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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/axelarnetwork/axelar-core/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Every axelard node is driven by two primary configuration files — app.toml and config.toml — that live inside your node’s home directory. Before you can edit these files, you must initialize the directory structure with axelard init. This page walks through initialization, the most important knobs in each config file, and how to use the axelard config tooling to read and write values without manually editing TOML.

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Initializing the Node

axelard init creates the home directory structure, generates a node key and a validator private key, and writes default app.toml, config.toml, and genesis.json files. 
axelard init <moniker> --chain-id axelar-dojo-1
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moniker
string
required
A human-readable name for your node displayed on the network’s peer list. Choose something descriptive, e.g. my-validator-1.
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--chain-id
string
The chain ID encoded in the genesis file. Use axelar-dojo-1 for mainnet or axelar-testnet-lisbon-3 for the Lisbon testnet. Defaults to axelar if omitted.
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--home
string
Override the default home directory. Defaults to $HOME/.axelar.
After initialization, the layout is: 
$HOME/.axelar/
├── config/
│   ├── app.toml          # Application-level settings
│   ├── config.toml       # CometBFT / networking settings
│   ├── genesis.json      # Chain genesis file
│   └── node_key.json     # P2P node identity
├── data/                 # Blockchain state databases
└── keyring-file/         # Key storage (when using file backend)
For mainnet and testnet, you must replace the generated genesis.json with the official network genesis before starting the node.

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Using axelard config

The axelard config subcommands provide a safe, validated way to read and write config file values without a text editor.

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Read a value

axelard config get app minimum-gas-prices
axelard config get config p2p.seeds
The first argument is the config file name (without .toml), and the second is the dot-notation key path.

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Write a value

axelard config set app minimum-gas-prices "0.007uaxl"
axelard config set app api.enable true
axelard config set config p2p.seeds "node-id@host:26656"
Use --verbose to log the change to stderr and --stdout to print the updated file without writing it: 
axelard config set app pruning "custom" --verbose

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View and diff

axelard config view app          # Print the full app.toml
axelard config diff app          # Show values that differ from defaults

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app.toml Settings

~/.axelar/config/app.toml controls the Cosmos SDK application layer. Below are the settings most relevant to production nodes.

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Minimum Gas Prices

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minimum-gas-prices
string
Reject any transaction whose fee falls below this floor. Validators should set this to prevent fee-free spam.
minimum-gas-prices = "0.007uaxl"

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Pruning

Controls how much historical state is retained on disk: 
pruning = "default"
# pruning-keep-recent = 362880   # only used when pruning = "custom"
# pruning-interval = 10          # only used when pruning = "custom"
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pruning
string
One of default, nothing, everything, or custom.
ValueBehaviour
defaultKeep the last 362 880 states, pruned every 10 blocks
nothingKeep all historic states (archival node)
everythingKeep only the 2 latest states
customConfigure manually with pruning-keep-recent and pruning-interval

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REST API Server

[api]
enable = true
swagger = false
address = "tcp://localhost:1317"
max-open-connections = 1000
Enabling enabled-unsafe-cors = true allows cross-origin requests from any domain. Only do this behind a reverse proxy that restricts origins.

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gRPC Server

[grpc]
enable = true
address = "localhost:9090"

[grpc-web]
enable = true

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State Sync Snapshots

To allow other nodes to use this node as a state sync provider, enable snapshots: 
[state-sync]
snapshot-interval = 1000     # Take a snapshot every 1000 blocks
snapshot-keep-recent = 2     # Keep the 2 most recent snapshots

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CosmWasm Settings

Axelar Core compiles with CosmWasm enabled by default (WASM=true). The relevant tunables in app.toml: 
[wasm]
# Maximum gas for a wasm query (default 3 000 000)
query_gas_limit = 3000000
# In-memory module cache size in MiB (default 100)
memory_cache_size = 100
# simulation_gas_limit = ""  # Unbounded by default
The maximum allowed wasm bytecode size is controlled at build time (MAX_WASM_SIZE, default 3 MiB) and cannot be changed at runtime. Supported CosmWasm capabilities baked into the binary: 
iterator, staking, stargate, cosmwasm_1_1, cosmwasm_1_2, cosmwasm_1_3

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config.toml Settings

~/.axelar/config/config.toml controls the CometBFT consensus engine, P2P networking, and the RPC server.

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Moniker

moniker = "my-validator-1"

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P2P Configuration

[p2p]
laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26656"
external_address = ""          # Set to your public IP:26656 if behind NAT
seeds = ""                     # Comma-separated ID@host:port seed nodes
persistent_peers = ""          # Comma-separated ID@host:port persistent peers
pex = true                     # Enable peer exchange

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Seed Nodes

Seed nodes introduce your node to the peer-to-peer network. They do not participate in consensus themselves. Add them to seeds: 
seeds = "ade4d8bc8cbe014af6ebdf3cb7b1e9ad36f412c0@seeds.polkachu.com:15156,3d67d0646cddcc203b41434aceea64ade22ba6fc@k8s-mainnet-axelarseed-b6c5a7b6d8-87f80ccd960bb86c.elb.us-east-2.amazonaws.com:26656"

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Persistent Peers

Peers listed here are always maintained, even after connection drops: 
persistent_peers = "6e2b10580e6bbcb5b1cb5cbcdd9a3380ba4a9fac@axelar-mainnet-peer.itrocket.net:14656"

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RPC Server

[rpc]
laddr = "tcp://127.0.0.1:26657"
# Bind to 0.0.0.0:26657 only if this RPC is intentionally public
Exposing the RPC port publicly without authentication allows anyone to query the node and broadcast transactions. Use a firewall or reverse proxy to restrict access.

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State Sync (Syncing from a Snapshot)

To sync quickly from a trusted peer’s snapshot instead of replaying all blocks from genesis, configure state sync in config.toml: 
[statesync]
enable = true
rpc_servers = "https://axelar-rpc.polkachu.com:443,https://axelar-rpc.polkachu.com:443"
trust_height = 12345678
trust_hash = "ABCDEF1234567890..."
trust_period = "168h0m0s"
1

Find a trusted block height and hash

Query a public RPC endpoint for a recent block:
curl -s https://axelar-rpc.polkachu.com/block | jq '.result.block.header | {height, hash: .last_block_id.hash}'
2

Set trust_height and trust_hash

Paste the returned height and hash into config.toml under [statesync].
3

Set rpc_servers

Provide at least two distinct RPC servers so the node can cross-verify the snapshot.
4

Start the node

axelard start --home ~/.axelar
The node will download and apply the snapshot before resuming normal sync.

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Consensus Tuning

[consensus]
create_empty_blocks = true
create_empty_blocks_interval = "0s"
# Set to false to reduce chain bloat at the cost of higher block latency

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vald.toml

Validator nodes also use a third config file, ~/.axelar/config/vald.toml, for the external vald process. See the Vald page for full documentation of its fields.

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Configuration Precedence

Settings can come from multiple sources. The order of precedence (highest wins) is:
  1. CLI flags passed to axelard start
  2. Environment variables (e.g. AXELARD_MINIMUM_GAS_PRICES)
  3. app.toml / config.toml file values
  4. Built-in defaults

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