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
• Holesky (testnet)
• Sepolia (testnet)

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 \
  -dd 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 \
  -dd 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.

OP Stack

Supported networks

• Optimism
  • OP Mainnet
  • OP Sepolia (testnet)
• Base
  • Base Mainnet
  • Base Sepolia (testnet)

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

Gnosis Chain

Supported networks

• Gnosis
• Chiado (testnet)

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

Energy Web Chain

Supported networks

• Energy Web
• Volta (testnet)

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.