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Join Barra

important

Barra is our new testnet, currently available only to selected validators. It's a vanilla Cosmos chain with EVM support.

Overview​

This tutorial explains how to run the Warden binary, wardend, and join the Barra testnet.

Prerequisites​

Before you start, complete the following prerequisites:

  • Install Go 1.25 or higher.
  • Make sure you have the following shell tools installed: wget, sed, curl, jq.
  • We recommend running public testnet nodes on machines with the following characteristics:
    • at least 4 cores
    • 16GB of RAM
    • 300GB of disk space

1. Install the binary​

To be able to interact with the node, install wardend (the Warden binary) and configure it:

  1. Download the binary for your platform from the release page and unzip it. The archive contains the wardend binary.

  2. Navigate to the directory containing the binary and initialize the node, specifying a custom chain moniker:

    ./wardend init CHAIN_MONIKER

2. Configure the binary​

To configure wardend, update files in $HOME/.warden/config/.

The following list shows the files and fields you need to adjust. You can do it manually or use the CLI commands below.

  • app.toml
    Set the minimum gas price and the EVM chain ID: 
    minimum-gas-prices = "10award"
    evm-chain-id = 9191
  • client.toml
    Set the chain ID: 
    chain-id = "barra_9191-1"
  • config.toml
    Add seed nodes and adjust consensus parameters: 
    seeds = "[email protected]:26656,[email protected]:26656"
    timeout_propose = "1s"
    timeout_propose_delta = "200ms"
    timeout_prevote = "500ms"
    timeout_prevote_delta = "200ms"
    timeout_precommit = "500ms"
    timeout_precommit_delta = "200ms"
    timeout_commit = "2s"
    create_empty_blocks = true
  • genesis.json
    Replace its contents with the correct genesis settings.

To update the files automatically, you can use the following commands:

cd $HOME/.warden/config
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*minimum-gas-prices\s*=.*|minimum-gas-prices = "10award"|' app.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*evm-chain-id\s*=.*|evm-chain-id = 9191|' app.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*chain-id\s*=.*|chain-id = "barra_9191-1"|' client.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*seeds\s*=.*|seeds = "[email protected]:26656,[email protected]:26656"|' config.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*timeout_propose\s*=.*|timeout_propose = "1s"|' config.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*timeout_propose_delta\s*=.*|timeout_propose_delta = "200ms"|' config.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*timeout_prevote\s*=.*|timeout_prevote = "500ms"|' config.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*timeout_prevote_delta\s*=.*|timeout_prevote_delta = "200ms"|' config.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*timeout_precommit\s*=.*|timeout_precommit = "500ms"|' config.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*timeout_precommit_delta\s*=.*|timeout_precommit_delta = "200ms"|' config.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*timeout_commit\s*=.*|timeout_commit = "2s"|' config.toml
sed -i.bak 's|^\s*create_empty_blocks\s*=.*|create_empty_blocks = true|' config.toml
rm genesis.json
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/warden-protocol/networks/main/testnets/barra/genesis.json

3. Sync the node​

tip

This step is recommended but optional.

To speed up the initial sync, you can use the state sync feature. This will allow you to download the state at a specific height from a trusted node and after that only download the blocks from the network.

You'll need to use a trusted RPC endpoint—for example, the following:

https://rpc.barra.wardenprotocol.org

  1. From this RPC endpoint, you can get the trusted block height and hash:

    export SNAP_RPC_SERVERS="https://rpc.barra.wardenprotocol.org:443,https://rpc.barra.wardenprotocol.org:443"
    export LATEST_HEIGHT=$(curl -s "https://rpc.barra.wardenprotocol.org/block" | jq -r .result.block.header.height)
    export BLOCK_HEIGHT=$((LATEST_HEIGHT - 2000))
    export TRUST_HASH=$(curl -s "https://rpc.barra.wardenprotocol.org/block?height=$BLOCK_HEIGHT" | jq -r .result.block_id.hash)

  2. Check that all variables have been set correctly:

    echo $LATEST_HEIGHT $BLOCK_HEIGHT $TRUST_HASH

    The output should be similar to this:

    70694 68694 6AF4938885598EA10C0BD493D267EF363B067101B6F81D1210B27EBE0B32FA2A

  3. Add the state sync configuration to the config.toml file, under [statesync]:

    enable = true # enable the state sync
    rpc_servers = "SNAP_RPC_SERVERS"
    trust_height = BLOCK_HEIGHT
    trust_hash = "TRUST_HASH"

    You can also do it automatically:

    sed -i.bak -E \
    's|^(enable[[:space:]]+=[[:space:]]+).*$|\1true| ; 
    s|^(rpc_servers[[:space:]]+=[[:space:]]+).*$|\1"'"$SNAP_RPC_SERVERS"'"| ; 
    s|^(trust_height[[:space:]]+=[[:space:]]+).*$|\1'"$BLOCK_HEIGHT"'| ; 
    s|^(trust_hash[[:space:]]+=[[:space:]]+).*$|\1"'"$TRUST_HASH"'"|' \
    "$HOME/.warden/config/config.toml"

4. Start the node​

Now you can start the node using the following command:

wardend start

If needed, add the path to the binary before the command:

path-to-binary/wardend start

It'll connect to the configured seed nodes and start downloading blocks. You can check the logs to see the progress.

tip

We recommend using Cosmovisor for running a node. It's a utility for managing binary versions of Cosmos SDK-based chains, allowing you to enable binary upgrades without manual intervention.

Next steps​

After joining Barra, you can take these steps: