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Celestia

type:
testnet
chain id:
mocha-4
rpc:
https://rpc-celestia-testnet.posthuman.digital
rpc-arch:
https://rpc-celestia-testnet-archive.posthuman.digital
rest:
https://rest-celestia-testnet.posthuman.digital
rest-arch:
https://rest-celestia-testnet-archive.posthuman.digital
grpc:
https://grpc-celestia-testnet.posthuman.digital
grpc-arch:
https://grpc-celestia-testnet-archive.posthuman.digital
peer:
c5bc6e85bf763c5a08ed08a238028afe3c18fc4b@peer-celestia-testnet.posthuman.digital:39656
  • installation guide
  • bridge node setup
  • full node setup
  • light node setup
  • snapshots
  • one liner

Celestia Testnet (Mocha-4) — Installation Guide

Comprehensive guide for installing and running a Celestia node on the Mocha-4 testnet.

Prerequisites

For Validator/Consensus Node (official requirements):

  • Hardware: 16 cores, 32 GB RAM, 2 TiB NVMe SSD, 1 Gbps bandwidth
  • OS: Ubuntu 20.04+ or similar Linux distribution
  • Network: Stable internet connection

Note: These are official requirements for validators. For non-validator full nodes, lower specs may work but are not recommended for production.

1. Update System and Install Build Tools

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y curl tar wget clang pkg-config libssl-dev jq build-essential bsdmainutils git make ncdu gcc chrony liblz4-tool

2. Install Go

Celestia requires Go 1.24.1+:

cd "$HOME"
if ! command -v go >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  VER="1.24.1"
  wget "https://golang.org/dl/go${VER}.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
  sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go
  sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf "go${VER}.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
  rm "go${VER}.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
fi

# Setup Go environment
[ -d "$HOME/go/bin" ] || mkdir -p "$HOME/go/bin"
if ! grep -q "/usr/local/go/bin" "$HOME/.bash_profile" 2>/dev/null; then
  echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$HOME/go/bin' >> "$HOME/.bash_profile"
fi
source "$HOME/.bash_profile" 2>/dev/null || true

# Verify
go version

3. Build and Install celestia-appd

Clone and build the testnet version:

cd "$HOME"
rm -rf celestia-app
git clone https://github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app.git
cd celestia-app

# Checkout testnet version
VERSION="v6.2.5-mocha"
git checkout "tags/$VERSION"

# Build and install
make build
make install

# Verify
celestia-appd version

Expected output: v6.2.5-mocha

4. Initialize the Node

Initialize with your node name and testnet chain ID:

# Set variables
MONIKER="<YOUR_NODE_NAME>"
CHAIN_ID="mocha-4"

# Initialize
celestia-appd init "$MONIKER" --chain-id "$CHAIN_ID"

This creates: ~/.celestia-app/

5. Download Genesis and Address Book

Important: Download from Posthuman testnet infrastructure:


# Download genesis.json
curl -Ls https://snapshots.posthuman.digital/celestia-testnet/genesis.json \
  -o "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/genesis.json"

# Download addrbook.json (peer list)
curl -Ls https://snapshots.posthuman.digital/celestia-testnet/addrbook.json \
  -o "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/addrbook.json"

# Verify downloads
ls -lh "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/genesis.json"
ls -lh "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/addrbook.json"

6. Configure Node Settings

6.1 Set Minimum Gas Price

sed -i 's|minimum-gas-prices =.*|minimum-gas-prices = "0.002utia"|g' \
  "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/app.toml"

6.2 Configure Pruning (Recommended for testnet)

sed -i -e 's|^pruning *=.*|pruning = "custom"|' "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/app.toml"
sed -i -e 's|^pruning-keep-recent *=.*|pruning-keep-recent = "100"|' "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/app.toml"
sed -i -e 's|^pruning-interval *=.*|pruning-interval = "19"|' "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/app.toml"

6.3 Disable Indexer (Saves disk space)

sed -i -e 's|^indexer *=.*|indexer = "null"|' "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/config.toml"

6.4 Enable Prometheus

sed -i -e 's|prometheus = false|prometheus = true|' "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/config.toml"

6.5 Add Peers

# Posthuman testnet peer
PEERS="c5bc6e85bf763c5a08ed08a238028afe3c18fc4b@peer-celestia-testnet.posthuman.digital:39656"

# Update config (adjust as needed based on available peers)
sed -i -e "/^\[p2p\]/,/^\[/{s/^[[:space:]]*persistent_peers *=.*/persistent_peers = \"$PEERS\"/}" \
  "$HOME/.celestia-app/config/config.toml"

7. Create Systemd Service

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/celestia-appd-testnet.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Celestia Node (Mocha-4 Testnet)
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=$USER
WorkingDirectory=$HOME/.celestia-app
ExecStart=$(which celestia-appd) start --home $HOME/.celestia-app
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=3
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Note: Service name is celestia-appd-testnet to distinguish from mainnet if running both.

8. Download and Apply Snapshot

Testnet snapshots are pruned (~1-2 GB) and updated every ~4 hours:

# Stop service if running
sudo systemctl stop celestia-appd-testnet 2>/dev/null || true

# Reset data
celestia-appd tendermint unsafe-reset-all --home "$HOME/.celestia-app" --keep-addr-book

# Download and extract
cd "$HOME"
curl -L https://snapshots.posthuman.digital/celestia-testnet/snapshot-latest.tar.zst | zstd -d | tar -xf - -C "$HOME/.celestia-app"

# Verify
ls -lh "$HOME/.celestia-app/data/"

9. Start the Node

# Reload systemd
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Enable on boot
sudo systemctl enable celestia-appd-testnet

# Start service
sudo systemctl start celestia-appd-testnet

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u celestia-appd-testnet -f -o cat

10. Verify Node Status

Check Sync Status

celestia-appd status 2>&1 | jq .SyncInfo

Look for "catching_up": false when fully synced.

Check Block Height

celestia-appd status 2>&1 | jq .SyncInfo.latest_block_height

11. Create or Restore Wallet

Create New Wallet

WALLET="wallet-testnet"
celestia-appd keys add "$WALLET"

Save the mnemonic securely!

Restore Existing Wallet

WALLET="wallet-testnet"
celestia-appd keys add "$WALLET" --recover

Save Wallet Address

WALLET_ADDRESS=$(celestia-appd keys show "$WALLET" -a)
echo "export WALLET_ADDRESS_TESTNET=$WALLET_ADDRESS" >> "$HOME/.bash_profile"
source "$HOME/.bash_profile"
echo "Testnet wallet: $WALLET_ADDRESS"

12. Get Testnet Tokens

Request testnet TIA from the faucet:

  • Celestia Discord: https://discord.com/invite/celestiacommunity
    • Go to #mocha-faucet channel
    • Request tokens with your address

Check Balance

celestia-appd query bank balances "$WALLET_ADDRESS"

13. Create Validator

After sync and funding:

celestia-appd tx staking create-validator \
  --amount=1000000utia \
  --pubkey=$(celestia-appd tendermint show-validator) \
  --moniker="<YOUR_NODE_NAME>" \
  --chain-id=mocha-4 \
  --commission-rate="0.10" \
  --commission-max-rate="0.20" \
  --commission-max-change-rate="0.01" \
  --min-self-delegation="1" \
  --gas=300000 \
  --fees=2000utia \
  --from="$WALLET"

Useful Commands

Service Status

sudo systemctl status celestia-appd-testnet

Stop Node

sudo systemctl stop celestia-appd-testnet

Node Info

celestia-appd status 2>&1 | jq

Security

  1. Firewall Configuration

    sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw allow ssh/tcp
sudo ufw allow 26656/tcp
sudo ufw enable

  2. Backup Keys: ~/.celestia-app/config/priv_validator_key.json

  3. SSH Key Auth: Disable password authentication

  4. Monitoring: Setup Prometheus/Grafana

Uninstall

# Stop and disable
sudo systemctl stop celestia-appd-testnet
sudo systemctl disable celestia-appd-testnet

# Remove service
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/celestia-appd-testnet.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Remove binary (if not shared with mainnet)
# sudo rm $(which celestia-appd)

# Remove data
rm -rf "$HOME/.celestia-app"

# Clean environment
sed -i '/WALLET_ADDRESS_TESTNET/d' "$HOME/.bash_profile"

Resources

  • Posthuman Snapshots: https://snapshots.posthuman.digital/celestia-testnet/
  • Posthuman RPC: https://rpc-celestia-testnet.posthuman.digital
  • Posthuman REST: https://rest-celestia-testnet.posthuman.digital
  • Posthuman gRPC: https://grpc-celestia-testnet.posthuman.digital
  • Discord Faucet: https://discord.com/invite/celestiacommunity
  • Official Testnet Docs: https://docs.celestia.org/nodes/mocha-testnet

Last Updated: v6.2.5-mocha | Chain ID: mocha-4

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