Run a full / RPC node

A full node stores the entire chain state and validates every block, but does not sign blocks. It can serve eth_* JSON-RPC and Cosmos RPC/REST publicly. Anyone can run one — no permission needed.

This page covers two paths:

1. One-click Railway deploy — production-style, public HTTPS in minutes.
2. Local devnet on your laptop — for iteration and contract dev.

Option 1 — Deploy on Railway

The repo's docker/ contains everything needed.

1. Fork or use the repo.
2. In Railway → New service → GitHub repo → this repo.
3. Railway auto-detects railway.json at the repo root and builds docker/Dockerfile.
4. Attach a Volume mounted at /data. Without this, every redeploy wipes the chain (genesis regenerated, height resets to 0).
5. Settings → Networking → Generate Domain.

That generated domain serves four things behind one HTTPS port (via Caddy):

Path	Backend	Use
/	EVM JSON-RPC :8545	MetaMask / ethers / web3
/ws	EVM WebSocket :8546	subscriptions, hardhat-network
/rpc/*	CometBFT RPC :26657	Cosmos clients / explorer
/rest/*	Cosmos REST :1317	LCD / explorer

Joining the existing network

The default entrypoint generates a fresh single-node chain if the volume is empty. To join the existing public sanect network instead, set JOIN_NETWORK=true and the entrypoint handles everything automatically: fetching genesis, configuring peers, and state-syncing to the chain tip.

Join mainnet

JOIN_NETWORK=true
CHAIN_ID=sanect_7628-1
EVM_CHAIN_ID=7628
SEED_NODE_URL=https://rpc.sanect.com
MONIKER=my-sanect-node
HOMEDIR=/data/.sanectd

Join testnet

JOIN_NETWORK=true
CHAIN_ID=sanect_76287-1
EVM_CHAIN_ID=76287
SEED_NODE_URL=https://rpc.testnet.sanect.com
MONIKER=my-sanect-testnet-node
HOMEDIR=/data/.sanectd

On first boot with JOIN_NETWORK=true, the entrypoint:

1. Generates a fresh validator key (unique per service).
2. Fetches genesis from $SEED_NODE_URL/rpc/genesis.
3. Wires persistent_peers to point at the seed.
4. Configures state sync from the seed (trust height = current - 2000).
5. Starts the node and syncs to tip.

Snapshot fast-start

For large chains (>100k blocks), you can speed up the initial sync by downloading a tarball snapshot. Set one of:

SNAPSHOT_MANIFEST_URL=https://sanect-snapshots.sanect.com/LATEST.json
# or an explicit URL:
# SNAPSHOT_URL=https://sanect-snapshots.sanect.com/sanect-42000.tar.lz4

The entrypoint tries the snapshot first, falls back to state sync, and ultimately falls back to block sync from genesis if both fail.

Verify it's working

Once Railway shows the service "Active", check the logs for:

>>> Node up at block <N>. Running REST gateway self-test...
>>> REST SELF-TEST: OK (gRPC gateway serving — explorer will work)
>>> sanect | block=<N> | txs_in_block=0 | mempool_pending=0

Then from anywhere:

curl https://<your-domain>/rpc/status | jq .result.sync_info.latest_block_height

Option 2 — Local devnet

Single command for laptop development:

# Prerequisites: Go 1.25+, jq, a C toolchain (CGO).
git clone https://github.com/cosmos/evm && cd evm && make install
export PATH=$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin

git clone https://github.com/sanect/sanect-node
cd sanect-node
./scripts/localnet.sh

This wipes ~/.sanectd and starts a single-validator chain at:

Endpoint	URL
EVM JSON-RPC	http://localhost:8545
Cosmos RPC	http://localhost:26657
Cosmos REST	http://localhost:1317

Env overrides: CHAIN_ID, MONIKER, HOMEDIR, BASEFEE, LOGLEVEL, DENOM, DISPLAY. Set SETUP_ONLY=true to build genesis without starting.

Public RPC node = full node + a public domain

There's no separate "RPC node" mode — a full node already serves the JSON-RPC. Once it's reachable on the internet (Railway domain or your own DNS), it's a public RPC node. You can run many for load: see 1 → 50 validators on Railway §"RPC replicas".

Next step

→ Run a validator to also sign blocks and earn stake rewards.