Custom networks and values

This section will cover importing bootstrapper IDs, chain ID, and network ID. This will allow you to import custom values for a chain that is not in the default configuration.

If you have a custom network you can export CELESTIA_CUSTOM, which will look something like:

export BRIDGE="/ip4/<ip-address>/tcp/2121/p2p/<node-ID>"
export GENESIS_HASH=<genesis-hash>
export NETWORK=<network-name>
export CELESTIA_CUSTOM="${NETWORK}:${GENESIS_HASH}:${BRIDGE}"

Query your node ID from the CLI. These values with examples would look like:

export BRIDGE="/ip4/151.115.14.33/tcp/2121/p2p/12D3KooWKEeRtzVMPUdxYsZo2edqps6mS67n6LT5mPdULSkPSxBQ"
export GENESIS_HASH=580B3DFF8A7C716968161D91116A1E171F486298D582874E93714E489C9E6E88
export NETWORK=custom
export CELESTIA_CUSTOM="${NETWORK}:${GENESIS_HASH}:${BRIDGE}"

For an archival bridge node, include the genesis field in CELESTIA_CUSTOM. Setting only CELESTIA_CUSTOM="${NETWORK}" omits that field and prevents archival startup with a genesis hash not found error. A non-empty GENESIS_HASH must identify the network’s genesis block: archival startup uses it as SyncFromHash, so an incorrect hash prevents syncing from the correct starting point. An explicitly empty field, as in CELESTIA_CUSTOM="${NETWORK}:", starts archival sync from height 1 instead.

Bridge nodes prune by default. To retain historical headers and original data, pass --archival every time you start the node. Archival nodes still trim redundant erasure-coded data outside the storage window.

Then, start your node with:

celestia <node-type> start [flags...]

For an archival bridge node:

celestia bridge start --archival [flags...]