Documentation Index Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/availproject/avail/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Overview This guide will help you quickly set up and run an Avail node using Docker or from pre-built binaries. Choose the method that best fits your environment.
Prerequisites Before you begin, ensure you have one of the following:
Docker or Podman installed
OR sufficient disk space (minimum 20GB recommended) for building from source
Option 1: Run with Docker (recommended) The fastest way to get started is using Docker:
Build the Docker image
Clone the repository and build the Avail Node Docker image: git clone https://github.com/availproject/avail.git cd avail docker build -t availnode -f ./dockerfiles/avail-node.Dockerfile .
This process will take several minutes as it compiles the node from source.
Create a data directory
Create a directory to persist blockchain data:
Run the node
Start the Avail Node connected to the Turing testnet: Standard
SELinux
Development mode
docker run --rm -p 30333:30333 -p 9944:9944 -v ./output:/output availnode
The SELinux variant is required on Fedora, RHEL, and other SELinux-enabled systems.
Option 2: Run from pre-built binary Avail provides GPG-signed release binaries for Linux systems.
Download the binary
Download the latest release from GitHub Releases : # Replace X.Y.Z with the desired version VERSION = "vX.Y.Z" wget https://github.com/availproject/avail/releases/download/ $VERSION /avail-node-linux-amd64.tar.gz wget https://github.com/availproject/avail/releases/download/ $VERSION /avail-node-linux-amd64.tar.gz.sig wget https://github.com/availproject/avail/releases/download/ $VERSION /gpg-public-key.asc
Verify the signature
Import the GPG key and verify the binary signature: # Import the public key gpg --import gpg-public-key.asc # Verify the signature gpg --verify avail-node-linux-amd64.tar.gz.sig avail-node-linux-amd64.tar.gz
You should see a message indicating a “Good signature” from the Avail Project release key.
Extract and run
Extract the binary and start the node: tar -xzf avail-node-linux-amd64.tar.gz chmod +x avail-node mkdir -p output ./avail-node --chain mainnet -d ./output
Option 3: Build from source For the latest features or custom builds:
Install dependencies
Install Rust and Substrate dependencies: # Install Rust curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh source $HOME /.cargo/env # Install system dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian) sudo apt update sudo apt install -y build-essential git clang curl libssl-dev llvm libudev-dev make cmake protobuf-compiler
See the installation guide for other operating systems.
Clone and build
Clone the repository and build the release binary: git clone https://github.com/availproject/avail.git cd avail mkdir -p output cargo run --locked --release -- --chain mainnet -d ./output
The first build will take 20-30 minutes depending on your hardware.
Verify your node is running Once started, you should see output similar to:
2025-03-05 11:39:57 Avail Node 2025-03-05 11:39:57 ✌️ version 2.3.0-6c6b8912fd3 2025-03-05 11:39:57 ❤️ by Avail Project <info@availproject.org>, 2017-2025 2025-03-05 11:39:57 📋 Chain specification: Avail Development Network 2025-03-05 11:39:57 🏷 Node name: spotty-ducks-6306 2025-03-05 11:39:57 👤 Role: AUTHORITY 2025-03-05 11:39:59 🏷 Local node identity is: 12D3KooWDCNjiaVbFL4BGYkbkxHwqJjhDNAxvBuxNdCAB4HDuYjA 2025-03-05 11:39:59 〽️ Prometheus exporter started at 127.0.0.1:9615 2025-03-05 11:39:59 Running JSON-RPC server: addr=127.0.0.1:9944, allowed origins=["*"]
Check node health You can verify your node is healthy using these methods:
RPC endpoint
Prometheus metrics
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"id":1, "jsonrpc":"2.0", "method": "system_health"}' \ http://localhost:9944
Network selection Connect to different Avail networks by changing the --chain flag:
Mainnet
Testnet (Turing)
Development
./avail-node --chain mainnet -d ./output
Enable Kate RPC To enable Kate RPC for data availability queries, add the --enable-kate-rpc flag:
./avail-node --chain mainnet --enable-kate-rpc -d ./output
The --dev flag automatically enables Kate RPC.
Common configuration options Customize your node with these frequently used flags:
Flag Description Example --nameHuman-readable node name --name "MyAvailNode"--rpc-portJSON-RPC server port --rpc-port 9944--portP2P networking port --port 30333--prometheus-portPrometheus metrics port --prometheus-port 9615--validatorEnable validator mode --validator--rpc-corsSet CORS for RPC --rpc-cors=all
Never use --unsafe-rpc-external or --rpc-methods=unsafe on a public node. These options expose dangerous RPC methods that can compromise your node.
Resource requirements Ensure your system meets these minimum requirements:
CPU : 4+ cores recommendedRAM : 8GB minimum, 16GB recommendedDisk : 200GB+ SSD (grows over time)Network : Stable broadband connection
The node displays hardware benchmarks on startup:
2025-03-05 11:39:59 🏁 CPU score: 1.36 GiBs 2025-03-05 11:39:59 🏁 Memory score: 22.37 GiBs 2025-03-05 11:39:59 🏁 Disk score (seq. writes): 6.14 GiBs 2025-03-05 11:39:59 🏁 Disk score (rand. writes): 2.85 GiBs
Next steps
Installation guide Learn about detailed installation for different platforms
Configuration Explore advanced node configuration options
Validator setup Run your node as a validator
Monitoring Set up Prometheus and Grafana monitoring
Troubleshooting Node won’t start Check that ports 9944 and 30333 are not already in use:
sudo lsof -i :9944 sudo lsof -i :30333
Slow synchronization Increase peer connections or add bootnodes:
./avail-node --chain mainnet --out-peers 25 --in-peers 50
Database corruption If you encounter database errors, try purging the chain data:
./avail-node purge-chain --chain mainnet -d ./output
Purging the chain will delete all local blockchain data and require a full resync.