Mine testnet Stacks tokens

Creating an optimized binary

The steps above are great for trying to run a node temporarily. If you want to host a node on a server somewhere, you might want to generate an optimized binary. To do so, use the same configuration as above, but run:

cd testnet/stacks-node
cargo build --release --bin stacks-nodecd testnet/stacks-nodecargo build --release --bin stacks-node

The above code will compile an optimized binary. To use it, run:

cd ../..
./target/release/stacks-node start --config=./testnet/conf/xenon-follower-conf.tomlcd ../.../target/release/stacks-node start --config=./testnet/conf/xenon-follower-conf.toml

For a full reference of subcommands and configuration options used by stacks-node, please see this page.

Stacks Node Configuration

Configuration parameters and options for the stacks-node binary

To read more about the technical details of mining on the Stacks 2.0 network, have a look at the minig guide:

Understand Mining

A guide to mining on Stacks 2.0

Enable debug logging

In case you are running into issues or would like to see verbose logging, you can run your node with debug logging enabled. In the command line, run:

STACKS_LOG_DEBUG=1 stacks-node xenonSTACKS_LOG_DEBUG=1 stacks-node xenon

Prerequisites

Make sure you've followed the Running the testnet node on Windows tutorial before starting this tutorial.

Generate keychain and get testnet tokens in Windows

To setup the miner, first, we need to generate a keychain. With this keychain, we'll get some testnet BTC from a faucet, and then use that BTC to start mining.

To get a keychain, the simplest way is to use the stacks-cli. We'll use the stx make-keychain command, and pass -t to indicate that we want a testnet keychain.

Generate a keychain:

npm install --global @stacks/cli
stx make_keychain -t > cli_keychain.json
type cli_keychain.jsonnpm install --global @stacks/clistx make_keychain -t > cli_keychain.jsontype cli_keychain.json

After this runs, you'll probably see some installation logs, and at the end you should see some JSON that looks like this:

{
  "mnemonic": "exhaust spin topic distance hole december impulse gate century absent breeze ostrich armed clerk oak peace want scrap auction sniff cradle siren blur blur",
  "keyInfo": {
    "privateKey": "2033269b55026ff2eddaf06d2e56938f7fd8e9d697af8fe0f857bb5962894d5801",
    "address": "STTX57EGWW058FZ6WG3WS2YRBQ8HDFGBKEFBNXTF",
    "btcAddress": "mkRYR7KkPB1wjxNjVz3HByqAvVz8c4B6ND",
    "index": 0
  }
}{  "mnemonic": "exhaust spin topic distance hole december impulse gate century absent breeze ostrich armed clerk oak peace want scrap auction sniff cradle siren blur blur",  "keyInfo": {    "privateKey": "2033269b55026ff2eddaf06d2e56938f7fd8e9d697af8fe0f857bb5962894d5801",    "address": "STTX57EGWW058FZ6WG3WS2YRBQ8HDFGBKEFBNXTF",    "btcAddress": "mkRYR7KkPB1wjxNjVz3HByqAvVz8c4B6ND",    "index": 0  }}

Check out the Stacks CLI reference for more details

Request BTC from faucet:

We need to get some testnet BTC to that address. Grab the btcAddress field, and paste it into this Bitcoin testnet faucet. You'll be sent 0.01 testnet BTC to that address.

Create configuration file

Now, we need to configure our node to use this Bitcoin keychain. In the folder where your binary is extracted, create a new file called testnet-miner-conf.toml.

Paste in the following configuration:

[node]
rpc_bind = "0.0.0.0:20443"
p2p_bind = "0.0.0.0:20444"
bootstrap_node = "047435c194e9b01b3d7f7a2802d6684a3af68d05bbf4ec8f17021980d777691f1d5[email protected]xenon.blockstack.org:20444"
# Enter your private key here
seed = "replace-with-your-private-key"
miner = true

[burnchain]
chain = "bitcoin"
mode = "xenon"
# To mine on Xenon, you need to run bitcoind locally
# Details can be found in above section, 'Running bitcoind locally'
peer_host = "127.0.0.1"
username = "your-bitcoind-username"
password = "your-bitcoind-password"
rpc_port = 18332
peer_port = 18333

[[ustx_balance]]
address = "STB44HYPYAT2BB2QE513NSP81HTMYWBJP02HPGK6"
amount = 10000000000000000
[[ustx_balance]]
address = "ST11NJTTKGVT6D1HY4NJRVQWMQM7TVAR091EJ8P2Y"
amount = 10000000000000000
[[ustx_balance]]
address = "ST1HB1T8WRNBYB0Y3T7WXZS38NKKPTBR3EG9EPJKR"
amount = 10000000000000000
[[ustx_balance]]
address = "STRYYQQ9M8KAF4NS7WNZQYY59X93XEKR31JP64CP"
amount = 10000000000000000[node]rpc_bind = "0.0.0.0:20443"p2p_bind = "0.0.0.0:20444"bootstrap_node = "047435c194e9b01b3d7f7a2802d6684a3af68d05bbf4ec8f17021980d777691f1d5[email protected]xenon.blockstack.org:20444"# Enter your private key hereseed = "replace-with-your-private-key"miner = true[burnchain]chain = "bitcoin"mode = "xenon"# To mine on Xenon, you need to run bitcoind locally# Details can be found in above section, 'Running bitcoind locally'peer_host = "127.0.0.1"username = "your-bitcoind-username"password = "your-bitcoind-password"rpc_port = 18332peer_port = 18333[[ustx_balance]]address = "STB44HYPYAT2BB2QE513NSP81HTMYWBJP02HPGK6"amount = 10000000000000000[[ustx_balance]]address = "ST11NJTTKGVT6D1HY4NJRVQWMQM7TVAR091EJ8P2Y"amount = 10000000000000000[[ustx_balance]]address = "ST1HB1T8WRNBYB0Y3T7WXZS38NKKPTBR3EG9EPJKR"amount = 10000000000000000[[ustx_balance]]address = "STRYYQQ9M8KAF4NS7WNZQYY59X93XEKR31JP64CP"amount = 10000000000000000

Now, grab your privateKey from earlier, when you ran the stx make_keychain command. Replace the seed field with your private key. Save and close this configuration file.

Run the miner

To start your miner, run this in the command line:

stacks-node start --config=testnet-miner-conf.tomlstacks-node start --config=testnet-miner-conf.toml

Note : While starting the node for the first time, windows defender might pop up with a message to allow access. If so, allow access to run the node.

Your node should start. It will take some time to sync, and then your miner will be running.

Enable debug logging in Windows

In case you are running into issues or would like to see verbose logging, you can run your node with debug logging enabled. In the command line, run:

set RUST_BACKTRACE=full;
set STACKS_LOG_DEBUG=1;
stacks-node start --config=testnet-miner-conf.tomlset RUST_BACKTRACE=full;set STACKS_LOG_DEBUG=1;stacks-node start --config=testnet-miner-conf.toml

Generate keychain and get testnet tokens

Generate a keychain:

docker run -i node:14-alpine npx @stacks/cli make_keychain -t 2>/dev/nulldocker run -i node:14-alpine npx @stacks/cli make_keychain -t 2>/dev/null

We need to get some testnet BTC to that address. Grab the btcAddress field, and paste it into this Bitcoin testnet faucet. You'll be sent 0.01 testnet BTC to that address.

Create a config file directory

You need a dedicated directory to keep the config files:

mkdir -p $HOME/stacksmkdir -p $HOME/stacks

Create config file

Inside the new $HOME/stacks folder, you should create a new miner config Config.toml:

[node]
working_dir = "/root/stacks-node/current"
rpc_bind = "0.0.0.0:20443"
p2p_bind = "0.0.0.0:20444"
# Enter your private key here
seed = "replace-with-your-privateKey-from-generate-keychain-step"
miner = true

[burnchain]
chain = "bitcoin"
mode = "xenon"
# To mine on Xenon, you need to run bitcoind locally
# Details can be found in above section, 'Running bitcoind locally'
peer_host = "127.0.0.1"
username = "your-bitcoind-username"
password = "your-bitcoind-password"
rpc_port = 18332
peer_port = 18333

[[ustx_balance]]
address = "STB44HYPYAT2BB2QE513NSP81HTMYWBJP02HPGK6"
amount = 10000000000000000
[[ustx_balance]]
address = "ST11NJTTKGVT6D1HY4NJRVQWMQM7TVAR091EJ8P2Y"
amount = 10000000000000000
[[ustx_balance]]
address = "ST1HB1T8WRNBYB0Y3T7WXZS38NKKPTBR3EG9EPJKR"
amount = 10000000000000000
[[ustx_balance]]
address = "STRYYQQ9M8KAF4NS7WNZQYY59X93XEKR31JP64CP"
amount = 10000000000000000[node]working_dir = "/root/stacks-node/current"rpc_bind = "0.0.0.0:20443"p2p_bind = "0.0.0.0:20444"# Enter your private key hereseed = "replace-with-your-privateKey-from-generate-keychain-step"miner = true[burnchain]chain = "bitcoin"mode = "xenon"# To mine on Xenon, you need to run bitcoind locally# Details can be found in above section, 'Running bitcoind locally'peer_host = "127.0.0.1"username = "your-bitcoind-username"password = "your-bitcoind-password"rpc_port = 18332peer_port = 18333[[ustx_balance]]address = "STB44HYPYAT2BB2QE513NSP81HTMYWBJP02HPGK6"amount = 10000000000000000[[ustx_balance]]address = "ST11NJTTKGVT6D1HY4NJRVQWMQM7TVAR091EJ8P2Y"amount = 10000000000000000[[ustx_balance]]address = "ST1HB1T8WRNBYB0Y3T7WXZS38NKKPTBR3EG9EPJKR"amount = 10000000000000000[[ustx_balance]]address = "STRYYQQ9M8KAF4NS7WNZQYY59X93XEKR31JP64CP"amount = 10000000000000000

Notice that this configuration differs from the one used to run the miner locally

Start the miner

The ENV VARS RUST_BACKTRACE and STACKS_LOG_DEBUG are optional. If removed, debug logs will be disabled

docker run -d \
  --name stacks_miner \
  --rm \
  --network host \
  -e RUST_BACKTRACE="full" \
  -e STACKS_LOG_DEBUG="1" \
  -v "$HOME/stacks/Config.toml:/src/stacks-node/Config.toml" \
  -p 20443:20443 \
  -p 20444:20444 \
  blockstack/stacks-blockchain:latest \
/bin/stacks-node start --config /src/stacks-node/Config.tomldocker run -d \  --name stacks_miner \  --rm \  --network host \  -e RUST_BACKTRACE="full" \  -e STACKS_LOG_DEBUG="1" \  -v "$HOME/stacks/Config.toml:/src/stacks-node/Config.toml" \  -p 20443:20443 \  -p 20444:20444 \  blockstack/stacks-blockchain:latest \/bin/stacks-node start --config /src/stacks-node/Config.toml

You can review the node logs with this command:

docker logs -f stacks_minerdocker logs -f stacks_miner

Generate keychain and get some testnet tokens

Generate a keychain:

docker run -i node:14-alpine npx @stacks/cli make_keychain -t 2>/dev/nulldocker run -i node:14-alpine npx @stacks/cli make_keychain -t 2>/dev/null

We need to get some testnet BTC to that address. Grab the btcAddress field, and paste it into this Bitcoin testnet faucet. You'll be sent 0.01 testnet BTC to that address.

Install the chart and run the miner

To install the chart with the release name my-release and run the node as a miner:

minikube start # Only run this if standing up a local Kubernetes cluster
helm repo add blockstack https://charts.blockstack.xyz
helm install my-release blockstack/stacks-blockchain \
  --set config.node.miner=true \
  --set config.node.seed="replace-with-your-privateKey-from-generate-keychain-step"minikube start # Only run this if standing up a local Kubernetes clusterhelm repo add blockstack https://charts.blockstack.xyzhelm install my-release blockstack/stacks-blockchain \  --set config.node.miner=true \  --set config.node.seed="replace-with-your-privateKey-from-generate-keychain-step"

You can review the node logs with this command:

kubectl logs -l app.kubernetes.io/name=stacks-blockchainkubectl logs -l app.kubernetes.io/name=stacks-blockchain

For more information on the Helm chart and configuration options, please refer to the chart's homepage.