Skip to content

README.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
142 lines (105 loc) · 4.71 KB

README.md

File metadata and controls

142 lines (105 loc) · 4.71 KB

Validator Submitter Guide (Docker Swarm)

This guide is only for normal validators. It installs the submit-only on-chain weight submitter as a systemd service. The submitter fetches the master weight vector from the public Platform endpoint and submits it on-chain. It runs no challenge orchestration: all challenge services run on the Platform master (manager) node.

The default weights endpoint is:

https://chain.platform.network/v1/weights/latest

Secret Rule

The submitter needs exactly one secret: the validator hotkey. Never place coldkey material on the node, in shell history, logs, screenshots, support channels, or evidence files. Generate the hotkey files on a trusted machine and copy only the hotkey (not the coldkey) into:

/var/lib/platform/wallets/platform-validator/hotkeys/validator

Install The Submitter

The submitter ships in deploy/swarm/submitter/:

File Destination Purpose
run_submitter.py /var/lib/platform/submitter/run_submitter.py Submit-only process.
submitter.yaml /etc/platform/submitter.yaml Credential-free config (netuid, wallet identity, master weights_url).
platform-submitter.service /etc/systemd/system/platform-submitter.service systemd unit.

Install and start it:

cp deploy/swarm/submitter/run_submitter.py   /var/lib/platform/submitter/
cp deploy/swarm/submitter/submitter.yaml     /etc/platform/submitter.yaml
cp deploy/swarm/submitter/platform-submitter.service /etc/systemd/system/
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now platform-submitter.service

The unit runs under Restart=always with HOME=/var/lib/platform so Bittensor resolves ~/.bittensor consistently. It opens no control-plane database connection: it only talks to the master over HTTP and to the chain.

How The Submitter Works

The submitter polls validator.weights_url (default https://chain.platform.network) at validator.weights_interval_seconds, reads /v1/weights/latest, and submits the fetched vector on-chain for the configured network.netuid. It retries on transient master or chain failures and skips submission when the master vector is stale beyond validator.weights_freshness_seconds. The relevant submitter.yaml keys:

network:
  netuid: 100
  wallet_name: platform-validator
  wallet_hotkey: validator
  wallet_path: /var/lib/platform/wallets
  master_uid: 0
validator:
  weights_url: https://chain.platform.network
  weights_interval_seconds: 360
  weights_timeout_seconds: 15.0
  weights_retries: 3
  weights_freshness_seconds: 720

Operator FAQ

Is Kubernetes required?

No. There is no Kubernetes anywhere in Platform. The submitter is a single systemd-managed Python process. It does not deploy an orchestrator and does not run challenge workloads.

Do I need to run the challenges?

No. Challenge services run on the Platform master (manager) node, scheduled as Docker Swarm services with the placement constraint node.role==manager. The submitter only reads the master weight vector and submits it on-chain.

Do I need a database?

No. The submit path never opens the control-plane database. The shared control-plane PostgreSQL is used by the master/manager only and is not a submitter dependency.

What are the minimum requirements?

A submit-only node needs very little: a Python runtime, network access to the master endpoint and the chain, and the validator hotkey file. A node that also acts as the Swarm manager should have at least 2 vCPUs and 8 GB RAM.

What if the requirements are too high?

Use the Bittensor CHK / stake weight check flow to give validator power to the recommended Platform validator hotkey instead of running the submitter yourself:

5GziQCcRpN8NCJktX343brnfuVe3w6gUYieeStXPD1Dag2At

Manual Install

If you do not use the unit file, run the same process under any supervisor:

python /var/lib/platform/submitter/run_submitter.py --config /etc/platform/submitter.yaml

Ensure the hotkey file exists at /var/lib/platform/wallets/platform-validator/hotkeys/validator and that submitter.yaml points validator.weights_url at the master endpoint.

Runtime Checks

systemctl status platform-submitter.service
journalctl -u platform-submitter.service -f

Validation Commands

Before changing the submitter or docs, run:

uv run ruff check .
uv run ruff format --check .
uv run mypy src tests
uv run pytest

Start the submitter only when the hotkey material on the node is safe to use for on-chain submission. CI publishes Docker images to GHCR only from trusted events: PRs build with push: false, while main, v*.*.* tags, and confirmed manual runs publish platform and platform-master images to GHCR.