Running a node

Before you begin

• Ensure Nethermind is installed according to the installation guide.
• Check out the security considerations before using Nethermind for critical operations.

In addition to the foundational Layer 1 networks, Nethermind supports various Layer 2 networks and sidechains out of the box. Running Nethermind on a supported network is as simple as specifying the respective configuration file with the -c, --config option.

tip

We urge you to always explicitly specify Nethermind's data directory outside of the Nethermind installation directory to avoid data loss during upgrades or reinstallation. The data directory must be on a disk with sufficient space and read/write permissions.

Ethereum

Supported networks

• Mainnet - configurations: mainnet mainnet_archive
• Holesky (testnet) - configurations: holesky holesky_archive
• Sepolia (testnet) - configurations: sepolia sepolia_archive

tip

We highly recommend checking out the Spin up your own Ethereum node guide by the Ethereum Foundation.

Important

A consensus client of your choice must be running before you start Nethermind.

For instance, to launch the client with the default configuration for the Mainnet and custom data directory, run:

nethermind \
  -c mainnet \
  --data-dir path/to/data/dir \
  --jsonrpc-jwtsecretfile path/to/jwt.hex

For more info about configuring the JWT secret, see Configuring JSON-RPC interface.

For archive (aka full) nodes, Nethermind provides separate configuration files prefixed with _archive. Thus, to run Nethermind on the Mainnet as an archive node, simply change mainnet to mainnet_archive in the above command as follows:

nethermind \
  -c mainnet_archive \
  --data-dir path/to/data/dir \
  --jsonrpc-jwtsecretfile path/to/jwt.hex

Archive nodes are generally more resource-demanding. If you intend to run one, we recommend checking out the hardware requirements.

Gnosis Chain

Supported networks

• Gnosis - configurations: gnosis gnosis_archive
• Chiado (testnet) - configurations: chiado chiado_archive

To run Nethermind on the Gnosis Chain, see the Gnosis Chain documentation.

OP Stack

Supported networks

• Optimism
  • OP Mainnet - configurations: op-mainnet op-mainnet_archive
  • OP Sepolia (testnet) - configurations: op-sepolia op-sepolia_archive
• Base
  • Base Mainnet - configurations: base-mainnet base-mainnet_archive
  • Base Sepolia (testnet) - configurations: base-sepolia base-sepolia_archive
• World Chain
  • World Chain Mainnet - configurations: worldchain-mainnet worldchain-mainnet_archive
  • World Chain Sepolia (testnet) - configurations: worldchain-sepolia worldchain-sepolia_archive

To run Nethermind on an OP Stack network, see Layer 2 networks.

Taiko

Supported networks

• Taiko Alethia - configurations: taiko-alethia
• Taiko Hekla (testnet) - configurations: taiko-hekla

To run Nethermind on Taiko, see Layer 2 networks.

Linea

Supported networks

• Linea Mainnet - configurations: linea-mainnet linea-mainnet_archive
• Linea Sepolia (testnet) - configurations: linea-sepolia linea-sepolia_archive

To run Nethermind on Linea, use the respective network configuration. For instance:

nethermind \
  -c linea-mainnet \
  --data-dir path/to/data/dir

For more info about running a Linea node, see the Linea documentation.

Energy Web Chain

Supported networks

• Energy Web - configurations: energyweb energyweb_archive
• Volta (testnet) - configurations: volta volta_archive

info

As the Energy Web Chain is an Aura-based network, running a node does not require a consensus client.

To run Nethermind on the Energy Web Chain, see the Energy Web Chain documentation.