---
title: Running a mainnet node
description: Set up and run a mainnet node with Docker
sidebar_position: 3
tags:
  - tutorial
---

## Introduction

This procedure demonstrates how to run a local mainnet node using Docker images.

:::caution This procedure focuses on Unix-like operating systems (Linux and MacOS). This procedure has not been tested on Windows.
:::

## Prerequisites

Running a node has no specialized hardware requirements. Users have been successful in running nodes on Raspberry Pi boards and other system-on-chip architectures. In order to complete this procedure, you must have the following software installed on the node host machine:

- [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/)
- [curl](https://curl.se/download.html)
- [jq](https://stedolan.github.io/jq/download/)

### Firewall configuration

In order for the API node services to work correctly, you must configure any network firewall rules to allow traffic on the ports discussed in this section. The details of network and firewall configuration are highly specific to your machine and network, so a detailed example isn't provided.

The following ports must open on the host machine:

Ingress:

- stacks-blockchain (open to `0.0.0.0/0`):
  - `20443 TCP`
  - `20444 TCP`

Egress:

- `8332`
- `8333`
- `20443-20444`

These egress ports are for syncing stacks-blockchain and Bitcoin headers. If they're not open, the sync will fail.

## Step 1: initial setup

In order to run the mainnet node, you must download the Docker images and create a directory structure to hold the persistent data from the services. Download and configure the Docker images with the following commands:

```sh
docker pull blockstack/stacks-blockchain
```

Create a directory structure for the service data with the following command:

```sh
mkdir -p ./stacks-node/{persistent-data/stacks-blockchain/mainnet,config/mainnet} && cd stacks-node
```

## Step 2: running Stacks blockchain

First, create the `./config/mainnet/Config.toml` file and add the following content to the file using a text editor:

```toml
[node]
working_dir = "/root/stacks-node/data"
rpc_bind = "0.0.0.0:20443"
p2p_bind = "0.0.0.0:20444"
bootstrap_node = "02da7a464ac770ae8337a343670778b93410f2f3fef6bea98dd1c3e9224459d36b@seed-0.mainnet.stacks.co:20444,02afeae522aab5f8c99a00ddf75fbcb4a641e052dd48836408d9cf437344b63516@seed-1.mainnet.stacks.co:20444,03652212ea76be0ed4cd83a25c06e57819993029a7b9999f7d63c36340b34a4e62@seed-2.mainnet.stacks.co:20444"
wait_time_for_microblocks = 10000

[burnchain]
chain = "bitcoin"
mode = "mainnet"
peer_host = "bitcoin.blockstack.com"
username = "blockstack"
password = "blockstacksystem"
rpc_port = 8332
peer_port = 8333

[connection_options]
read_only_call_limit_write_length = 0
read_only_call_limit_read_length = 100000
read_only_call_limit_write_count = 0
read_only_call_limit_read_count = 30
read_only_call_limit_runtime = 1000000000
```

Start the `stacks-blockchain` container with the following command:

```sh
docker run -d --rm \
  --name stacks-blockchain \
  -v $(pwd)/persistent-data/stacks-blockchain/mainnet:/root/stacks-node/data \
  -v $(pwd)/config/mainnet:/src/stacks-node \
  -p 20443:20443 \
  -p 20444:20444 \
  blockstack/stacks-blockchain \
/bin/stacks-node start --config /src/stacks-node/Config.toml
```

You can verify the running `stacks-blockchain` container with the command:

```sh
docker ps --filter name=stacks-blockchain
```

## Step 3: verifying the services

:::note The initial burnchain header sync can take several minutes, until this is done the following commands will not work
:::

To verify the `stacks-blockchain` burnchain header sync progress:

```sh
docker logs stacks-blockchain
```

The output should be similar to the following:

```
INFO [1626290705.886954] [src/burnchains/bitcoin/spv.rs:926] [main] Syncing Bitcoin headers: 1.2% (8000 out of 691034)
INFO [1626290748.103291] [src/burnchains/bitcoin/spv.rs:926] [main] Syncing Bitcoin headers: 1.4% (10000 out of 691034)
INFO [1626290776.956535] [src/burnchains/bitcoin/spv.rs:926] [main] Syncing Bitcoin headers: 1.7% (12000 out of 691034)
```

To verify the `stacks-blockchain` tip height is progressing use the following command:

```sh
curl -sL localhost:20443/v2/info | jq
```

If the instance is running you should recieve terminal output similar to the following:

```json
{
  "peer_version": 402653184,
  "pox_consensus": "89d752034e73ed10d3b97e6bcf3cff53367b4166",
  "burn_block_height": 666143,
  "stable_pox_consensus": "707f26d9d0d1b4c62881a093c99f9232bc74e744",
  "stable_burn_block_height": 666136,
  "server_version": "stacks-node 2.0.11.1.0-rc1 (master:67dccdf, release build, linux [x86_64])",
  "network_id": 1,
  "parent_network_id": 3652501241,
  "stacks_tip_height": 61,
  "stacks_tip": "e08b2fe3dce36fd6d015c2a839c8eb0885cbe29119c1e2a581f75bc5814bce6f",
  "stacks_tip_consensus_hash": "ad9f4cb6155a5b4f5dcb719d0f6bee043038bc63",
  "genesis_chainstate_hash": "74237aa39aa50a83de11a4f53e9d3bb7d43461d1de9873f402e5453ae60bc59b",
  "unanchored_tip": "74d172df8f8934b468c5b0af2efdefe938e9848772d69bcaeffcfe1d6c6ef041",
  "unanchored_seq": 0,
  "exit_at_block_height": null
}
```

## Stopping the mainnet node

Use the following commands to stop the local mainnet node:

```sh
docker stop stacks-blockchain
```

## Optional. Run stacks node with own bitcoin node

It's encouraged to use your own bitcoin node when possible.

To do this simply update the `stacks-node/config/mainnet/Config.toml` file with the details of your bitcoin node. For example:

```
[burnchain]
chain = "bitcoin"
mode = "mainnet"
peer_host = "localhost"
username = "rpc username"
password = "rpc password"
rpc_port = 8332
peer_port = 8333
```

The rpc configuration of your bitcoin node is out of the scope of this document, but you can find more information on how to set it up [here](https://developer.bitcoin.org/examples/intro.html).

## Additional reading

<!-- markdown-link-check-disable -->

- [Running a Stacks API node](https://docs.hiro.so/get-started/running-api-node)
- [Running a Stacks testnet node](running-testnet-node)
<!-- markdown-link-check-enable-->
