Set Up a Hedera Local Node using the NPM CLI

Hedera is an open-source, public, proof-of-stake network. Its network services offer low and fixed fees, 10k TPS, and instant transaction finality. Learn more about the Hedera platform and how it works.

In this tutorial, we will adopt, set up, and run a Hedera node locally using the @hashgraph/hedera-local NPM Command Line Interface (CLI) tool with docker compose.

This tutorial is based on the Hedera Local Node README documentation.

Already familiar with using a cloud service? Check out the other options for setting up and running the Hedera node locally. See the Useful resources section for more information.

Prerequisites

To get started with this tutorial, ensure that you have the following software installed:

Node.js >= v14.x (Check version: node -v)
NPM >= v6.14.17 (Check version: npm -v)
Docker >= v20.10.x (Check version: docker -v)
Docker Compose >= v2.12.3 (Check version: docker compose version)
Hardware: Minimum 16GB RAM

Installation

Node.js and NPM: Refer to the official installation guide.
Docker: See Docker Setup Guide to get docker up and running (note: specific instructions may vary based on the OS).

Getting Started

Clone the GitHub repo, navigate to the project folder using the commands below;

git clone https://github.com/hashgraph/hedera-local-node.git 
cd hedera-local-node

Install CLI Tool

The command below can be used to install the official release from the NPM repository.

npm install @hashgraph/hedera-local -g

Note: This version may not reflect the most recent changes to the main branch of this repository. It also uses a baked in version of the Docker Compose definitions and will not reflect any local changes made to the repository.

Local development Installation

Install the dependencies locally.

npm install && npm install -g

Running the Node:

Start the local node (Note: Ensure Docker is running):

npm run start

You can pass the following CLI flags, this would be used later in the following sections:

--d / --detached - Start the local node in detached mode.
--h / --host - Override the default host.

Other NPM commands:

npm run restart to restart the network
npm run stop to stop the network
npm run generate-accounts to generate new accounts - network must be running first

You should see the following response in the terminal:

hedera-local-node % npm run start

> @hashgraph/hedera-local@2.26.2 restart
> npm run build && node ./build/index.js restart


> @hashgraph/hedera-local@2.26.2 build
> rimraf ./build && tsc

[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (StateController) [✔︎] Starting restart procedure!
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (CleanUpState) ⏳ Initiating clean up procedure. Trying to revert unneeded changes to files...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (CleanUpState) [✔︎] Clean up of consensus node properties finished.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (CleanUpState) [✔︎] Clean up of mirror node properties finished.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (StopState) ⏳ Initiating stop procedure. Trying to stop docker containers and clean up volumes...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (StopState) ⏳ Stopping the network...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (StopState) [✔︎] Hedera Local Node was stopped successfully.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (InitState) ⏳ Making sure that Docker is started and it is correct version...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (DockerService) ⏳ Checking docker compose version...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (DockerService) ⏳ Checking docker resources...
[Hedera-Local-Node] WARNING (DockerService) [!] Port 3000 is in use.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (InitState) ⏳ Setting configuration with latest images on host 127.0.0.1 with dev mode turned off using turbo mode in single node configuration...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (InitState) [✔︎] Local Node Working directory set to /Users/owanate/Library/Application Support/hedera-local.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (InitState) [✔︎] Hedera JSON-RPC Relay rate limits were disabled.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (InitState) [✔︎] Needed environment variables were set for this configuration.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (InitState) [✔︎] Needed bootsrap properties were set for this configuration.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (InitState) [✔︎] Needed bootsrap properties were set for this configuration.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (InitState) [✔︎] Needed mirror node properties were set for this configuration.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (StartState) ⏳ Starting Hedera Local Node...

To generate default accounts and start the local node in detached mode, use the command below:

npm run start -- -d

You should see the following response in the terminal:

hedera-local-node % npm run start -- -d

> @hashgraph/hedera-local@2.26.2 start
> npm run build && node ./build/index.js start -d


> @hashgraph/hedera-local@2.26.2 build
> rimraf ./build && tsc
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (StartState) [✔︎] Hedera Local Node successfully started!
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (NetworkPrepState) ⏳ Starting Network Preparation State...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (NetworkPrepState) [✔︎] Imported fees successfully!
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (NetworkPrepState) [✔︎] Topic was created!
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) ⏳ Starting Account Creation state in synchronous mode ...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |-----------------------------| Accounts list (ECDSA keys) |----------------------------|
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |    id    |                            private key                            |  balance |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1002 - 0x7f109a9e3b0d8ecfba9cc23a3614433ce0fa7ddcc80f2a8f10b222179a5a80d6 - 10000 ℏ |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1003 - 0x6ec1f2e7d126a74a1d2ff9e1c5d90b92378c725e506651ff8bb8616a5c724628 - 10000 ℏ |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1004 - 0xb4d7f7e82f61d81c95985771b8abf518f9328d019c36849d4214b5f995d13814 - 10000 ℏ |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1005 - 0x941536648ac10d5734973e94df413c17809d6cc5e24cd11e947e685acfbd12ae - 10000 ℏ |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1006 - 0x5829cf333ef66b6bdd34950f096cb24e06ef041c5f63e577b4f3362309125863 - 10000 ℏ |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1007 - 0x8fc4bffe2b40b2b7db7fd937736c4575a0925511d7a0a2dfc3274e8c17b41d20 - 10000 ℏ |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1008 - 0xb6c10e2baaeba1fa4a8b73644db4f28f4bf0912cceb6e8959f73bb423c33bd84 - 10000 ℏ |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1009 - 0xfe8875acb38f684b2025d5472445b8e4745705a9e7adc9b0485a05df790df700 - 10000 ℏ |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1010 - 0xbdc6e0a69f2921a78e9af930111334a41d3fab44653c8de0775572c526feea2d - 10000 ℏ |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1011 - 0x3e215c3d2a59626a669ed04ec1700f36c05c9b216e592f58bbfd3d8aa6ea25f9 - 10000 ℏ |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |------------------------------------------------| Accounts list (Alias ECDSA keys) |--------------------------------------------------|
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |    id    |               public address               |                             private key                            | balance |
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) | 0.0.1012 - 0x67d8d32e9bf1a9968a5ff53b87d777aa8ebbee69 - 0x105d050185ccb907fba04dd92d8de9e32c18305e097ab41dadda21489a211524 - 10000 ℏ |
.....
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (AccountCreationState) [✔︎] Accounts created succefully!
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (CleanUpState) ⏳ Initiating clean up procedure. Trying to revert unneeded changes to files...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (CleanUpState) [✔︎] Clean up of consensus node properties finished.
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (CleanUpState) [✔︎] Clean up of mirror node properties finished.

Verify Running Node

There are different ways to verify that a node is running;

Check Block Number using Hashscan Block Explorer
Send cURL request to getBlockNumber

Check Block Number using Hashscan Block Explorer

Visit the local mirror node explorer endpoint (http://localhost:8080/devnet/dashboard) in your web browser. Ensure that LOCALNET is selected, as this will show you the Hedera network running within your local network.

Select any of the listed blocks to view the details (Consensus, Block, Transaction Hash, etc) for a particular block.

Send cURL request to getBlockNumber

Let's verify that we are able to interact with Hedera Testnet using JSON-RPC by issuing an eth_getBlockByNumber JSON-RPC request.

Enter the curl command below:

  curl http://localhost:7546/ \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"method":"eth_getBlockByNumber","params":["latest",false],"id":1,"jsonrpc":"2.0"}'

You should get the following response:

curl http://localhost:7546/ \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"method":"eth_getBlockByNumber","params":["latest",false],"id":1,"jsonrpc":"2.0"}'
{"result":{"timestamp":"0x667c000e","difficulty":"0x0","extraData":"0x","gasLimit":"0xe4e1c0","baseFeePerGas":"0xa54f4c3c00","gasUsed":"0x0","logsBloom":"0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","miner":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000","mixHash":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","nonce":"0x0000000000000000","receiptsRoot":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","sha3Uncles":"0x1dcc4de8dec75d7aab85b567b6ccd41ad312451b948a7413f0a142fd40d49347","size":"0x93d","stateRoot":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","totalDifficulty":"0x0","transactions":[],"transactionsRoot":"0x56e81f171bcc55a6ff8345e692c0f86e5b48e01b996cadc001622fb5e363b421","uncles":[],"withdrawals":[],"withdrawalsRoot":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","number":"0x1604","hash":"0xfef0932ffb429840fe765d6d87c77425e2991326ddae6747dcce5c929c69ef38","parentHash":"0xef1ef331626f4f50ba2541d440b45cac51c5d8d6b4c46407a00c15d593c31e96"},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1}%

Troubleshooting

Find below some common errors and how to troubleshoot them:

Error: Node cannot start properly because necessary ports are in use!

hedera-local-node % npm run start -- -d

> @hashgraph/hedera-local@2.26.2 start
> npm run build && node ./build/index.js start -d


> @hashgraph/hedera-local@2.26.2 build
> rimraf ./build && tsc

[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (StateController) [✔︎] Starting start procedure!
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (InitState) ⏳ Making sure that Docker is started and it is correct version...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (DockerService) ⏳ Checking docker compose version...
[Hedera-Local-Node] INFO (DockerService) ⏳ Checking docker resources...
[Hedera-Local-Node] ERROR (DockerService) [✘] [✘] Port 5551 is in use.
[Hedera-Local-Node] ERROR (DockerService) [✘] [✘] Port 8545 is in use.
[Hedera-Local-Node] ERROR (DockerService) [✘] [✘] Port 5600 is in use.
[Hedera-Local-Node] ERROR (DockerService) [✘] [✘] Port 5433 is in use.
[Hedera-Local-Node] ERROR (DockerService) [✘] [✘] Port 8082 is in use.
[Hedera-Local-Node] ERROR (DockerService) [✘] [✘] Port 6379 is in use.
[Hedera-Local-Node] WARNING (DockerService) [!] Port 7546 is in use.
[Hedera-Local-Node] WARNING (DockerService) [!] Port 8080 is in use.
[Hedera-Local-Node] WARNING (DockerService) [!] Port 3000 is in use.
[Hedera-Local-Node] ERROR (DockerService) [✘] [✘] Node cannot start properly because necessary ports are in use!

Fix

Option 1: Instead of starting another instance of the network, use the npm run generate-accounts to generate new accounts for an already started network.
Option 2: If you get the above error, ensure that you terminate any existing Docker processes for the local node, and also any other processes that are bound to these port numbers, before running the npm start command. You can run docker compose down -v, git clean -xfd, git reset --hard to fix this.

Useful Terms

For an in depth explanation of the different terms below, see the glossary documentation.

Accounts list (ED25519 keys)
Private keys
Public address

Next Steps

Want to learn how to deploy smart contracts on Hedera? Visit the guide on how to Deploy a Smart Contract Using Hardhat and Hedera JSON-RPC Relay.

Summary

In this tutorial, we successfully set up and ran the Hedera local node using the NPM CLI tool, generated default accounts and solved common errors encountered when running the local node.

Useful Resources

Set and Run a Hedera Node using the Local Hedera Package.
Setup node using Docker CLI.
Use local network variables to interact with Consensus and Mirror Nodes
Using Grafana and Prometheus Endpoints.

Writer: Owanate, Technical Writer

GitHub | Medium

Editor: Krystal, Technical Writer

GitHub | Twitter

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