Installing an External Validator Node for Splendor

This guide will help you set up and run a Splendor validator node on any Linux-based server using Docker.

Prerequisites

Ensure the target machine has the following installed:

You can verify installation with:


docker --version
docker compose version

Step 1 – Download the Validator Package

Download the pre-built Docker archive:


curl -o splendor-validator-docker.tar.gz https://splendor-validator.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/splendor-validator-docker.tar.gz

Extract the archive:


tar -xzvf splendor-validator-docker.tar.gz

You will find the following files:

chainSpec-main.json
docker-compose-prod.yml

edit docker-compose-prod.yml and replace YOUR_NODE_KEY_HERE with a node key given by Splendor Team.

Step 2 – Start the Validator

Start the validator container:


docker compose -f docker-compose-prod.yml up -d

Or if your system uses the older syntax:


docker-compose -f docker-compose-prod.yml up -d

🔍 Step 3 – Verify the Validator is Running

Check the container logs:


docker logs -f splendor-validator

ℹ️ Note: The node will not finalize blocks until authorized by the Splendor team.

Step 4 – Rotate Session Keys

Generate your validator session keys with:


curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"id":1,"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"author_rotateKeys","params":[]}' \
     http://localhost:9944

You will receive a response like:


0xabc123...

Step 5 – Submit Your Keys

Send the session key string returned by the previous command to the Splendor team, so they can register your validator on-chain.

Optional: Ensure Persistence Across Reboots (not tested)

To make your validator more robust and ensure it starts automatically after a system reboot:

The docker-compose-prod.yml already includes:


restart: unless-stopped

This setting ensures the validator container restarts automatically if the machine reboots or if the Docker service is restarted.

For enhanced reliability in production environments, you may also consider wrapping Docker in a systemd service to guarantee consistent startup behavior.

For support or to submit your validator key, contact the Splendor team.