Node implementation for the Step Network. Step Network EVM chain is powered by Avalanche subnet technology. Based on the Avalanche node with step subnet support baked in.

We maintain a separate build of our node and update it time to time as new versions of avalanchego and subnet-evm are released. To stay updated, send us a message using the contacts below.

Installation

Note: In most cases you don't need to deploy your node. We provide public RPC endpoints that can be used directly by your software. If your code fits the limit of 100 requests per minute, public RPC will be enough.

To run self-hosted node, check avalanchego docs for hardware requirements. Good choices for both mainnet and testnet are:

• Digital Ocean Storage-Optimized Droplet with 16G RAM/2 Cores/450G SSD. Preferred locations are AMS3, NYC1,SF03, LON1, FRA1
• Amazon Web Services EC2 i4i.large with 16G RAM/2 Cores/468G SSD. Recommended zones: eu-central-1, us-west-1, eu-west-1, eu-west-3, us-west-2, us-east-1

Running Step Node from pre-built image

• Go version >= 1.19.6
• gcc
• g++

Building From Source

Clone The Repository

Clone the AvalancheGo repository:

Set docker tag relevant to your network. mainnet and testnet point to latest releases recommended for production.

ebb188601 (doc(readme): rewrite readme for running step node and validation #FIT-58)

export TAG=mainnet

OR

export TAG=testnet

Pull image and run node container

docker pull stepapp/step-node:$TAG
docker run -v /step-node-db:/root/.avalanchego/db \
  --network=host \
  --name step-node stepapp/step-node:$TAG avalanchego \
  --config-file=/root/.avalanchego/config.json \
  --chain-config-dir=/root/.avalanchego/configs/chains-restricted \
  --public-ip=<your.public.ip.address>

You are always welcome to ask our engineers to provide DB snapshot for faster sync if needed. If you plan to be validator, back up your cert and key located in /root/.avalanchego/staking inside container or map this location to volume using -v docker flag like -v /staking:/root/.avalanchego/staking.

Becoming Step Validator

As well as the main Avalanche networks (X-, P- and C-), Step Network is secured by Avalanche chain validators explicitly configured to validate the subnet. To become Step validator you should become validator on Avalanche network (Mainnet or Fuji Testnet respectively).

• Your infrastructure and IT processes should provide three-nines level of service (99.9%). If you don't have 24-hour engineering support, our team will happy to help with monitoring and notifications. This is crucial part since our network MUST always have at least 80% of validators online.

• Save its ID and export staker.crt and staker.key generated by the node (recommended way is to mount staking folder as volume with using -v argument as mentioned above).

• Stake AVAX using Avalanche wallet as described here and set start to the date agreed with our team. Here is avalanche staking guide.

Notes: Minimal stakeable amounts are 2000 AVAX for mainnet or 2 AVAX for Fuji testnet.

• Once your node becomes healthy and validating mainnet, our operations team will add your ID to the subnet validators.

Contacts

For the first contact use our email ops@step.network. Introduce your team and desired role (node keeper or validator), provide your telegram IDs, and we'll create a tech support chat with our engineers.