Set up a systemd service

This page will take you through how to set up a systemd service for go-waku.

systemd is used in order to have a command or a program run when your device boots (i.e. add it as a service). Once this is done, you can start/stop enable/disable from the linux prompt.

!!! abstract "systemd" systemd is a service manager designed specifically for Linux: it cannot be used on Windows / Mac. You can find out more about systemd here.

!!! note "Package manager installations" When installing go-waku via your package manager, a user and service will already have been created for you and you can skip straight to the configuration section.

1. Create the service file

systemd services are created by placing a service file in /etc/systemd/system, or, if go-waku was installed by a package manager, /usr/lib/systemd/system.

A good starting point is the example service file in the go-waku repository.

# Download example service file and save it to `/etc/systemd/system/go-waku.service`
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/waku-org/go-waku/scripts/linux/go-waku.service | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/waku.service > /dev/null

The format of service files is documented in the systemd manual.

!!! note go-waku has two return codes for errors: - 1 returned for recoverable errors - 166 returned for non-recoverable errors. The example service file uses 166 in RestartPreventExitStatus to prevent automated restarts for non recoverable errors.

2. Configure your service

Service is configured by editing the service file directly, or using systemctl edit to create an override.

# Edit the systemd file to match your installation
sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/waku.service

# If you installed go-waku via the package manager, use `systemctl edit` instead
sudo systemctl edit waku.service

!!! note The example assumes go-waku was installed in /usr/bin/waku. If you installed go-waku elsewhere, make sure to update this path.

3. Notify systemd of the newly added service

Every time you add or update a service, the systemd daemon must be notified of the changes:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

4. Start the service

# start go-waku node
sudo systemctl start waku

# (Optional) Set go-waku to start automatically at boot
sudo systemctl enable waku

5. Check the status of the service

systemctl status will show if go-waku is up and running, or has stopped for some reason.

sudo systemctl status waku.service

You can also follow the logs using the following command:

sudo journalctl -uf waku.service

This will show you the waku logs at the default setting. Press ctrl-c to stop following the logs.

To rewind logs — by one day, say — run:

sudo journalctl -u waku.service --since yesterday

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