docs.waku.org/docs/guides/run-nwaku-node.md

title
Run a Nwaku Node

Nwaku (formerly nim-waku) is a lightweight and robust Nim client for running a Waku node, equipped with tools to monitor and maintain a running node. Nwaku is highly configurable, enabling operators to select the protocols they want to support based on their needs, motivations, and available resources.

This guide provides detailed steps to build, configure, and connect a nwaku node to the Waku Network. It also includes interacting with the node and finding its addresses.

:::info Nwaku can be built and run on Linux and macOS, while Windows support is currently experimental. :::

Build the Node

Before running a nwaku node, it is necessary to build it. Nwaku provides multiple options for building a node:

	Description	Documentation
Precompiled Binary	Download a precompiled binary of the nwaku node	Download Nwaku Binary
Build Source	Build a nwaku node directly from the source code	Build Nwaku from Source
Docker Container	Build and run a nwaku node in a Docker Container	Run Nwaku in Docker Container
Docker Compose	Build and run a nwaku node with Docker Compose	Run Nwaku with Docker Compose

:::tip

• If you want to try the latest nwaku updates without compiling the binaries, download the nightly release.
• You can run nwaku binaries and Docker images on cloud service providers like Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and DigitalOcean. :::

Run the Node

Once you have built the nwaku node, run it using the default configuration:

# Run with default configuration
./build/wakunode2

# See available command line options
./build/wakunode2 --help

By default, a nwaku node is configured to do the following:

• Generate a new private key and PeerID.
• Listen for incoming libp2p connections on the default TCP port (60000).
• Subscribe to the default Pub/Sub topic (/waku/2/default-waku/proto).
• Start the JSON-RPC HTTP server on the default port (8545).
• Enable the Relay protocol for relaying messages.
• Enable the Store protocol as a client, allowing it to query peers for historical messages but not store any message itself.

:::tip For more advanced configurations like enabling other protocols or maintaining a consistent PeerID, please refer to the Node Configuration Methods guide. :::

Connect the Node

To join the Waku Network, nodes must connect with peers. Nwaku provides multiple peer discovery mechanisms for locating other peers:

	Description	Documentation
Static Peers	Configure the bootstrap nodes that nwaku should establish connections upon startup	Configure Static Peers
DNS Discovery	Enable nwaku to locate peers to connect to using the DNS Discovery mechanism	Configure DNS Discovery
Discv5	Enable nwaku to locate peers to connect to using the Discv5 mechanism	Configure Discv5

:::tip You can configure a nwaku node to use multiple peer discovery mechanisms simultaneously. :::

Interact with the Node

You can interact with a running nwaku node through the JSON RPC API, such as querying the node information using the get_waku_v2_debug_v1_info method:

import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';

curl --location --request GET 'http://localhost:8545' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
	"jsonrpc": "2.0",
	"id": "id",
	"method": "get_waku_v2_debug_v1_info",
	"params": []
}'

{
	"jsonrpc": "2.0",
	"id": "id",
	"result": {
		"listenAddresses": [
			"/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/60000/p2p/16Uiu2HAmUbPquFQqje3jiqoB5YoiUbBya59NB4qqEzeiTNGHeA6w"
		],
		"enrUri": "enr:-Iu4QCQZXZDb_JsYmLoYor0F5E_95HbIywgO_wgx2rIdDbmCJZkTzmlCr0wmMzV47lgik_tVwww5mIng90Ris83TisMBgmlkgnY0gmlwhAAAAACJc2VjcDI1NmsxoQPszztG-Ev52ZB7tk0jF8s6Md4KvyY_rhzNZokaaB_ABIN0Y3CC6mCFd2FrdTIB"
	}
}

:::info The listenAddresses field stores the node's listening address(es), while the enrUri field stores the discoverable ENR URI for peer discovery. :::

Find the Node Addresses

You can find the addresses of a running node through its logs or by calling the get_waku_v2_debug_v1_info method of the JSON RPC API.

:::tip When starting the node, nwaku will display all the public listening and discovery addresses at the INFO log level. :::

Listening Address(es)

Look for the log entry that begins with Listening on, for example:

INF 2023-06-15 16:09:54.448+01:00 Listening on                               topics="waku node" tid=1623445 file=waku_node.nim:922 full=[/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/60000/p2p/16Uiu2HAmQCsH9V81xoqTwGuT3qwkZWbwY1TtTQwpr3DjHU2TSwMn][/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/8000/ws/p2p/16Uiu2HAmQCsH9V81xoqTwGuT3qwkZWbwY1TtTQwpr3DjHU2TSwMn]

# Listening TCP transport address
/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/60000/p2p/16Uiu2HAmQCsH9V81xoqTwGuT3qwkZWbwY1TtTQwpr3DjHU2TSwMn

# Listening WebSocket address
/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/8000/ws/p2p/16Uiu2HAmQCsH9V81xoqTwGuT3qwkZWbwY1TtTQwpr3DjHU2TSwMn

Discoverable ENR Address(es)

A nwaku node can encode it's addressing information in an Ethereum Node Record (ENR) following the WAKU2-ENR specification, primarily for peer discovery.

ENR for DNS discovery

Look for the log entry that begins with DNS: discoverable ENR, for example:

INF 2023-06-15 16:09:54.448+01:00 DNS: discoverable ENR                      topics="waku node" tid=1623445 file=waku_node.nim:923 enr=enr:-Iu4QBKYj8Ovxwz4fIalxZ_1a8dOCU2WC-1LQrcBCCb4Np93f9-UuSZXn3vagJL1S3k3hwRYfOp3JSbW7_VqwtqMIeMBgmlkgnY0gmlwhAAAAACJc2VjcDI1NmsxoQOrmyV59dAzY4ZKrvrj32VOoZbLby8dCKFnXnqhIdQ0NYN0Y3CC6mCFd2FrdTIB

# ENR the node addresses are encoded in
enr:-Iu4QBKYj8Ovxwz4fIalxZ_1a8dOCU2WC-1LQrcBCCb4Np93f9-UuSZXn3vagJL1S3k3hwRYfOp3JSbW7_VqwtqMIeMBgmlkgnY0gmlwhAAAAACJc2VjcDI1NmsxoQOrmyV59dAzY4ZKrvrj32VOoZbLby8dCKFnXnqhIdQ0NYN0Y3CC6mCFd2FrdTIB

ENR for Discv5

Look for the log entry that begins with Discv5: discoverable ENR, for example:

INF 2023-06-15 16:09:54.448+01:00 Discv5: discoverable ENR                   topics="waku node" tid=1623445 file=waku_node.nim:924 enr=enr:-IO4QDxToTg86pPCK2KvMeVCXC2ADVZWrxXSvNZeaoa0JhShbM5qed69RQz1s1mWEEqJ3aoklo_7EU9iIBcPMVeKlCQBgmlkgnY0iXNlY3AyNTZrMaEDdBHK1Gx6y_zv5DVw5Qb3DtSOMmVHTZO1WSORrF2loL2DdWRwgiMohXdha3UyAw

# ENR the node addresses are encoded in
enr:-IO4QDxToTg86pPCK2KvMeVCXC2ADVZWrxXSvNZeaoa0JhShbM5qed69RQz1s1mWEEqJ3aoklo_7EU9iIBcPMVeKlCQBgmlkgnY0iXNlY3AyNTZrMaEDdBHK1Gx6y_zv5DVw5Qb3DtSOMmVHTZO1WSORrF2loL2DdWRwgiMohXdha3UyAw