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Firedancer is configured via a TOML file. Almost all options have a recommended default value that is set automatically by Firedancer, and an operator needs only to specify values for options they wish to change.

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Configuration File Location

You can specify your configuration file in two ways:
  1. Set the FIREDANCER_CONFIG_TOML environment variable
  2. Pass it to commands with the --config option
The same configuration file must be supplied to all commands, especially when configuring and later running the validator. Using a different file for different commands may cause them to fail.

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Basic Configuration Example

An example TOML file overriding select options needed for a new validator on testnet: 
user = "firedancer"

[gossip]
    entrypoints = [
        "entrypoint.testnet.solana.com:8001",
        "entrypoint2.testnet.solana.com:8001",
        "entrypoint3.testnet.solana.com:8001",
    ]

[consensus]
    expected_genesis_hash = "4uhcVJyU9pJkvQyS88uRDiswHXSCkY3zQawwpjk2NsNY"
    known_validators = [
        "5D1fNXzvv5NjV1ysLjirC4WY92RNsVH18vjmcszZd8on",
        "dDzy5SR3AXdYWVqbDEkVFdvSPCtS9ihF5kJkHCtXoFs",
        "Ft5fbkqNa76vnsjYNwjDZUXoTWpP7VYm3mtsaQckQADN",
        "eoKpUABi59aT4rR9HGS3LcMecfut9x7zJyodWWP43YQ",
        "9QxCLckBiJc783jnMvXZubK4wH86Eqqvashtrwvcsgkv",
    ]
    identity_path = "/home/firedancer/validator-keypair.json"
    vote_account_path = "/home/firedancer/vote-keypair.json"

[rpc]
    port = 9099
    full_api = true
    private = true

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Core Configuration Fields

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name
string
default:"fd1"
Name of this Firedancer instance. This name serves as a unique token so that multiple Firedancer instances can run side by side without conflicting when they need to share a system or kernel namespace.
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user
string
default:""
The operating system user to permission data and run Firedancer as. Firedancer will automatically determine a user to run as if none is provided. The user should be minimally permissioned and never a superuser or root.
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scratch_directory
string
default:"/home/{user}/.firedancer/{name}"
Absolute directory path to place scratch files used during setup and operation. The ledger and accounts databases will also be placed in here by default. Supports {user} and {name} substitutions.
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dynamic_port_range
string
default:"8900-9000"
Port range used for various incoming network listeners, in the form <MIN_PORT>-<MAX_PORT> inclusive. This port range should NOT overlap with any of the static ports used by Firedancer.

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Migrating from Agave

The Agave validator is configured with command line options like --identity identity.json --rpc-port 8899. When migrating your scripts, these command line options will need to move to the corresponding configuration option in the TOML file.
Firedancer translates many configuration options to Agave command line arguments internally, allowing you to configure everything in one place.

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Logging Configuration

By default Firedancer maintains two logs:
  • Permanent log: Written to a file for long-term archival
  • Ephemeral log: Written to stderr for fast visual inspection
[log]
    level_stderr = "INFO"
    level_logfile = "INFO"

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Next Steps

Consensus Configuration

Configure validator identity, voting, and consensus parameters

Network Configuration

Set up network interfaces, XDP, and bandwidth settings

RPC Configuration

Enable and configure JSON RPC and WebSocket APIs

Ledger Configuration

Configure ledger storage, snapshots, and accounts

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