Run Your Own Guardian Node

This guide walks you through setting up and running a Guardian Node on your own hardware. The whole process takes about 15 minutes or less.

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

• ✅ Docker installed on your machine (Step 2 below shows you how)

• ✅ Be a holder of at least one license to be able to assign to your node address(device/server)

---

Step 1 — Check System Requirements

Guardian Nodes are lightweight. Most modern computers can run one.

Requirement	Minimum
OS	Windows 10+, macOS 10.15+, or Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+)
Docker	Docker 20.10+
Memory	2 GB RAM minimum, 4 GB recommended
Storage	5 GB free disk space
Network	Stable internet with outbound HTTPS access

---

Step 2 — Install Docker

If you don't already have Docker installed, download it here:

• Windows / macOS: Docker Desktop

• Linux: Docker Engine

To confirm Docker is installed and running, open a terminal and run:

bash

docker --version

---

Step 3 — Start Your Node

Run the command below in your terminal. Replace <your holder wallet> with the wallet address that holds your staked licenses.

bash

docker run -d \
  --name mawari-node \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -v mawari-data:/home/node/.mawari-node \
  -e DELEGATOR_ALLOWLIST=<your holder wallet> \
  us-east4-docker.pkg.dev/mawari-chain-prod/mawari-client/guardian-node:0.2.0

The node automatically generates its own wallet (a "burner wallet") on first run. This is your node address — you'll need it in the next step.

To find your node address, run:

bash

docker logs mawari-node 2>&1 | grep "Burner wallet"

---

Step 4 — Fund Your Node & Create an Assignment Offer

Copy your node address(burner wallet) from the logs in Step 3, then complete these two actions:

1. Fund the node: ideally send 0.1 $MAWARI token to your node address, or at least 0.05 $MAWARI. This covers gas fees on the network.

2. Create an Assignment Offer: Go to the Assign Operator tab and create an Assignment Offer from your license to your node address.

That's it — the node will automatically accept the assignment offer and start submitting heartbeats once the assignment is active. No further action is needed. This might take a few minutes.

---

Step 5 — Monitor Your Node

Useful commands for day-to-day operation:

bash

# View live logs
docker logs -f mawari-node

# Check that the node is running
docker ps | grep mawari

# Stop the node
docker stop mawari-node

# Restart the node
docker start mawari-node

A healthy node will show regular heartbeat activity in the logs.

---

Important Notes

• Your node's burner wallet needs $MAWARI to pay gas fees on the L3 network. If it runs out, heartbeats will stop — keep it topped up.

• The node only auto-accepts assignment offers from addresses listed in DELEGATOR_ALLOWLIST. Make sure you set this to your holder wallet in Step 3.

---

Troubleshooting

The node isn't appearing in docker ps Run docker logs mawari-node to check for errors, then docker start mawari-node to restart it.

I can't find my node address Re-run the log command from Step 3: docker logs mawari-node 2>&1 | grep "Burner wallet"

My assignment isn't being accepted Confirm that (1) the Assignment Offer was created to the correct node address, (2) your holder wallet is set in DELEGATOR_ALLOWLIST, and (3) the node's burner wallet has $MAWARI for gas.

Prefer a hands-off setup instead? See Assign Your Licenses to an Ecosystem Partner.