Bittensor Quick Start

Bittensor Quick Start: Do I Need to Do Anything?

This page is for regular operators. You run URnetwork nodes and you may have heard about Bittensor Subnet 25 (SN25). Start here. Almost everyone can stop after one step.

Note

Upstream is still changing the Bittensor side quickly. This page was checked against upstream server 50851997d, connect f1837db6, sdk 23b3c7dd and sn 83e6f48c2 (2026-10-21). If a command prints something different from what is shown here, trust the command.

The 30-second answer

• Your nodes keep running exactly as they are. Do not change anything on your nodes.
• To get paid on SN25 you sign one message with your Bittensor wallet (your "coldkey"). You do it once, from your own computer. Never from a node.
• That one signature covers every node on your URnetwork account, including nodes you add later. You do not renew it.
• A hotkey that auto-registers creates a separate account, which this consent does not cover.
• Everything else in the Bittensor docs (hotkeys, claim daemons, fleets, multi-operator) is optional or advanced. Skipping it costs you nothing.

Caution

Your recovery phrase (seed) never goes on a node, into a command line, into a chat or onto a website. No step on this page asks for it. Signing happens inside your wallet extension, and the phrase never leaves it.

Step 1: Check where you stand

Run this on any node. It only reads and changes nothing:

provider wallet status

On a systemd install you can also run urnet-tools wallet status. For Docker, run it inside the container, for example docker exec <container> provider wallet status.

What the answer means:

You see	What it means	What to do
network consent for the network: coldkey 5..., epochs N through M (generation G), in effect now	You are set up and being paid to that coldkey.	Nothing. You are done.
The same line ending in starts in 1 epoch(s)	You are set up. Payouts to this coldkey start at the next epoch.	Nothing. Wait for the epoch to turn.
The same line ending in ended	The consent's epoch range is over. This only happens if a shorter range was chosen on purpose.	Sign again (Step 2).
provider consent for client <id>: ...	A consent for one single node. For that node it wins over the network consent.	Nothing, unless you meant to pay that node to the network coldkey. See Changing your wallet.
login-proof wallet 5... for the network (NOT a consent: release settlement does not pay it) followed by no consent is stored	You linked a wallet on the website or in the app the old way. It only proves who you are. Payouts do not use it.	Do Step 2. You already have a wallet, so skip making one.
no wallet is set for this network	Nothing is stored.	Do Step 2.
An error about not being logged in	The command could not find the node's saved login.	See Troubleshooting.

Step 2: Sign the consent once

Do these on your own computer (the one with your wallet's browser extension), not on a node.

1. Have a wallet. If you do not have one, install a Polkadot-style browser wallet extension (Talisman, SubWallet, Polkadot{.js} or Nova) and create an account. Write the recovery phrase on paper and keep it offline. The account address starts with 5. This address is your coldkey.
2. Get the provider program on that computer. The installers in the README work, or download the binary for your system from the releases page. You do not need to run a node on this computer.
3. Log in to your URnetwork account with an auth code from the website:

   provider auth

   Paste the code when prompted rather than passing it as an argument: an argument shows up in ps and in your shell history. This only saves your login. It does not start a node.
4. Sign:

   provider wallet sign <your_coldkey_address>

   A page opens at http://127.0.0.1:8765/ (another free port if that one is taken), so only your own computer can reach it. Unlock your extension, click 1. Connect wallet and approve, then click 2. Sign and approve. The extension shows the message. Its first line is Approve URnetwork network wallet mapping. You can leave out the address and pick the account on the page. Add --no-open to print the page address instead of opening the browser. More detail is in the wallet-consent README.
5. Look for the success line:

   subnet wallet consent for 5... stored: epochs N through M, generation G, receipt ...
   

   It is followed by "What happens next" and "You are done. Nothing changes on your provider machines".

Good to know:

• The consent starts at a later weekly payout period (an "epoch"), never the current one. Epochs before your first consent are not paid to it.
• It covers 65,536 epochs (more than a thousand years). In practice you never renew it.
• Leave the epoch range at its default. You can pick one with --wallet-from-epoch and --wallet-through-epoch, but a mistaken range cannot be undone, so a range that would leave epochs unpaid is refused unless you set URNETWORK_WALLET_ALLOW_ODD_INTERVAL=1.
• No browser on that computer? Run provider wallet challenge <coldkey> to print the exact message. It signs nothing. Sign the message somewhere else (for example btcli or a hardware wallet), then submit it within 5 minutes, because the challenge expires 300 seconds after it is issued:

  provider wallet set <coldkey> --message='<printed text>' --signature=0x<128 hex characters>

• urnet-tools wallet sign refuses on a node on purpose. If your desktop also runs a provider and the tool mistakes it for a fleet node, and you are sure it is your own computer, add --i-am-on-my-own-workstation.

By install type

The step is the same for everyone. Nothing changes on the nodes.

You run your nodes with	What to do
Docker	Nothing in the containers. On your own computer: provider auth, then provider wallet sign <coldkey>.
Linux install (urnet-tools)	Nothing on the node. On your own desktop: provider auth, then provider wallet sign <coldkey>.
Windows	On the PC with your wallet extension: provider.exe auth, then provider.exe wallet sign <coldkey>. This has not been tested end to end on Windows yet, so check with wallet status afterwards.
The URnetwork app or ur.io	The SDK the apps are built on can now request and submit a network consent (sdk bf4076ff). Whether the app version you have actually offers it is not confirmed. A plain "connect wallet" is not enough: it only makes a login-proof wallet. After using the app, run provider wallet status and do not assume a consent exists.

How to confirm it works

1. Run provider wallet status again and match the result to the table in Step 1. The receipt line appears only when the platform returns a mapping hash, so a missing receipt is not a failure.
2. Your nodes just need to be healthy and carrying traffic. Nothing Bittensor-specific runs on a node.
3. Optional dashboard: urnet-tools sn-status (Docker: urnet-docker sn-status). Look for the green Wallet consent line. The "Global Rank" lines there are the URnetwork bandwidth leaderboard. They do not say whether you qualify for anything on Bittensor.

Changing your wallet

• Sign again with the new coldkey, using the same Step 2. This makes a new generation of the consent.
• A new consent must start at a later epoch than the one it replaces. Epochs already covered keep paying the old coldkey. Closed epochs are never rewritten.
• There is no unsigned "remove wallet" button. A consent ends only when a new signed one replaces it, or at its last epoch. This means nobody, including a compromised server, can redirect your earnings without a signature from the new coldkey.
• A node with its own per-provider consent keeps paying to that consent until it is replaced or ends. Then the node falls back to the network consent from the next epoch.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
wallet status says you are not logged in	The node's saved login lives in ~/.urnetwork/jwt (or under URNETWORK_STATE_DIR if set). The command must run as the same user that owns it. For Docker, check which user the container runs as. This is not confirmed for every setup.
The message expired before you signed	Each message is valid for 5 minutes. Click New message on the page to get a fresh one.
The signing page closed	The page closes after 15 minutes. Run provider wallet sign again. Nothing was stored.
signature_mismatch	The signature came from a different account than the coldkey you named. Pick the same account in the extension, or leave out the address and choose it on the page.
Refused because the account is not the network owner	Network consent needs the owner's login (the auth code from the website), not a single node's client login. Run provider auth on your own computer.

Commands you do NOT need

Command	Why you can skip it
provide --wallet=<coldkey> and Docker --legacy-network-wallet	Sends the old unsigned request. It is not a consent and payouts do not use it. Remove it from your setup.
provider wallet set <coldkey> --legacy-network-wallet	Same thing. Unsigned, not paid.
provider wallet hotkey ...	Only for people who sign in with a hotkey across several operators. Today there is one operator.
provide --all-operators, provider operators	Multi-operator mode. Today there is one operator.
provider fleet ..., bind-head, unbind-head	Head tier only. See the head tier page.
provider claim-daemon, claim-daemon-v2, provider snclaim	Optional claim automation and a low-level tool.
provider claim	Optional manual claim.
sn-status	Optional dashboard.

When you DO need more

• You want the head tier (your own seat on the subnet, paid directly). It is advanced, costs TAO up front, and only makes sense if you control many different public IP ranges. Most operators should not do it. Read Bittensor Head Tier first. Keep your consent signed too: nodes you do not bind keep earning in the pool.
• You sign in with a hotkey (--auto-register with a hotkey seed file). That makes a new URnetwork account owned by the hotkey. Your website consent does not cover it. See Hotkey Delegation.
• You want automatic claims. See Claim Daemons. Most people do not need this.

For the full picture and a FAQ, see Bittensor Operations. For plain meanings of the words, see the Glossary.