CLI to become a baker

In this chapter, we will see the CLI command lines for registering as a delegate. Then we will see how to exercise your rights as a baker, endorser, and accuser.

This chapter requires the deployment of your own Tezos node, explained in the module Deploy a node.

Running a Delegate

A delegate is responsible for baking blocks, endorsing blocks, and accusing other delegates if they try to double bake or double endorse.

What you need

• A reliable internet connection
• At least 8,000ꜩ (1 roll) in your wallet
• A Tezos node configured and running (if not, please go here)

Deposit

When baking or endorsing a block, a security deposit (>8,000ꜩ) is frozen for 5 cycles from the account of the delegate. Hence a delegate must have enough funds to be able to pay security deposits for all the blocks it can potentially bake/endorse during 5 cyles. The current deposits are 512ꜩ for baked block and 64ꜩ for endorsement.

Note that it is necessary to have at least 10% of your stake to follow the deposits.

Registration

Create a basic wallet

The Tezos client is also a basic wallet. After the activation command below, you will notice that the Tezos client data directory (by default, ~/.tezos-client) has been populated with 3 files:

• public_key_hashs
• public_keys
• secret_keys

The content of each file is in JSON format and keeps the mapping between aliases (e.g. bob) and the kind of keys indicated by the name of each file

tezos-client gen keys bob

Supply your wallet

Now that you have created an account, you need to supply it with real Tez.

Warning! Be sure you are on the mainnet if you send real Tez.

You can get the address of the previously created wallet with the following command:

tezos-client list known addresses

You can now send to bob any number of Tez from a wallet of your choice.

Be careful, if you are not sure what you are doing, start by sending a small amount. Then send the whole amount. (8,000ꜩ is the minimum to register as a delegate).

Copy and paste the destination address into the search bar of an explorer (like TzStats) to see the transaction. The address should be visible in the explorer after the first transaction.

You can check the amount that bob holds with:

tezos-client get balance for bob

Register as a delagate

To run a delegate, you first need to register as one using the alias of your account:

tezos-client register key bob as delegate

Once registered, you need to wait for 7 cycles ($\approx$ 20 days) for your rights to be considered.

Baker

The baker is a daemon that, once connected to an account, computes the baking rights for that account, collects transactions from the mempool, and bakes a block. Note that the baker is the only program that needs direct access to the node data directory for performance reasons.

A daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process.

The mempool is made of all transactions that have been submitted for inclusion in the chain but have not yet been included in a block by a baker.

Let’s launch the daemon pointing to the standard node directory and baking for the user bob.

There are different command lines depending on the network on which your node is configured:

• Florencenet: tezos-baker-009-PsFLoren
• Granadanet: tezos-baker-010-PtGRANAD
• Mainnet: tezos-baker-alpha

So, for bob on the Mainnet, the command is as follow:

tezos-baker-alpha run with local node ~/.tezos-node bob

Warning! Remember that having two bakers or endorsers running connected to the same account could lead to double baking/endorsing and the loss of all your bonds. If you are worried about the availability of your node when it is its turn to bake/endorse, there are other ways than duplicating your credentials (see the discussion in section Inactive delegates).
Never use the same account on two daemons.

Endorser

The endorser is a daemon that, once connected to an account, computes the endorsing rights for that account. Upon reception of a new block, the daemon verifies its validity and then emits an endorsement operation. It can endorse for a specific account or, if omitted, for all accounts.

There are different command lines depending on the network on which your node is configured:

• Florencenet: tezos-endorser-009-PsFLoren
• Granadanet: tezos-endorser-010-PtGRANAD
• Mainnet: tezos-endorser-alpha

So, for all accounts on the Mainnet, the command is as follow:

tezos-endorser-alpha run

Accuser

The accuser is a daemon that monitors all blocks received on all chains and looks for:

• bakers who signed two blocks at the same level
• endorsers who injected more than one endorsement operation for the same baking slot

Upon finding such irregularity, it will respectively emit a double-baking or double-endorsing denunciation operation, which will cause the offender to lose its security deposit.

There are different command lines depending on the network on which your node is configured:

• Florencenet: tezos-accuser-009-PsFLoren
• Granadanet: tezos-accuser-010-PtGRANAD
• Mainnet: tezos-accuser-alpha

So, on the Mainnet, the command is as follow:

tezos-accuser-alpha run

Example for baking on the Florencenet testnet

At this point you have already installed Tezos and you know how to set-up-a-node.

Open a new terminal and paste the following commands:

cd tezos
export PATH=~/tezos:$PATH

Or, if you prefer, put ./ before each command line below that starts with tezos-.

Download a snapshot for your target network

Go to snapshots-tezos.giganode.io and download the last rolling snapshot for a testnet.

Configure the node for running on Florencenet

tezos-node config init --data-dir ~/tezos-florencenet --network florencenet

This command will generate a tezos-florencenet folder with a "config.json" file.

Generate node identity

tezos-node identity generate --data-dir ~/tezos-florencenet

This command will add an "identity.json" file, which is like a network identity.

Import the snapshot into the node data directory

tezos-node snapshot --data-dir ~/tezos-florencenet import <snapshot-file>

Run the node

tezos-node run --data-dir ~/tezos-florencenet --rpc-addr 127.0.0.1

Bootstrapped

Tezos client can be used to interact with the node. It can query its status or ask the node to perform some actions. For example, after starting your node, you can check if it has finished synchronizing using:

tezos-client bootstrapped

Get free testnet Tez

To test the networks and help users get familiar with the system, you can obtain free testnets Tez from a faucet.

This will provide a faucet account in the form of a JSON file "tz1xxxxxxxxx.json", activated with the following command:

tezos-client activate account john with "tz1xxxxxxxxx.json"

The output should be something like:

Warning:
This is NOT the Tezos Mainnet.
Do NOT use your fundraiser keys on this network.

Node is bootstrapped.
Operation successfully injected in the node.
Operation hash is 'ooq6rk6Q6qSx7wq6kWdmNLdr68QCxe62hCoAdmdfSSQHqfuHuwD'
Waiting for the operation to be included...
Operation found in block: BLjyt74qgSQLityQ5gjgPKX7iwz2W1CJNHUR9riQkng5YXrMo82 (pass: 2, offset: 0)
This sequence of operations was run:
  Genesis account activation:
    Account: tz1bNibySZy7kjNE3e17FUBFp9fMwfTKyfGQ
    Balance updates:
      tz1bNibySZy7kjNE3e17FUBFp9fMwfTKyfGQ ... +ꜩ15943.746838

The operation has only been included 0 blocks ago.
We recommend to wait more.
Use command
  tezos-client wait for ooq6rk6Q6qSx7wq6kWdmNLdr68QCxe62hCoAdmdfSSQHqfuHuwD to be included --confirmations 30 --branch BLj7wyDrpunegjsAJRHHPAgD7HkcK4itLxvAyQo5Td5sa6exj2j
and/or an external block explorer.
Account john (tz1bNibySZy7kjNE3e17FUBFp9fMwfTKyfGQ) activated with ꜩ15943.746838.

Notice that you have a warning saying that you are not on the Mainnet, which is intended in our case.

Also you can see that account john has 15943.746838ꜩ. You can check this account balance with the following command:

tezos-client get balance for john

Register as a delegate

Since john has more than 8000ꜩ, we will be able to register as a delegate:

 tezos-client register key john as delegate

Fortunately, we are on a testnet. And on testnets, the number of blocks per cycle is only 2048 instead of 4096. Furthermore, a block is created every 30 seconds instead of every minute. This gives cycles of about 17 hours. So, 7 cycles will only last 5 days.

Run the baker

So, 5 days later, we must appear in the list of bakers of Florencenet.

To launch the baker for the account john, type the following command:

tezos-baker-009-PsFLoren run with local node ~/tezos-florencenet john

As long as the message No slot found at level xxxxxx (max_priority = 64) is displayed, our baker has not yet obtained the right to create a block.

Switching testnet

Tezos is a fast-evolving blockchain and testnets follow each other and replace each other. It will therefore be necessary from time to time to connect to a new network to prepare for a change.

Let's say we already had a node configured on Florencenet (like in the previous example) and that the new tesnet has just been released, let's say its name is Newtestnet (for the example).

To switch to Newtesnet, we will have to initialize another Tezos node.

Let's create a directory that will contain all the elements of our second node:

mkdir ~/tezos-newtestnet

We then create the configuration, which initializes the connection to Newtestnet and the list of bootstrap peers:

tezos-node config init --data-dir ~/tezos-newtestnet --network newtestnet

Then we generate the identity:

tezos-node identity generate --data-dir ~/tezos-newtestnet

And finally, we can launch it, with a different RPC port than the one already running on Florencenet:

tezos-node run --rpc-addr 127.0.0.1:8733 --data-dir ~/tezos-newtestnet

The day Florencenet is shut down, we can delete the contents of the .tezos-florencenet directory, the data of our node.

References

[1] https://tezos.gitlab.io/introduction/howtorun.html#delegateregistration