Substrate Cumulus Parachain Template

A new Cumulus-based Substrate node, ready for hacking ☁️

This project is a fork of the Substrate Developer Hub Node Template modified to include dependencies required for registering this node as a parathread or parachian to an established relay chain

Build & Run

Follow these steps to prepare a local Substrate development environment 🛠️

Setup of Machine

If necessary, refer to the setup instructions at the Substrate Developer Hub.

Build

Once the development environment is set up, build the parachain node template. This command will build the Wasm Runtime and native node code:

cargo build --release

Connect a Collator Node to a Relay Chain

Local Relay Chain Testnet

To operate a parathread or parachain, you must connect to a relay chain. You have a few choices, the most typical for testing is a local development Rococo network, then moving to the live testnet. Keep in mind, you need to configure the specific relay chain you will connect to in your collator chain_spec.rs. In the following examples, we will use a rococo-local relay network.

Relay Chain Network (Validators)

Clone and build Polkadot (at the correct commit for your relay chain):

# Get a fresh clone, or `cd` to where you have polkadot already:
git clone -b <YOUR RELAY CHAIN BRANCH OR RELEASE TAG> --depth 1 https://github.com:paritytech/polkadot.git
cd polkadot
cargo build --release

Generate the chainspec

NOTE: this file must be generated on a single node and then the file shared with all nodes! Other nodes cannot generate it due to possible non-determinism.

./target/release/polkadot build-spec \
--chain rococo-local \
--raw \
--disable-default-bootnode \
> rococo_local.json

Start Relay Chain Node(s)

You should have a minimum of 2 running full validator nodes on your relay chain per parachain/thread collator you intend to connect!

From the Polkadot working directory:

# Start Relay `Alice` node
./target/release/polkadot \
--chain ./rococo_local.json \
-d /tmp/relay/alice \
--validator \
--alice \
--port 50555

Open a new terminal, same directory:

# Start Relay `Bob` node
./target/release/polkadot \
--chain ./rococo_local.json \
-d /tmp/relay/bob \
--validator \
--bob \
--port 50556

Add more nodes as needed, with non-conflicting ports, DB directories, and validator keys (--charlie, --dave, etc.).

Reserve a ParaID

To connect to a relay chain, you must first _reserve a ParaId for your parathread that will become a parachain. To do this, you must have currency available on an account on that network in sufficient amount to reserve an ID. This is 20 "units" on the testnets, check for the amount on your relay chain. The relay chain will increment starting at 2000 for all chains connecting that are not "systems parachains" that use a different method to obtain a ParaId.

The easiest way to reserve your ParaId this is via the Polkadot Apps UI under the Parachains -> Parathreads tab and use the + ParaID button.

You will need to connect to a relay chain node to submit this extrinsic! In testnets, your ParaId will be 2000 for your first parathread registration.

In this example flow, we will use the Charlie development account where we have funds available. Once you submit this extrinsic successfully, you can start your collators.

Parachain Network

Select the Correct Relay Chain

To operate your parachain, it must connect to the correct relay chain. Keep in mind, you need to configure the specific relay chain you will connect to in your collator chain_spec.rs. Specifically you pass the command for the network you need in the Extensions section of your ChainSpec::from_genesis( section:

		Extensions {
			relay_chain: "rococo-local".into(), // You MUST set this to the correct network!
			para_id: id.into(),
		},

You can choose from any pre-set runtime chain spec in the Polkadot repo looking in the cli/src/command.rs and node/service/src/chain_spec.rs files or generate your own and use that. See the Cumulus Workshop for how.

In the following examples, we use the rococo-local relay network we setup in the last section.

Export the Parachain Genesis and Runtime

The files you will need to register we will generate in a ./resources folder, to build them because you modified the code you can use the following commands:

# Build the parachain node (from it's top level dir)
cargo build --release

# Place to store files we need
mkdir -p resources

# Build the Chain spec
./target/release/parachain-collator build-spec \
--disable-default-bootnode > ./resources/template-local-plain.json

# Build the raw file
./target/release/parachain-collator build-spec \
--chain=./resources/template-local-plain.json \
--raw --disable-default-bootnode > ./resources/template-local.json

# Export genesis state to `./resources files
# Assumes ParaId = 2000 . Change as needed.
./target/release/parachain-collator export-genesis-state --parachain-id 2000 > ./resources/para-2000-genesis
# export runtime wasm
./target/release/parachain-collator export-genesis-wasm > ./resources/para-2000-wasm

Note: we have set the para_ID = 2000 here, this must be unique for all parathreads/chains on the relay chain you register with. You must reserve this first on the relay chain!

Start Parachain Nodes (Collators)

From the parachain template working directory:

# NOTE: this command assumes the chain spec is in a directory named `polkadot`
# that is at the same level of the template working directory. Change as needed.
#
# It also assumes a ParaId oof 2000. Change as needed.
./target/release/parachain-collator \
-d /tmp/parachain/alice \
--collator \
--alice \
--force-authoring \
--ws-port 9945 \
--parachain-id 2000 \
-- \
--execution wasm \
--chain ../polkadot/rococo_local.json

Output:

2021-05-30 16:57:39 Parachain Collator Template
2021-05-30 16:57:39 ✌️  version 3.0.0-acce183-x86_64-linux-gnu
2021-05-30 16:57:39 ❤️  by Anonymous, 2017-2021
2021-05-30 16:57:39 📋 Chain specification: Local Testnet
2021-05-30 16:57:39 🏷 Node name: Alice
2021-05-30 16:57:39 👤 Role: AUTHORITY
2021-05-30 16:57:39 💾 Database: RocksDb at /tmp/parachain/alice/chains/local_testnet/db
2021-05-30 16:57:39 ⛓  Native runtime: template-parachain-1 (template-parachain-0.tx1.au1)
2021-05-30 16:57:41 Parachain id: Id(2000)
2021-05-30 16:57:41 Parachain Account: 5Ec4AhPUwPeyTFyuhGuBbD224mY85LKLMSqSSo33JYWCazU4
2021-05-30 16:57:41 Parachain genesis state: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a96f42b5cb798190e5f679bb16970905087a9a9fc612fb5ca6b982b85783c0d03170a2e7597b7b7e3d84c05391d139a62b157e78786d8c082f29dcf4c11131400
2021-05-30 16:57:41 Is collating: yes
2021-05-30 16:57:41 [Parachain] 🔨 Initializing Genesis block/state (state: 0x0a96…3c0d, header-hash: 0xd42b…f271)
2021-05-30 16:57:41 [Parachain] ⏱  Loaded block-time = 12s from block 0xd42bb78354bc21770e3f0930ed45c7377558d2d8e81ca4d457e573128aabf271
2021-05-30 16:57:43 [Relaychain] 🔨 Initializing Genesis block/state (state: 0xace1…1b62, header-hash: 0xfa68…cf58)
2021-05-30 16:57:43 [Relaychain] 👴 Loading GRANDPA authority set from genesis on what appears to be first startup.
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Relaychain] ⏱  Loaded block-time = 6s from block 0xfa68f5abd2a80394b87c9bd07e0f4eee781b8c696d0a22c8e5ba38ae10e1cf58
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Relaychain] 👶 Creating empty BABE epoch changes on what appears to be first startup.
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Relaychain] 🏷 Local node identity is: 12D3KooWBjYK2W4dsBfsrFA9tZCStb5ogPb6STQqi2AK9awXfXyG
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Relaychain] 📦 Highest known block at #0
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Relaychain] 〽️ Prometheus server started at 127.0.0.1:9616
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Relaychain] Listening for new connections on 127.0.0.1:9945.
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Parachain] Using default protocol ID "sup" because none is configured in the chain specs
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Parachain] 🏷 Local node identity is: 12D3KooWADBSC58of6ng2M29YTDkmWCGehHoUZhsy9LGkHgYscBw
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Parachain] 📦 Highest known block at #0
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Parachain] Unable to listen on 127.0.0.1:9945
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Parachain] Unable to bind RPC server to 127.0.0.1:9945. Trying random port.
2021-05-30 16:57:44 [Parachain] Listening for new connections on 127.0.0.1:45141.
2021-05-30 16:57:45 [Relaychain] 🔍 Discovered new external address for our node: /ip4/192.168.42.204/tcp/30334/ws/p2p/12D3KooWBjYK2W4dsBfsrFA9tZCStb5ogPb6STQqi2AK9awXfXyG
2021-05-30 16:57:45 [Parachain] 🔍 Discovered new external address for our node: /ip4/192.168.42.204/tcp/30333/p2p/12D3KooWADBSC58of6ng2M29YTDkmWCGehHoUZhsy9LGkHgYscBw
2021-05-30 16:57:48 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #8 (0xe60b…9b0a)
2021-05-30 16:57:49 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #8 (0xe60b…9b0a), finalized #5 (0x1e6f…567c), ⬇ 4.5kiB/s ⬆ 2.2kiB/s
2021-05-30 16:57:49 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #0 (0xd42b…f271), finalized #0 (0xd42b…f271), ⬇ 2.0kiB/s ⬆ 1.7kiB/s
2021-05-30 16:57:54 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #9 (0x1af9…c9be)
2021-05-30 16:57:54 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #9 (0x6ed8…fdf6)
2021-05-30 16:57:54 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #9 (0x1af9…c9be), finalized #6 (0x3319…69a2), ⬇ 1.8kiB/s ⬆ 0.5kiB/s
2021-05-30 16:57:54 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #0 (0xd42b…f271), finalized #0 (0xd42b…f271), ⬇ 0.2kiB/s ⬆ 0.2kiB/s
2021-05-30 16:57:59 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #9 (0x1af9…c9be), finalized #7 (0x5b50…1e5b), ⬇ 0.6kiB/s ⬆ 0.4kiB/s
2021-05-30 16:57:59 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #0 (0xd42b…f271), finalized #0 (0xd42b…f271), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
2021-05-30 16:58:00 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #10 (0xc9c9…1ca3)

Register on the Relay with sudo

In order to produce parachain blocks you will need to register the parachain as detailed in the Substrate Cumulus Worship by going to:

Developer -> sudo -> paraSudoWrapper -> sudoScheduleParaInitialize(id, genesis)

Ensure you set the ParaId to 2000 and the parachain: Bool to Yes.

The files you will need are in the ./resources folder, you just created.

Note : When registering to the public Rococo testnet, ensure you set a unique para_id > 1000, below 1000 is reserved exclusively for system parachains.

Restart the Parachain (Collator) and Wait...

The collator node may need to be restarted to get it functioning as expected. After a new epoch starts on the relay chain, your parachain will come online. Once this happens, you should see the collator start reporting parachian blocks:

# Notice the relay epoch change! Only then do we start parachain collating!
#
2021-05-30 17:00:04 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #30 (0xfc02…2a2a), finalized #28 (0x10ff…6539), ⬇ 1.0kiB/s ⬆ 0.3kiB/s
2021-05-30 17:00:04 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #0 (0xd42b…f271), finalized #0 (0xd42b…f271), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
2021-05-30 17:00:06 [Relaychain] 👶 New epoch 3 launching at block 0x68bc…0605 (block slot 270402601 >= start slot 270402601).
2021-05-30 17:00:06 [Relaychain] 👶 Next epoch starts at slot 270402611
2021-05-30 17:00:06 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #31 (0x68bc…0605)
2021-05-30 17:00:06 [Parachain] Starting collation. relay_parent=0x68bcc93d24a31a2c89800a56c7a2b275fe9ca7bd63f829b64588ae0d99280605 at=0xd42bb78354bc21770e3f0930ed45c7377558d2d8e81ca4d457e573128aabf271
2021-05-30 17:00:06 [Parachain] 🙌 Starting consensus session on top of parent 0xd42bb78354bc21770e3f0930ed45c7377558d2d8e81ca4d457e573128aabf271
2021-05-30 17:00:06 [Parachain] 🎁 Prepared block for proposing at 1 [hash: 0xf6507812bf60bf53af1311f775aac03869be870df6b0406b2969784d0935cb92; parent_hash: 0xd42b…f271; extrinsics (2): [0x1bf5…1d76, 0x7c9b…4e23]]
2021-05-30 17:00:06 [Parachain] 🔖 Pre-sealed block for proposal at 1. Hash now 0x80fc151d7ccf228b802525022b6de257e42388ec7dc3c1dd7de491313650ccae, previously 0xf6507812bf60bf53af1311f775aac03869be870df6b0406b2969784d0935cb92.
2021-05-30 17:00:06 [Parachain] ✨ Imported #1 (0x80fc…ccae)
2021-05-30 17:00:06 [Parachain] Produced proof-of-validity candidate. block_hash=0x80fc151d7ccf228b802525022b6de257e42388ec7dc3c1dd7de491313650ccae
2021-05-30 17:00:09 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #31 (0x68bc…0605), finalized #29 (0xa6fa…9e16), ⬇ 1.2kiB/s ⬆ 129.9kiB/s
2021-05-30 17:00:09 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #0 (0xd42b…f271), finalized #0 (0xd42b…f271), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
2021-05-30 17:00:12 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #32 (0x5e92…ba30)
2021-05-30 17:00:12 [Relaychain] Moving approval window from session 0..=2 to 0..=3
2021-05-30 17:00:12 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #32 (0x8144…74eb)
2021-05-30 17:00:14 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #32 (0x5e92…ba30), finalized #29 (0xa6fa…9e16), ⬇ 1.4kiB/s ⬆ 0.2kiB/s
2021-05-30 17:00:14 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #0 (0xd42b…f271), finalized #0 (0xd42b…f271), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
2021-05-30 17:00:18 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #33 (0x8c30…9ccd)
2021-05-30 17:00:18 [Parachain] Starting collation. relay_parent=0x8c30ce9e6e9867824eb2aff40148ac1ed64cf464f51c5f2574013b44b20f9ccd at=0x80fc151d7ccf228b802525022b6de257e42388ec7dc3c1dd7de491313650ccae
2021-05-30 17:00:19 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #33 (0x8c30…9ccd), finalized #30 (0xfc02…2a2a), ⬇ 0.7kiB/s ⬆ 0.4kiB/s
2021-05-30 17:00:19 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #1 (0x80fc…ccae), finalized #0 (0xd42b…f271), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
2021-05-30 17:00:22 [Relaychain] 👴 Applying authority set change scheduled at block #31
2021-05-30 17:00:22 [Relaychain] 👴 Applying GRANDPA set change to new set [(Public(88dc3417d5058ec4b4503e0c12ea1a0a89be200fe98922423d4334014fa6b0ee (5FA9nQDV...)), 1), (Public(d17c2d7823ebf260fd138f2d7e27d114c0145d968b5ff5006125f2414fadae69 (5GoNkf6W...)), 1)]
2021-05-30 17:00:22 [Relaychain] 👴 Imported justification for block #31 that triggers command Changing authorities, signaling voter.
2021-05-30 17:00:24 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #34 (0x211b…febf)
2021-05-30 17:00:24 [Parachain] Starting collation. relay_parent=0x211b3c53bebeff8af05e8f283d59fe171b7f91a5bf9c4669d88943f5a42bfebf at=0x80fc151d7ccf228b802525022b6de257e42388ec7dc3c1dd7de491313650ccae
2021-05-30 17:00:24 [Parachain] 🙌 Starting consensus session on top of parent 0x80fc151d7ccf228b802525022b6de257e42388ec7dc3c1dd7de491313650ccae
2021-05-30 17:00:24 [Parachain] 🎁 Prepared block for proposing at 2 [hash: 0x10fcb3180e966729c842d1b0c4d8d2c4028cfa8bef02b909af5ef787e6a6a694; parent_hash: 0x80fc…ccae; extrinsics (2): [0x4a6c…1fc6, 0x6b84…7cea]]
2021-05-30 17:00:24 [Parachain] 🔖 Pre-sealed block for proposal at 2. Hash now 0x5087fd06b1b73d90cfc3ad175df8495b378fffbb02fea212cc9e49a00fd8b5a0, previously 0x10fcb3180e966729c842d1b0c4d8d2c4028cfa8bef02b909af5ef787e6a6a694.
2021-05-30 17:00:24 [Parachain] ✨ Imported #2 (0x5087…b5a0)
2021-05-30 17:00:24 [Parachain] Produced proof-of-validity candidate. block_hash=0x5087fd06b1b73d90cfc3ad175df8495b378fffbb02fea212cc9e49a00fd8b5a0
2021-05-30 17:00:24 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #34 (0x211b…febf), finalized #31 (0x68bc…0605), ⬇ 1.0kiB/s ⬆ 130.1kiB/s
2021-05-30 17:00:24 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #1 (0x80fc…ccae), finalized #0 (0xd42b…f271), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
2021-05-30 17:00:29 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #34 (0x211b…febf), finalized #32 (0x5e92…ba30), ⬇ 0.2kiB/s ⬆ 0.1kiB/s
2021-05-30 17:00:29 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #1 (0x80fc…ccae), finalized #0 (0xd42b…f271), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
2021-05-30 17:00:30 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #35 (0xee07…38a0)
2021-05-30 17:00:34 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #35 (0xee07…38a0), finalized #33 (0x8c30…9ccd), ⬇ 0.9kiB/s ⬆ 0.3kiB/s
2021-05-30 17:00:34 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #1 (0x80fc…ccae), finalized #1 (0x80fc…ccae), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0
2021-05-30 17:00:36 [Relaychain] ✨ Imported #36 (0xe8ce…4af6)
2021-05-30 17:00:36 [Parachain] Starting collation. relay_parent=0xe8cec8015c0c7bf508bf3f2f82b1696e9cca078e814b0f6671f0b0d5dfe84af6 at=0x5087fd06b1b73d90cfc3ad175df8495b378fffbb02fea212cc9e49a00fd8b5a0
2021-05-30 17:00:39 [Relaychain] 💤 Idle (2 peers), best: #36 (0xe8ce…4af6), finalized #33 (0x8c30…9ccd), ⬇ 0.6kiB/s ⬆ 0.1kiB/s
2021-05-30 17:00:39 [Parachain] 💤 Idle (0 peers), best: #2 (0x5087…b5a0), finalized #1 (0x80fc…ccae), ⬇ 0 ⬆ 0

Note the delay here! It may take some time for your relaychain to enter a new epoch.

Rococo & Westend Testnet Relay Chains

---

IS THIS TEMPLATE ROCOCO & WESTEND COMPATIBLE?

Yes!

As of 30/05/2021 for Polkadot runtimes v0.9.3

---

See the Cumulus Workshop for the latest instructions to register a parathread/parachain on a relay chain

IMPORTANT NOTE: you must use the same commit for cumulus and polkadot the present runtime for the network you are connecting to uses to be compatible!!! You must test locally registering your parachain successfully before you attempt to connect to any running relay chain network!

Find Chain spec files to connect to live networks here. You want to be sure to use the correct git release tag in these files, as they change from time to time and must match the live network!

• Rococo is generally more unstable getting tests incorporated first, and reset often!
  • Join in the Rococo Faucet to get some funds.
• Westend is more stable, and is not reset except when absolutely needed.
  • Join in the Westend Faucet to get some funds.

These networks are under constant development - so expect to need to follow progress and update your parachains in lock step with the testnet changes if you wish to connect to the network.

Do join the rococo matrix chat room to ask questions and connect with the parachain building teams.

Learn More

• More detailed instructions to use Cumulus parachains are found in the Cumulus Worship
• Refer to the upstream Substrate Developer Hub Node Template to learn more about the structure of this project, the capabilities it encapsulates and the way in which those capabilities are implemented.
• You can learn more about The Path of Parachain Block on the official Polkadot Blog.