How to create a genesis

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up a genesis. Follow the steps below to initialize your chain, add a genesis account, and start the chain.

Pre-requisities

For this guide you need to have a chain directory where you have created and built your chain.

If you don't have a chain directory yet, you can initialize a simple ignite chain by following this guide

TIP

This guide will use the simple ignite chain created in linked guide. Make sure to update any relevant variables to match your chain.

Setting variables

First, set the necessary variables for your chain in the terminal, here is an example:

VALIDATOR_NAME=validator1
CHAIN_ID=gm
KEY_NAME=key
CHAINFLAG="--chain-id ${CHAIN_ID}"
TOKEN_AMOUNT="10000000000000000000000000stake"
STAKING_AMOUNT="1000000000stake"

Resetting existing genesis/chain data

Reset any existing chain data:

rollkit tendermint unsafe-reset-all

Reset any existing genesis data:

rm -rf $HOME/.$CHAIN_ID/config/gentx
rm $HOME/.$CHAIN_ID/config/genesis.json

Initializing the validator

Initialize the validator with the chain ID you set:

rollkit init $VALIDATOR_NAME --chain-id $CHAIN_ID

Adding a key to keyring backend

Add a key to the keyring-backend:

rollkit keys add $KEY_NAME --keyring-backend test

Adding a genesis account

Add a genesis account with the specified token amount:

rollkit genesis add-genesis-account $KEY_NAME $TOKEN_AMOUNT --keyring-backend test

Setting the staking amount in the genesis transaction

Set the staking amount in the genesis transaction:

rollkit genesis gentx $KEY_NAME $STAKING_AMOUNT --chain-id $CHAIN_ID --keyring-backend test

Collecting genesis transactions

Collect the genesis transactions:

rollkit genesis collect-gentxs

Configuring the genesis file

Copy the centralized sequencer address into genesis.json:

ADDRESS=$(jq -r '.address' ~/.$CHAIN_ID/config/priv_validator_key.json)
PUB_KEY=$(jq -r '.pub_key' ~/.$CHAIN_ID/config/priv_validator_key.json)
jq --argjson pubKey "$PUB_KEY" '.consensus["validators"]=[{"address": "'$ADDRESS'", "pub_key": $pubKey, "power": "1000", "name": "Rollkit Sequencer"}]' ~/.$CHAIN_ID/config/genesis.json > temp.json && mv temp.json ~/.$CHAIN_ID/config/genesis.json

Starting the chain

Finally, start the chain with your start command.

For example, start the simple ignite chain with the following command:

rollkit start --rollkit.aggregator

Summary

By following these steps, you will set up the genesis, initialize the validator, add a genesis account, and started the chain. This guide provides a basic framework for configuring and starting your chain using your binary. Make sure rollkit.toml is present in the root of your chain directory, and use the rollkit command for all operations.