---

Network: Airchains Junction Varanasi Testnet (Chain ID: varanasi-1)
Version: v0.3.2
Last Updated: May 2026

---

Table of Contents

• Hardware Requirements
• Network Endpoints
• Step 1 — System Verification
• Step 2 — System Update and Dependencies
• Step 3 — Install Go
• Step 4 — Download Binary
• Step 5 — Install Cosmovisor
• Step 6 — Create Systemd Service
• Step 7 — Initialize the Node
• Step 8 — Download Genesis and Addrbook
• Step 9 — Configure Ports, Gas Prices and Pruning
• Step 10 — Configure Seeds and Peers
• Step 11 — Start the Node
• Step 12 — Create a Wallet
• Step 13 — Register as a Validator
• Monitoring the Node
• Useful Commands
• Staying Updated

---

Hardware Requirements

---

Network Endpoints

---

Step 1 — System Verification

After SSH-ing into your server, verify the system meets requirements:

lsb_release -a          # Should be Ubuntu 22.04 or higher
uname -r                # Kernel version
lscpu | grep -E "Model name|CPU\(s\)|Thread|Socket|Core"
free -h                 # Minimum 8 GB RAM
df -h                   # Minimum 200 GB free disk

---

Step 2 — System Update and Dependencies

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y curl git wget htop tmux build-essential jq make lz4 gcc unzip

---

Step 3 — Install Go

Airchains Junction v0.3.2 requires Go 1.23+:

cd $HOME
VER="1.23.0"
wget "https://golang.org/dl/go$VER.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go
sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf "go$VER.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
rm "go$VER.linux-amd64.tar.gz"

[ ! -f ~/.bash_profile ] && touch ~/.bash_profile
echo "export PATH=\$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:\$HOME/go/bin" >> ~/.bash_profile
source $HOME/.bash_profile
[ ! -d ~/go/bin ] && mkdir -p ~/go/bin

Verify the installation:

go version

Expected output: go version go1.23.0 linux/amd64

---

Step 4 — Download Binary

wget -O junctiond \
  https://github.com/airchains-network/junction/releases/download/v0.3.2/junctiond-linux-amd64
chmod +x junctiond

mkdir -p $HOME/.junction/cosmovisor/genesis/bin
mv $HOME/junctiond $HOME/.junction/cosmovisor/genesis/bin/

ln -sf $HOME/.junction/cosmovisor/genesis $HOME/.junction/cosmovisor/current -f
sudo ln -sf $HOME/.junction/cosmovisor/current/bin/junctiond /usr/local/bin/junctiond -f

Verify:

junctiond version

Expected output: v0.3.2

---

Step 5 — Install Cosmovisor

go install cosmossdk.io/tools/cosmovisor/cmd/[email protected]

Verify:

cosmovisor version

---

Step 6 — Create Systemd Service

Set your moniker and port prefix:

MONIKER="YOUR_MONIKER"
PORT="26"   # Default is 26. Change to avoid conflicts (e.g. 27, 28...)

Create the service file:

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/junctiond.service > /dev/null << EOF
[Unit]
Description=Airchains Junction Node Service
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=$USER
ExecStart=$(which cosmovisor) run start
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
LimitNOFILE=65535
Environment="DAEMON_HOME=$HOME/.junction"
Environment="DAEMON_NAME=junctiond"
Environment="UNSAFE_SKIP_BACKUP=true"
Environment="PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin:$HOME/.junction/cosmovisor/current/bin"

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable junctiond

---

Step 7 — Initialize the Node

junctiond config set client chain-id varanasi-1
junctiond config set client keyring-backend test
junctiond config set client node tcp://localhost:${PORT}657

junctiond init $MONIKER --chain-id varanasi-1 --default-denom uamf

Set environment variables permanently:

echo "export MONIKER=$MONIKER" >> $HOME/.bash_profile
echo "export AIRCHAINS_CHAIN_ID=\"varanasi-1\"" >> $HOME/.bash_profile
echo "export AIRCHAINS_PORT=$PORT" >> $HOME/.bash_profile
source $HOME/.bash_profile

---

Step 8 — Download Genesis and Addrbook

wget -O $HOME/.junction/config/genesis.json \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/airchains-network/junction-resources/refs/heads/main/varanasi-testnet/genesis/genesis.json

wget -O $HOME/.junction/config/addrbook.json \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hazennetworksolutions/airchains/refs/heads/main/addrbook.json

Verify genesis checksum:

sha256sum $HOME/.junction/config/genesis.json

---

Step 9 — Configure Ports, Gas Prices and Pruning

Custom Ports

sed -i.bak -e "s%:1317%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}317%g;
s%:8080%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}080%g;
s%:9090%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}090%g;
s%:9091%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}091%g;
s%:8545%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}545%g;
s%:8546%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}546%g" $HOME/.junction/config/app.toml

sed -i.bak -e "s%:26658%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}658%g;
s%:26657%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}657%g;
s%:6060%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}060%g;
s%:26656%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}656%g;
s%^external_address = \"\"%external_address = \"$(wget -qO- eth0.me):${AIRCHAINS_PORT}656\"%;
s%:26660%:${AIRCHAINS_PORT}660%g" $HOME/.junction/config/config.toml

Gas Prices

sed -i 's|minimum-gas-prices =.*|minimum-gas-prices = "0.00025uamf"|g' \
  $HOME/.junction/config/app.toml

Pruning

sed -i -e "s/^pruning *=.*/pruning = \"custom\"/" $HOME/.junction/config/app.toml
sed -i -e "s/^pruning-keep-recent *=.*/pruning-keep-recent = \"100\"/" $HOME/.junction/config/app.toml
sed -i -e "s/^pruning-interval *=.*/pruning-interval = \"19\"/" $HOME/.junction/config/app.toml

Enable Prometheus (optional)

sed -i -e "s/prometheus = false/prometheus = true/" $HOME/.junction/config/config.toml

Disable Indexer (saves disk space)

sed -i -e "s/^indexer *=.*/indexer = \"null\"/" $HOME/.junction/config/config.toml

---

Step 10 — Configure Seeds and Peers

SEEDS="04e2fdd6ec8f23729f24245171eaceae5219aa91@airchains-testnet-seed.itrocket.net:19656"
PEERS="[email protected]:63656,[email protected]:26656,[email protected]:28656,[email protected]:26656,[email protected]:27656,[email protected]:11656,[email protected]:26656,[email protected]:24656,[email protected]:63656,[email protected]:43456,[email protected]:38656,[email protected]:26656,[email protected]:24656,[email protected]:43456,[email protected]:43456"

sed -i -e "/^\[p2p\]/,/^\[/{s/^[[:space:]]*seeds *=.*/seeds = \"$SEEDS\"/}" \
       -e "/^\[p2p\]/,/^\[/{s/^[[:space:]]*persistent_peers *=.*/persistent_peers = \"$PEERS\"/}" \
       $HOME/.junction/config/config.toml

---

Step 11 — Start the Node

sudo systemctl start junctiond
sudo journalctl -u junctiond -f --no-pager -o cat

Verify the service is running:

sudo systemctl status junctiond --no-pager

The service should show active (running).

Check sync status:

junctiond status 2>&1 | jq .SyncInfo

Wait until catching_up is false before proceeding to validator registration.

---

Step 12 — Create a Wallet

junctiond keys add wallet --keyring-backend test

⚠️ CRITICAL: Save your mnemonic phrase in a secure location. Without it, you cannot recover your wallet.

To recover an existing wallet:

junctiond keys add wallet --recover --keyring-backend test

Get testnet tokens from the faucet:

🚰 Faucet: faucet.airchains.io

Check your balance:

junctiond query bank balances $(junctiond keys show wallet -a --keyring-backend test)

---

Step 13 — Register as a Validator

The node must be fully synced before creating a validator.

Get your pubkey:

junctiond comet show-validator

Create validator JSON:

cat > $HOME/validator.json << EOF
{
  "pubkey": $(junctiond comet show-validator),
  "amount": "1000000uamf",
  "moniker": "YOUR_MONIKER",
  "identity": "",
  "website": "",
  "security": "",
  "details": "",
  "commission-rate": "0.05",
  "commission-max-rate": "0.20",
  "commission-max-change-rate": "0.01",
  "min-self-delegation": "1"
}
EOF

Submit the transaction:

junctiond tx staking create-validator $HOME/validator.json \
  --from wallet \
  --chain-id varanasi-1 \
  --keyring-backend test \
  --gas auto \
  --gas-adjustment 1.4 \
  --fees 500uamf \
  -y

Verify your validator:

junctiond query staking validator \
  $(junctiond keys show wallet --bech val -a --keyring-backend test)

---

Monitoring the Node

Watch live block commits:

sudo journalctl -u junctiond -f --no-pager | grep "committed block"

Full logs:

sudo journalctl -u junctiond -f --no-pager

Sync status:

junctiond status 2>&1 | jq .SyncInfo

Service management:

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart junctiond

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop junctiond

# Check status
sudo systemctl status junctiond

---

Useful Commands

Wallet

# List wallets
junctiond keys list --keyring-backend test

# Show wallet address
junctiond keys show wallet -a --keyring-backend test

# Check balance
junctiond query bank balances $(junctiond keys show wallet -a --keyring-backend test)

Staking

# Delegate tokens
junctiond tx staking delegate \
  $(junctiond keys show wallet --bech val -a --keyring-backend test) 1000000uamf \
  --from wallet --chain-id varanasi-1 --keyring-backend test \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.4 --fees 500uamf -y

# Redelegate tokens
junctiond tx staking redelegate \
  $(junctiond keys show wallet --bech val -a --keyring-backend test) <NEW_VALOPER> 1000000uamf \
  --from wallet --chain-id varanasi-1 --keyring-backend test \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.4 --fees 500uamf -y

# Undelegate tokens
junctiond tx staking unbond \
  $(junctiond keys show wallet --bech val -a --keyring-backend test) 1000000uamf \
  --from wallet --chain-id varanasi-1 --keyring-backend test \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.4 --fees 500uamf -y

Rewards

# Withdraw all rewards
junctiond tx distribution withdraw-all-rewards \
  --from wallet --chain-id varanasi-1 --keyring-backend test \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.4 --fees 500uamf -y

# Withdraw commission
junctiond tx distribution withdraw-rewards \
  $(junctiond keys show wallet --bech val -a --keyring-backend test) --commission \
  --from wallet --chain-id varanasi-1 --keyring-backend test \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.4 --fees 500uamf -y

Governance

# List proposals
junctiond query gov proposals

# Vote on a proposal
junctiond tx gov vote 1 yes \
  --from wallet --chain-id varanasi-1 --keyring-backend test \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.4 --fees 500uamf -y

Validator Operations

# Edit validator
junctiond tx staking edit-validator \
  --new-moniker "NEW_MONIKER" \
  --identity "" \
  --from wallet --chain-id varanasi-1 --keyring-backend test \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.4 --fees 500uamf -y

# Unjail validator
junctiond tx slashing unjail \
  --from wallet --chain-id varanasi-1 --keyring-backend test \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.4 --fees 500uamf -y

# Check validator signing info
junctiond query slashing signing-info $(junctiond comet show-validator)

---

Staying Updated

Follow these channels to stay informed about upgrades and announcements:

• Discord: Airchains Discord
• GitHub Releases: airchains-network/junction Releases
• Official Docs: docs.airchains.io

Upgrade with Cosmovisor (example: v0.4.0)

wget -O junctiond \
  https://github.com/airchains-network/junction/releases/download/v0.4.0/junctiond-linux-amd64
chmod +x junctiond

mkdir -p $HOME/.junction/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.4.0/bin
mv junctiond $HOME/.junction/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.4.0/bin/
chmod +x $HOME/.junction/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.4.0/bin/junctiond

Cosmovisor will automatically switch to the new binary at the upgrade block height.

---

Guide maintained by HazenNetworkSolutions