Validator Setup

Create/restore a key pair​

The first step is to create a new key pair for your validator. Replace my-key-name with a key name of your choice and run the following:

wardend keys add your-wallet-name

After creating a new key, you'll see its information and its seed phrase. It's essential to write down this seed phrase and keep it in a safe place. The seed phrase is the only way to restore your keys. Losing it can result in the irrecoverable loss of WARD tokens.

Alternatively, you can restore an existing wallet with a mnemonic seed phrase. Replace your-wallet-name with a key name of your choice and run the following:

wardend keys add your-wallet-name --recover

Then get your public address:

wardend keys show your-wallet-name --address

Get testnet WARD​

In the next steps, you'll register your new validator by submitting a create-validator transaction. Transactions consume gas, so you need to fund your newly created address from the first step.

You can obtain testnet WARD in one of our faucet:

• Chiado faucet

• Discord faucet

To verify your balance, use this command:

wardend query bank balances your-wallet-name

Create a validator​

Once the node is synced and you have the required WARD, you can become a validator.

To create a validator and initialize it with a self-delegation, you need to create a validator.json file and submit a create-validator transaction:

1. Obtain your validator public key by running the following command:

   wardend comet show-validator

   The output will be similar to this (with a different key):

   {"@type":"/cosmos.crypto.ed25519.PubKey","key":"lR1d7YBVK5jYijOfWVKRFoWCsS4dg3kagT7LB9GnG8I="}

2. Create a file named validator.json with the following contents:

   {
     "pubkey": {
       "@type": "/cosmos.crypto.ed25519.PubKey",
       "key": "lR1d7YBVK5jYijOfWVKRFoWCsS4dg3kagT7LB9GnG8I="
     },
     "amount": "1000000000000000000award",
     "moniker": "your validator human-readable name (moniker)",
     "identity": "your validator identity signature",
     "website": "(optional) your validator website",
     "security": "(optional) your validator security contact",
     "details": "(optional) your validator details",
     "commission-rate": "0.1",
     "commission-max-rate": "0.2",
     "commission-max-change-rate": "0.01",
     "min-self-delegation": "1"
   }

   Here you have the chance to set your validator’s commission rate, maximum rate, and maximum change rate. You can also make the initial self-delegation (amount). Remember to replace the pubkey field with your own key obtained in the previous step.

When you specify commission parameters, the commission-max-change-rate is measured as a percentage point change of the commission-rate. For example, a change from 1% to 2% is a 100% rate increase, but the commission-max-change-rate is measured as 1%.

1. Finally, you're ready to submit the transaction to create the validator:

   wardend tx staking create-validator validator.json \
     --from=your-wallet-name \
     --chain-id=chiado_10010-1 \
     --fees=250000000000000award \
     --gas auto \
     --gas-adjustment 1.6

This transaction is just an example. If you want to see an explanation of the parameters values or see all the available flags that can be set to customize your validators you can enter this command: wardend tx staking create-validator --help

Back up critical files​

There are certain files you need to back up to be able to restore your validator if, for some reason, it’s damaged or lost. Please make a secure, encrypted backup of the following files:

• priv_validator_key.json

• node_key.json

Check your validator​

Check if your validator is in the active set by running this command:

wardend query comet-validator-set | grep "$(wardend comet show-address)"

If the output is empty, your validator isn't in the active set.