Run a Vela Node

1. Prerequisites

• Rust 1.86+ — install from rustup.rs
• Git

Check your Rust version:

$ rustc --version
rustc 1.86.0 (05f9846f8 2025-03-31)

2. Clone and Build

$ git clone https://github.com/OrDex78/vela-network
$ cd vela-network
$ cargo build --release --bin vela-node

The binary will be at ./target/release/vela-node.

3. Run a Single Node

$ ./target/release/vela-node --port 8001 --validator-index 0

This starts a node listening on port 8001 for P2P and port 9001 for the HTTP API and explorer. Open http://localhost:9001 to see the explorer.

4. Run 3 Validators Locally

Open three terminals:

# Terminal 1: Validator 0
$ ./target/release/vela-node --port 8001 --validator-index 0

# Terminal 2: Validator 1
$ ./target/release/vela-node --port 8002 --validator-index 1 \
    --bootstrap /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/8001

# Terminal 3: Validator 2
$ ./target/release/vela-node --port 8003 --validator-index 2 \
    --bootstrap /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/8001

On the same machine, nodes also find each other through mDNS, so the --bootstrap flag is optional locally. It's required when connecting across machines.

Each node takes turns as leader in a round-robin schedule. You should see blocks being produced and finalized across all three terminals.

5. Connect to the Public Testnet

To sync with the live testnet running on Railway, bootstrap against the public node:

$ ./target/release/vela-node --port 8001 --validator-index 0 \
    --bootstrap /dns4/vela-network-production.up.railway.app/tcp/8001

On startup, your node will connect to the public peer, send a sync request, and download all blocks it missed. After syncing, it participates in consensus normally.

6. CLI Flags

7. API Endpoints

The HTTP API runs on the P2P port + 1000 (default: 9001).

Example: check node status

$ curl http://localhost:9001/status | jq
{
  "block_height": 142,
  "peer_count": 2,
  "mempool_size": 0,
  "current_leader": 1,
  "version": "0.1.0"
}