Local devnet setup ​

This guide covers how to set up a local devnet with both consensus and bridge nodes for development and testing purposes. A local devnet allows you to run a complete Celestia network environment on your local machine.

Prerequisites ​

• Install celestia-app
• Install celestia-node
• Install Docker and Docker Compose (for Docker setup)

Script-based setup ​

Single consensus node ​

To start a local consensus node using the provided script:

1. Clone and build celestia-app:

   bash

   git clone https://github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app.git
   cd celestia-app
   make install

   git clone https://github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app.git
   cd celestia-app
   make install

2. Run the single node script:

   bash

   ./scripts/single-node.sh

   ./scripts/single-node.sh

   This script will:

   • Initialize a new chain with a single validator
   • Create a genesis file with pre-funded accounts
   • Start the consensus node
   • Make RPC endpoints available at localhost:26657

Single consensus node + bridge node ​

To set up both a consensus node and a bridge node together:

1. Follow the consensus node setup above

2. In a new terminal, run the bridge node script:

   bash

   ./scripts/single-bridge-node.sh

   ./scripts/single-bridge-node.sh

   This will:

   • Start a bridge node that connects to your local consensus node
   • Enable data availability sampling
   • Make the bridge node API available at localhost:26658

Docker setup ​

For a containerized setup using Docker Compose, you can use a simplified configuration based on the Celestia ZKEVM IBC demo repository.

1. Create a docker-compose.yml file with the following content:

   yaml

   version: "3.8"
   services:
     celestia-validator:
       image: ghcr.io/celestiaorg/celestia-app:latest
       container_name: celestia-validator
       volumes:
         - celestia_validator_data:/home/celestia
       ports:
         - "9090:9090"
         - "26656:26656"
         - "26657:26657"
       command: |
         sh -c "
         celestia-appd init mynode --chain-id private &&
         celestia-appd start
         "
       networks:
         - celestia-network
   
     celestia-bridge:
       image: ghcr.io/celestiaorg/celestia-node:latest
       container_name: celestia-bridge
       environment:
         - P2P_NETWORK=private
       volumes:
         - celestia_bridge_data:/home/celestia
       ports:
         - "26658:26658"
       command: >
         celestia bridge start
         --p2p.network private
         --core.ip celestia-validator
         --rpc.addr 0.0.0.0
         --rpc.port 26658
       depends_on:
         - celestia-validator
       networks:
         - celestia-network
   
   volumes:
     celestia_validator_data:
     celestia_bridge_data:
   
   networks:
     celestia-network:
       driver: bridge

   version: "3.8"
   services:
     celestia-validator:
       image: ghcr.io/celestiaorg/celestia-app:latest
       container_name: celestia-validator
       volumes:
         - celestia_validator_data:/home/celestia
       ports:
         - "9090:9090"
         - "26656:26656"
         - "26657:26657"
       command: |
         sh -c "
         celestia-appd init mynode --chain-id private &&
         celestia-appd start
         "
       networks:
         - celestia-network
   
     celestia-bridge:
       image: ghcr.io/celestiaorg/celestia-node:latest
       container_name: celestia-bridge
       environment:
         - P2P_NETWORK=private
       volumes:
         - celestia_bridge_data:/home/celestia
       ports:
         - "26658:26658"
       command: >
         celestia bridge start
         --p2p.network private
         --core.ip celestia-validator
         --rpc.addr 0.0.0.0
         --rpc.port 26658
       depends_on:
         - celestia-validator
       networks:
         - celestia-network
   
   volumes:
     celestia_validator_data:
     celestia_bridge_data:
   
   networks:
     celestia-network:
       driver: bridge

2. Start the services:

   bash

   docker-compose up -d

   docker-compose up -d

3. Check the status:

   bash

   docker-compose ps
   docker-compose logs celestia-validator
   docker-compose logs celestia-bridge

   docker-compose ps
   docker-compose logs celestia-validator
   docker-compose logs celestia-bridge

Default endpoints ​

Once your local devnet is running, you can access these endpoints:

Testing your setup ​

You can test that your local devnet is working by:

1. Checking node status:

   bash

   curl http://localhost:26657/status

   curl http://localhost:26657/status

2. Querying the latest block:

   bash

   curl http://localhost:26657/block

   curl http://localhost:26657/block

3. For bridge nodes, check the DA network info:

   bash

   curl http://localhost:26658/head

   curl http://localhost:26658/head

Stopping the devnet ​

Stopping script-based setup ​

Stop the processes with Ctrl+C in each terminal.

Stopping Docker setup ​

docker-compose down

docker-compose down

To also remove the volumes:

docker-compose down -v

docker-compose down -v

Next steps ​

With your local devnet running, you can:

• Submit blob data
• Test rollup integrations
• Develop applications using the Celestia Node API
• Practice validator operations without risking real tokens