How to run an Ethereum node
System Requirements
Follow the Prerequisites:
For an archive node of Ethereum mainnet: 3.5TB
For a full node of Goerli testnet : 1TB
HDD NOT RECOMMENDED
SSD or NVMe. Do not recommend HDD - on HDD Erigon will always stay N blocks behind the chain tip, but will not fall behind.
Note that SSD performance degrades when close to capacity.
Install Erigon​
For MacOS and Linux, run the following commands to install the latest Erigon version on your machine (if you are on Windows follow first the dedicated installation guide or use Docker).
Clone the Erigon repository to your machine
Change directory to the Erigon folder:
Now you can compile Erigon
This should create the binary at ./build/bin/erigon
Start Erigon​
If you want to be able to send transactions with your wallet and access the Ethereum network directly, contribute to the network decentralization it is advised to run Erigon with Caplin, the internal Consensus Layer (CL).
Alternatively you can also run Prysm, Lighthouse or any other Consensus Layer client alongside with Erigon. This will also allow you to access the Ethereum blockchain directly and give you the possibility to stake your ETH and do block production.
The command to start a Ethereum archive node is:
The flag --internalcl
makes Erigon run with Caplin, the embedded Consensus Layer.
Basic Configuration​
If you want to store Erigon files in a non-default location, add flag
--datadir=<your_data_dir>
Default data directory is /home/admin/.local/share/erigon.
--prune=hrtc
to run a full node with latest 90'000 blocks instead of an archive node. If you change your mind remember to delete the--datadir
folder content.Default chain is
--chain=mainnet
, add the flag--chain=goerli
for Goerli testnet,--chain=sepolia
for Sepolia testnet or--chain=holesky
for Holesky testnet.To increase download speed add
--torrent.download.rate=512mb
(default is 16mb)
To stop the Erigon node you can use the CTRL+C
command. Additional flags can be added to configure the node with several options.
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