Run a node - YouthChain

Requirements

Rust 1.76+ (for building from source)
Docker + Docker Compose (for the pre-built image path)
~2 GB free disk per node (sled DB)

Path A — Docker

The fastest way to get the full 4-validator testnet topology running locally.

git clone <repo>
cd youth
docker compose up -d

That boots:

4× yc-node validators on isolated networks
1× nginx serving the block explorer / wallet / simulator / dashboard
1× YScan indexer
Shared genesis.json

Health check:

curl -sf http://localhost:8545 \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_chainId","params":[],"id":1}'

Path B — from source

For development / debugging:

cargo run -p yc-node --release -- \
  --chain-id 7717 \
  --rpc-addr 0.0.0.0:8545 \
  --data-dir ./data/node-1 \
  --genesis ./genesis.json \
  --validator-key ./keys/node-1.json \
  --peers http://localhost:8546,http://localhost:8547,http://localhost:8548

Then boot nodes 2–4 on ports 8546/8547/8548 pointing at the same genesis with different validator keys.

Join an existing testnet (observer)

An observer node doesn’t propose blocks — it just syncs state and serves RPC. Useful if you want a local RPC URL without the latency of the public VPS.

cargo run -p yc-node --release -- \
  --chain-id 7717 \
  --rpc-addr 0.0.0.0:8545 \
  --data-dir ./data/observer \
  --genesis ./genesis.json \
  --peers https://rpc.54-237-170-237.sslip.io \
  --observer

The observer will sync from genesis (a few seconds per 1000 blocks) and then track the head in real time.

Logs

# docker
docker compose logs -f yc-node-1

# native
RUST_LOG=info,yc_node=debug cargo run -p yc-node ...

Key log events to watch:

Message	Meaning
`built block #N hash=0x…`	Your node produced a block as leader
`committed block #N hash=0x…`	BFT quorum reached, block sealed
`view change at slot S → view V`	Leader failed, fallback leader is producing
`rejected tx 0x… reason=…`	Tx failed mempool checks; evicted
`peer http://… disconnected`	Peer unreachable; retries in 2s

Troubleshooting

Genesis hash mismatch

The node refuses to start if its computed genesis hash differs from what’s already in the DB. Either restore the genesis.json used originally, or wipe the DB (docker volume rm youthchain_chain_data or rm -rf data/node-1).

sled detected corruption

Rare, but happens after hard kills. Wipe the DB and resync — the chain is deterministic so you’ll get byte-identical state back.

BFT quorum never reached

Check that at least ⌊2N/3⌋+1 peers are online and that their registered BLS keys match what they’re actually signing with. A mismatch often means the peer has stale keys from a previous chain.

​Requirements

​Path A — Docker

​Path B — from source

​Join an existing testnet (observer)

​Logs