Install & Run Lotus

Lotus is your gateway to the Filecoin network. It syncs the chain, manages wallets, and is required for Curio to interact with your node.

Lotus Documentation

Filecoin Slack - #fil-lotus-help

Build Lotus Daemon

Clone and check out Lotus:

git clone https://github.com/filecoin-project/lotus.git
cd lotus
git checkout $(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/filecoin-project/lotus/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name)

Build and Install for Mainnet

make clean lotus
sudo make install-daemon
lotus --version

Build and Install for Calibration

make clean && make GOFLAGS="-tags=calibnet" lotus
sudo make install-daemon
lotus --version

You should see something like: lotus version 1.32.3+mainnet+git.ff88d8269

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Import a Snapshot and Start the Daemon

Download the Snapshot

Mainnet:

aria2c -x5 -o snapshot.car.zst https://forest-archive.chainsafe.dev/latest/mainnet/

Calibration:

aria2c -x5 -o snapshot.car.zst https://forest-archive.chainsafe.dev/latest/calibnet/

Import and Start the Daemon

lotus daemon --import-snapshot snapshot.car.zst --remove-existing-chain --halt-after-import
nohup lotus daemon > ~/lotus.log 2>&1 &

Monitor Sync Progress

lotus sync wait

To monitor continuously:

lotus sync wait --watch

Monitor Logs

tail -f ~/lotus.log

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Create Wallets

You’ll need to create two BLS wallets:

• One for owner: used to fund sector pledges and submit proofs

• One for worker: used to publish and manage storage deals

lotus wallet new bls  # Create owner wallet
lotus wallet new bls  # Create worker wallet
lotus wallet list     # List all created wallets

Make sure to send a small amount of FIL to each wallet - we recommend 1 FIL per wallet to ensure the creation of your Storage Provider in Curio.

Both wallets will be used during Curio initialisation.

Back up your wallet keys securely before continuing. Losing them will result in permanent loss of access to funds.