis-block-hash asdf1234... --config config.yaml --secret node_secret.yaml

The ‘asdf1234…’ part should be the actual block0 hash of the network.

In order to generate blocks, the node should be registered as a slot leader in the network and started in the following way.

Put secret key in a yaml file, e.g. node_secret.yaml as follows:

bft:
 signing_key: ed25519_sk1kppercsk06k03yk4qgea....

where signing_key is a private key associated to the public id of a slot leader.

jormungandr --genesis-block asdf1234... --config node.config --secret node_secret.yaml

The ‘asdf1234…’ part should be the actual block0 hash of the network.