Akash Node CLI Build

Build an Akash RPC node manually on a Linux server. This guide provides full control over node configuration and is ideal for validators, providers, and production dApps.

Time: 15-30 minutes (setup) + 20-30 minutes (sync via snapshot)

Requirements:

• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
• 4 CPU cores
• 8 GB RAM
• 100 GB SSD storage (minimum), 1 TB recommended
• Root access

Overview

This guide covers:

1. Install Akash Software
2. Add Akash to PATH
3. Choose Node Moniker
4. Initialize Node
5. Set Minimum Gas Price
6. Copy Genesis File
7. Add Seed and Peer Nodes
8. Configure Fast Sync
9. Download Blockchain Snapshot
10. Start the Node

Step 1 - Install Akash Software

Install the latest stable version of Akash Node software.

Install Dependencies

apt update
apt install -y jq unzip curl

Download and Install Akash

cd ~
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/akash-network/node/main/install.sh | sh

This installs the akash binary to ~/bin/akash.

Step 2 - Add Akash to PATH

Add the Akash binary location to your system PATH.

Edit Environment File

nano /etc/environment

Update PATH

Add /root/bin to the existing PATH:

Before:

PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin"

After:

PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin:/root/bin"

Save and exit (Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter).

Activate Changes

source /etc/environment

Verify Installation

akash version

Expected output:

v1.1.0

Step 3 - Choose Node Moniker

Choose a memorable name for your node (ASCII characters only).

export AKASH_MONIKER="my-akash-node"

Note: You can change the moniker later in ~/.akash/config/config.toml.

Step 4 - Initialize Node

Initialize your Akash node with the mainnet chain ID.

Set Network Variables

export AKASH_NET="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/akash-network/net/main/mainnet"
export AKASH_CHAIN_ID="$(curl -s "$AKASH_NET/chain-id.txt")"

Initialize Node

akash init --chain-id "$AKASH_CHAIN_ID" "$AKASH_MONIKER"

This creates the node configuration in ~/.akash/.

Expected: JSON output with chain ID and node information.

Step 5 - Set Minimum Gas Price

Set a minimum gas price to protect your node from spam transactions.

nano ~/.akash/config/app.toml

Find the minimum-gas-prices field and set it to:

minimum-gas-prices = "0.0025uakt"

Save and exit.

Step 6 - Copy Genesis File

Download the genesis file for the Akash mainnet.

curl -s "$AKASH_NET/genesis.json" > $HOME/.akash/config/genesis.json

Step 7 - Add Seed and Peer Nodes

Configure seed and peer nodes to connect your node to the network.

Download and Configure Automatically

# Get seed nodes
SEED_NODES=$(curl -s "$AKASH_NET/seed-nodes.txt" | paste -d, -s)

# Get peer nodes
PEER_NODES=$(curl -s "$AKASH_NET/peer-nodes.txt" | paste -d, -s)

# Update config.toml with seed nodes
sed -i.bak "s|^seeds = \"\"|seeds = \"$SEED_NODES\"|" ~/.akash/config/config.toml

# Update config.toml with peer nodes
sed -i.bak "s|^persistent_peers = \"\"|persistent_peers = \"$PEER_NODES\"|" ~/.akash/config/config.toml

# Configure RPC to listen on all interfaces
sed -i.bak 's|laddr = "tcp://127.0.0.1:26657"|laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26657"|' ~/.akash/config/config.toml

What this does:

• Downloads current seed and peer node lists
• Automatically updates config.toml with the nodes
• Configures RPC to accept external connections
• Creates backup files (.bak) before modifications

Verify Configuration

grep "^seeds" ~/.akash/config/config.toml
grep "^persistent_peers" ~/.akash/config/config.toml
grep "laddr.*26657" ~/.akash/config/config.toml

Expected output:

seeds = "[email protected]:26656,..."
persistent_peers = "[email protected]:51656,..."
laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26657"

Step 8 - Configure Fast Sync

Verify Fast Sync is enabled (it should be by default).

nano ~/.akash/config/config.toml

Confirm these settings:

# Fast Sync enabled
fast_sync = true

# Fast Sync version (v0 recommended)
[fastsync]
version = "v0"

Step 9 - Download Blockchain Snapshot

Download a blockchain snapshot to sync quickly. Snapshots are updated hourly.

Remove Existing Data

rm -rf ~/.akash/data
mkdir -p ~/.akash/data
cd ~/.akash

Download Latest Snapshot

Snapshot URL: https://snapshots.akash.network/akashnet-2/latest

Size: ~15GB compressed, updated hourly

# Install lz4 if not already installed
apt-get install -y lz4

# Download snapshot
wget -O akashnet-2_latest.tar.lz4 https://snapshots.akash.network/akashnet-2/latest --inet4-only

# Decompress
lz4 -d akashnet-2_latest.tar.lz4

# Extract
tar -xvf akashnet-2_latest.tar

Note: This process takes 20-30 minutes depending on your internet speed (~15 GB compressed download).

Step 10 - Start the Node

Create a systemd service to run your Akash node.

Create Start Script

cat > /usr/local/bin/start-akash-node.sh << 'EOF'
#!/usr/bin/env bash
/root/bin/akash start
EOF

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/start-akash-node.sh

Create Systemd Service

cat > /etc/systemd/system/akash-node.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=Akash Node
After=network.target

[Service]
User=root
Group=root
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/start-akash-node.sh
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=15
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Start the Service

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable akash-node
systemctl start akash-node

Check Node Status

akash status

Expected (while syncing):

{
  "SyncInfo": {
    "latest_block_height": "15234567",
    "catching_up": true
  }
}

Expected (when synced):

{
  "SyncInfo": {
    "latest_block_height": "15234567",
    "catching_up": false
  }
}

Compare latest_block_height with Mintscan to verify sync status.

Monitor Logs

journalctl -u akash-node -f

Press Ctrl+C to stop following logs.

Configuration Files

Your Akash node configuration is stored in ~/.akash/config/:

• app.toml - Cosmos SDK application configuration (gas prices, API, gRPC)
• config.toml - Tendermint consensus configuration (P2P, RPC, mempool)
• genesis.json - Genesis state of the blockchain

Optional: Enable RPC & API Services

RPC Service (Port 26657)

Already enabled if you followed Step 7. Used for transactions and queries.

Configuration: ~/.akash/config/config.toml

[rpc]
laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26657"

API Service (Port 1317)

Enable the REST API for external tools (wallets, dashboards).

Edit ~/.akash/config/app.toml:

[api]
enable = true
address = "tcp://0.0.0.0:1317"

Restart the node:

systemctl restart akash-node

State Pruning

Control how much blockchain history your node stores.

Pruning Strategies:

1. default - Keep last 100 states + every 500th state (recommended)
2. nothing - Keep all history (archival node, requires >1TB storage)
3. everything - Keep only current state (not for validators!)
4. custom - Manual configuration

Configuration: ~/.akash/config/app.toml

[pruning]
pruning = "default"

Important: Validators should use default or nothing. Never use everything for validator nodes.

Other Networks

This guide uses Akash mainnet. For sandbox or other networks:

• Akash Network Configurations

Next Steps

• For Validators: See Running a Validator
• For Providers: Use your node as an RPC endpoint in provider configuration
• For dApps: Configure your application to use your node’s RPC/API endpoints

Questions? Join #validators on Discord