Hiero Consensus Node Platform Developer

This page provides information for developers who want to build and run Hiero Consensus Node testing application locally.

Use Solo with a Local Built Hiero Consensus Node Testing Application

First, please clone Hiero Consensus Node repo https://github.com/hiero-ledger/hiero-consensus-node/ and build the code with ./gradlew assemble. If you need to run multiple nodes with different versions or releases, please duplicate the repo or build directories in multiple directories, checkout to the respective version and build the code.

Then you can start the custom-built platform testing application with the following command:

SOLO_CLUSTER_NAME=solo-cluster
SOLO_NAMESPACE=solo-e2e
SOLO_CLUSTER_SETUP_NAMESPACE=solo-setup
SOLO_DEPLOYMENT=solo-deployment

rm -Rf ~/.solo
kind delete cluster -n "${SOLO_CLUSTER_NAME}" 
kind create cluster -n "${SOLO_CLUSTER_NAME}"
solo init
solo cluster-ref config setup -s "${SOLO_CLUSTER_SETUP_NAMESPACE}"

solo cluster-ref config connect --cluster-ref ${SOLO_CLUSTER_NAME} --context kind-${SOLO_CLUSTER_NAME}
solo deployment config create --namespace "${SOLO_NAMESPACE}" --deployment "${SOLO_DEPLOYMENT}"
solo deployment cluster attach --deployment "${SOLO_DEPLOYMENT}" --cluster-ref ${SOLO_CLUSTER_NAME} --num-consensus-nodes 3

solo keys consensus generate --deployment "${SOLO_DEPLOYMENT}" --gossip-keys --tls-keys -i node1,node2,node3 
solo consensus network deploy --deployment "${SOLO_DEPLOYMENT}" -i node1,node2,node3 

# option 1) if all nodes are running the same version of Hiero app
solo consensus node setup --deployment "${SOLO_DEPLOYMENT}" -i node1,node2,node3 --local-build-path ../hiero-consensus-node/hedera-node/data/

# option 2) if each node is running different version of Hiero app, please provide different paths to the local repositories
solo consensus node setup --deployment "${SOLO_DEPLOYMENT}" -i node1,node2,node3 --local-build-path node1=../hiero-consensus-node/hedera-node/data/,node1=<path2>,node3=<path3>

solo consensus node start --deployment "${SOLO_DEPLOYMENT}" -i node1,node2,node3

It is possible that different nodes are running different versions of Hiero app, as long as in the above setup command, each node0, or node1 is given different paths to the local repositories.

If need to provide customized configuration files for Hedera application, please use the following flags with consensus network deploy command:

  • --settings-txt - to provide custom settings.txt file
  • --api-permission-properties - to provide custom api-permission.properties file
  • --bootstrap-properties - to provide custom bootstrap.properties file
  • --application-properties - to provide custom application.properties file
  • --block-node-cfg - to configure block node routing for each consensus node

For example:

solo consensus network deploy --deployment "${SOLO_DEPLOYMENT}" -i node1,node2,node3 --settings-txt <path-to-settings-txt>

Block Node Routing Configuration

For network delay testing and simulating different network topologies, you can configure how each consensus node sends blocks to specific block nodes using the --block-node-cfg flag:

# Using JSON string directly
solo consensus network deploy --deployment "${SOLO_DEPLOYMENT}" \
  -i node1,node2,node3 \
  --block-node-cfg '{"node1":[1,3],"node2":[2],"node3":[1,2]}'

# Or using a JSON file
echo '{"node1":[1,3],"node2":[2],"node3":[1,2]}' > block-config.json
solo consensus network deploy --deployment "${SOLO_DEPLOYMENT}" \
  -i node1,node2,node3 \
  --block-node-cfg block-config.json

This configuration maps consensus node names to arrays of block node IDs. For example:

  • node1 sends blocks to block nodes 1 and 3
  • node2 sends blocks to block node 2
  • node3 sends blocks to block nodes 1 and 2
Last modified October 16, 2025: chore: update blockcfg documentation (#2741) (447f2957)