Running a Validator | Akash Network - Your Guide to Decentralized Cloud

This guide shows how to create and manage an Akash validator on mainnet.

Time: 30-45 minutes

Prerequisites

Before creating a validator, ensure you have:

1. Full Node Running

Your node must be fully synced before creating a validator.

See Node Build Guides
Verify sync status: akash status | jq '.sync_info.catching_up'
Should return false when fully synced

2. Hardware Requirements

CPU: 8 cores (16 cores recommended)
Memory: 128 GB required
Storage: 512 GB SSD/NVMe (1 TB+ recommended)
Network: 100 Mbps+
Uptime: 99.9%+ to avoid slashing

3. Akash Wallet with Sufficient AKT

Minimum: 2 AKT required (1 AKT for self-delegation + 1 AKT for fees)
Recommended: 10,000+ AKT to be competitive in the active set

Create a wallet:

akash keys add <key-name>

Fund your wallet via exchange or Keplr.

4. Understand Active Validator Set

Active Set Size: 100 validators
Entry Requirement: More voting power than the 100th validator
Check Requirements: Use $votingpower in Discord #validator-alerts channel

Step 1 - Set Environment Variables

# Network configuration
export AKASH_NET="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/akash-network/net/main/mainnet"
export AKASH_CHAIN_ID="$(curl -s "$AKASH_NET/chain-id.txt")"
export AKASH_NODE="https://rpc.akashnet.net:443"

# Your configuration
export AKASH_KEY_NAME="<your-key-name>"
export AKASH_MONIKER="<your-validator-name>"

Replace:

<your-key-name> - Name of your wallet key
<your-validator-name> - Public name for your validator

Step 2 - Get Your Validator Public Key

akash tendermint show-validator

Expected output:

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

Important: The private key for this validator lives in ~/.akash/config/priv_validator_key.json. Back up this file securely.

Step 3 - Create Your Validator

Understand Commission Parameters

Before creating your validator, understand commission structure:

commission-rate (e.g., "0.10" = 10%)

Your commission on delegator rewards
Typical range: 5-10%

commission-max-rate (e.g., "0.20" = 20%)

Maximum commission you can ever charge
Cannot be changed after validator creation

commission-max-change-rate (e.g., "0.01" = 1%)

Maximum % point change per day
Example: 10% → 11% = 1 percentage point change
Prevents sudden commission spikes

min-self-delegation (e.g., "1")

Minimum self-delegated AKT (in uakt)
"1" = minimum 1 uakt self-delegation

Create Validator JSON File

Create a file named validator.json:

{
  "pubkey": {"@type":"/cosmos.crypto.ed25519.PubKey","key":"YOUR_VALIDATOR_PUBKEY_HERE"},
  "amount": "1000000uakt",
  "moniker": "your-moniker",
  "identity": "",
  "website": "",
  "security": "",
  "details": "",
  "commission-rate": "0.10",
  "commission-max-rate": "0.20",
  "commission-max-change-rate": "0.01",
  "min-self-delegation": "1"
}

Populate the JSON File Automatically

You can automatically populate the pubkey field by running:

PUBKEY=$(akash tendermint show-validator)

cat > validator.json <<EOF
{
  "pubkey": $PUBKEY,
  "amount": "1000000uakt",
  "moniker": "$AKASH_MONIKER",
  "identity": "",
  "website": "",
  "security": "",
  "details": "",
  "commission-rate": "0.10",
  "commission-max-rate": "0.20",
  "commission-max-change-rate": "0.01",
  "min-self-delegation": "1"
}
EOF

Customize the values:

amount: Amount to stake (1000000uakt = 1 AKT)
moniker: Your validator name
identity: Your Keybase 16-digit ID (optional, for logo)
website: Your validator website (optional)
security: Security contact email (optional)
details: Description of your validator (optional)
commission-rate: Your commission (0.10 = 10%)
commission-max-rate: Maximum commission (cannot change after creation)
commission-max-change-rate: Max change per day (0.01 = 1 percentage point)
min-self-delegation: Minimum self-delegation (1 = 1 uakt)

Submit the Create Validator Transaction

Now submit the validator creation transaction using the JSON file:

akash tx staking create-validator validator.json \
  --chain-id="$AKASH_CHAIN_ID" \
  --gas="auto" \
  --gas-prices="0.025uakt" \
  --gas-adjustment=1.5 \
  --from="$AKASH_KEY_NAME"

What this does:

Stakes 1 AKT (1000000 uakt) from your wallet
Creates validator with your specified parameters
Registers your validator on the blockchain

Save your validator address from the output:

akashvaloper1...

Tip: When specifying commission parameters, the commission-max-change-rate is used to measure % point change over the commission-rate. E.g. 1% to 2% is a 100% rate increase, but only 1 percentage point.

Tip: min-self-delegation is a strictly positive integer that represents the minimum amount of self-delegated voting power your validator must always have. A min-self-delegation of 1 means your validator will never have a self-delegation lower than 1 uakt.

Step 4 - Edit Validator Profile (Optional)

Add description, website, and logo to your validator profile.

Get Keybase Identity (for logo)

Create account at keybase.io
Upload your validator logo (recommended: 256x256px)
Get your 16-digit Keybase ID

Update Validator Profile

akash tx staking edit-validator \
  --new-moniker="My Validator" \
  --website="https://myvalidator.com" \
  --identity=<your-16-digit-keybase-id> \
  --details="Professional Akash validator | 99.9% uptime" \
  --security-contact="[email protected]" \
  --chain-id="$AKASH_CHAIN_ID" \
  --gas="auto" \
  --gas-prices="0.025uakt" \
  --gas-adjustment=1.5 \
  --from="$AKASH_KEY_NAME"

Update Commission Rate (Optional)

You can change your commission rate once per day within your commission-max-change-rate.

akash tx staking edit-validator \
  --commission-rate="0.08" \
  --chain-id="$AKASH_CHAIN_ID" \
  --gas="auto" \
  --gas-prices="0.025uakt" \
  --gas-adjustment=1.5 \
  --from="$AKASH_KEY_NAME"

Restrictions:

Must be between 0 and commission-max-rate
Cannot change more than commission-max-change-rate per day
Example: If commission-max-change-rate=0.01, you can only change by 1% point per day

Verify Your Validator

Check Validator Status

export AKASH_VALIDATOR_ADDRESS="akashvaloper1..."

akash query staking validator $AKASH_VALIDATOR_ADDRESS

Expected output:

commission:
  commission_rates:
    rate: "0.100000000000000000"
    max_rate: "0.200000000000000000"
    max_change_rate: "0.010000000000000000"
  update_time: "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
description:
  moniker: My Validator
  website: https://myvalidator.com
  details: Professional Akash validator
jailed: false
status: BOND_STATUS_BONDED  # or BOND_STATUS_UNBONDED
tokens: "1000000"

Status meanings:

BOND_STATUS_BONDED - Active in validator set
BOND_STATUS_UNBONDED - Not in top 100 (need more stake)
BOND_STATUS_UNBONDING - Exiting validator set

Check if in Active Set

akash query tendermint-validator-set | grep "$(akash tendermint show-validator)"

If output is empty: Your validator is not in the active set (top 100). You need more voting power.

Check Node Sync Status

akash status | jq '.sync_info'

Important fields:

catching_up: false - Node is synced
latest_block_height - Current block (compare with explorer)

Validator Operations

View Signing Information

Track your validator’s signing performance:

akash query slashing signing-info \
  $(akash tendermint show-validator) \
  --chain-id="$AKASH_CHAIN_ID"

Output shows:

Missed blocks
Jailed status
Tombstone status (permanent jail)

Unjail Validator

If your validator was jailed for downtime:

Prerequisites:

Your node must be fully synced
Wait at least 10 minutes after downtime period

akash tx slashing unjail \
  --from="$AKASH_KEY_NAME" \
  --chain-id="$AKASH_CHAIN_ID" \
  --gas="auto" \
  --gas-prices="0.025uakt" \
  --gas-adjustment=1.5

Note: You cannot unjail if you were tombstoned (double-sign). That’s permanent.

Halt Validator for Maintenance

To gracefully stop your validator at a specific block height:

# Edit config.toml or use flag
akash start --halt-height=12345678

The node will stop at block 12345678 with exit code 0.

Monitoring Your Validator

Check Validator on Explorer

View your validator on a block explorer:

Search for your akashvaloper address or moniker.

Monitor Uptime

Critical: Validators must sign >95% of blocks to avoid jailing.

Missed block threshold: 500 out of 10,000 blocks (~5%)

Set up monitoring with:

Check Voting Power

akash query staking validator $AKASH_VALIDATOR_ADDRESS | grep "tokens"

To increase voting power:

Self-delegate more AKT
Attract delegators through marketing
Maintain high uptime and commission

Troubleshooting

Validator Has Zero Voting Power

Cause: Your validator was jailed for downtime or double-signing.

Solution:

Check if jailed:

akash query staking validator $AKASH_VALIDATOR_ADDRESS | grep "jailed"

If jailed for downtime:
- Ensure node is synced and running
- Wait 10+ minutes
- Unjail your validator
If tombstoned (double-sign):
- Cannot recover - this is permanent
- You must create a new validator with a new key

Validator Not in Active Set

Cause: Your voting power is less than the 100th validator.

Solution:

Check current requirements:

# In Discord #validator-alerts
$votingpower

To join active set:

Self-delegate more AKT
Attract delegators
Lower commission (temporarily)

Node Crashes: “Too Many Open Files”

Cause: Linux default file descriptor limit (1024) is too low.

Solution:

# Temporary fix
ulimit -n 4096
systemctl restart akash-node

# Permanent fix (add to /etc/security/limits.conf)
* soft nofile 65536
* hard nofile 65536

Restart your session for permanent fix to take effect.

Node Out of Sync

Symptoms: catching_up: true persists

Solution:

Check peers:

akash status | jq '.node_info.other.peers'

Add more peers in ~/.akash/config/config.toml:

Get peers from:

Restart node:

systemctl restart akash-node

Commission Change Rejected

Error: commission cannot be changed more than max change rate

Cause: Trying to change commission by more than commission-max-change-rate in 24 hours.

Solution: Wait 24 hours between commission changes, or make smaller incremental changes.

Security Best Practices

Backup Private Key
- File: ~/.akash/config/priv_validator_key.json
- Store offline in multiple secure locations
- Never share this key
Use Sentry Nodes
- Hide validator behind sentry nodes
- See Sentry Node Architecture
Enable Firewall
- Only allow necessary ports
- Restrict SSH access
Consider TMKMS
- Hardware Security Module (HSM) integration
- See TMKMS Guide
Monitor 24/7
- Set up alerting for downtime
- Monitor disk space
- Track signing performance

Next Steps

Community: Join #validators on Discord
Advanced: Set up TMKMS
Alternative: Try Validator via Omnibus

Questions? Join #validators on Discord