Creating a local cluster with the mkfiles script

Now that you know how the internals of a local cluster work, you can benefit from some automation. We have a script that can help you start a cluster that forks into Babbage era at epoch 0. It is located here:

Make sure to use cardano-node 8.0.0

cardano-node --version
cardano-node 8.0.0 - linux-x86_64 - ghc-8.10
git rev 69a117b7be3db0f4ce6d9fc5cd4c16a2a409dcb8

To create a local-cluster using mkfiles.sh, please clone cardano-node repo and checkout tagged version 8.0.0

mkfiles.sh script is currently set to start the cluster on Conway era, but Conway development is still in progress and most of the functionalities of cardano-node will not work just yet.

We need to edit the file scripts/babbage/mkfiles.sh file to ensure that our cluster starts in Babbage era. All we have to do is comment (#) this line on the script:

Save your changes,

It is recommended to have 3 additional terminals ready, one for each node. When you are ready, run the mkfiles.sh script.

Then, run a node on each terminal. For example:

Terminal 1

Terminal 2

Terminal 3

Note that you have 30 seconds to start the 3 nodes. To give yourself more tim, you can change this line on the mkfiles.sh script:

After starting your nodes, make sure to set the CARDANO_NODE_SOCKET_PATH on your working terminal:

and voilà! We have a cluster running on Babbage era with very little effort:

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