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Validator Guide

Setup Validator Node

1. Install

git clone https://github.com/computechain/computechain
cd computechain
pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Initialize Node

./run_node.py --datadir .validator init

3. Configure (Optional)

Edit .validator/config.json:

{
  "listen_addr": "0.0.0.0",
  "listen_port": 8000,
  "p2p_port": 26656,
  "seeds": ["seed1.computechain.space:26656"]
}

4. Start Node

./run_node.py --datadir .validator start

Dashboard: http://localhost:8000

Become Validator

1. Create Key

./cpc-cli keys add validator

2. Fund Account

Get testnet tokens from faucet or transfer from another account.

3. Stake

# Minimum: 1,000 CPC (devnet) / 100,000 CPC (mainnet)
./cpc-cli tx stake 1000 --from validator

4. Wait for Activation

Validators activate after 100 blocks (~16 minutes).

# Check status
./cpc-cli query validators

Validator Lifecycle

States

  1. INACTIVE - Just staked, waiting for activation
  2. ACTIVE - Producing blocks, earning rewards
  3. JAILED - Poor performance, temporarily disabled
  4. EJECTED - Slashed 100%, permanently removed

Activation

Trigger: Epoch transition (every 100 blocks)

Requirements: - Minimum stake (1,000 CPC devnet / 100,000 CPC mainnet) - Minimum power relative to others - Not jailed - Cannot exceed 20% of total voting power

Performance Tracking

Uptime Score: blocks_signed / total_expected_blocks

Monitoring:

curl http://localhost:8000/validators | jq '.validators[] | {address, uptime_score}'

Minimum: 75% uptime required

Jailing & Slashing

Jailing

Triggered when: - Uptime < 75% - Missing too many blocks

Penalty: Validator temporarily disabled

Recovery:

# Option 1: Wait 1000 blocks
# Automatically unjailed if performance improves

# Option 2: Pay 1000 CPC to unjail immediately
./cpc-cli tx unjail --from validator

Slashing

Penalty: 5% of total stake (self_stake + delegations)

Triggered when: - Validator is jailed for poor performance - Double-signing or Byzantine behavior - Repeated violations

What gets slashed: - Both validator's self_stake AND delegator stakes are reduced by 5% - Slashed tokens are burned (not redistributed) - Delegators share the risk with validators

Unjail fee: 1,000 CPC (burned when unjailing early)

Prevention: - Monitor uptime constantly (maintain >75%) - Set up alerts for missed blocks - Have backup infrastructure - Never run duplicate validator nodes (double-signing risk)

Validator Metadata

Update Info

./cpc-cli tx update-validator \
  --name "My Validator" \
  --website "https://myvalidator.com" \
  --description "Professional validator service" \
  --commission 0.10 \
  --from validator

Commission Rules: - Range: 0% - 20% maximum - Cooldown: 7 days between changes - Announce period: 4 hours before effective - Max increase: +5 percentage points per change - Delegators can undelegate during announce period

View Metadata

curl http://localhost:8000/validators | jq '.validators[0]'

Monitoring

Dashboard

Built-in web dashboard: http://localhost:8000

Shows: - Current height, epoch - Validator list with uptime scores - Recent blocks

Logs

tail -f .validator/node.log

Metrics

# Validator status
curl http://localhost:8000/validators

# Block height
curl http://localhost:8000/status | jq '.height'

# Balance
curl http://localhost:8000/balance/<VALIDATOR_ADDRESS>

Best Practices

Infrastructure

  • ✅ Redundancy - Multiple servers, failover
  • ✅ Monitoring - Alerts for downtime
  • ✅ Security - Firewall, DDoS protection
  • ✅ Backups - Regular key backups

Operations

  • ✅ Uptime - Maintain >95% uptime
  • ✅ Updates - Keep node software updated
  • ✅ Commission - Set fair rate (5-15%)
  • ✅ Communication - Announce maintenance windows

Security

  • ✅ Key Management - Secure private keys
  • ✅ Access Control - Limit SSH access
  • ✅ Monitoring - Alert on unusual activity
  • ✅ Backup - Secure key backups

Troubleshooting

Node Not Syncing

# Check peer count
curl http://localhost:8000/status | jq '.peers'

# Add seeds in config.json

Validator Not Active

# Check epoch
curl http://localhost:8000/validators | jq '.epoch'

# Wait for next epoch transition (every 100 blocks)

Missed Blocks

# Check validator status
curl http://localhost:8000/validators | jq '.validators[] | select(.address=="cpcvalcons1...")'

# Monitor logs
tail -f .validator/node.log | grep "Block.*added"

Next Steps