Quick start guide ​

In this section, we show you how to get started with installing the needed libraries and packages in Celestia to help you run a node on Celestia.

Celestia Node ​

Install celestia-node allows you to get started with running a light node and do data availability sampling.

Light nodes are the best nodes to test out initially if you are new to participating in Celestia.

celestia-node client also allows you to run other types of data availability (DA) nodes like bridge and full DA storage nodes, which will be covered in later sections.

Celestia App ​

Install celestia-app allows you to get started running a consensus node.

celestia-app is the software that allows you to run validator nodes and also provide RPC endpoints.

celestia-app covers the consensus layer, while celestia-node covers the DA layer.

Getting started ​

As covered in the previous section, Celestia offers two different test networks, Arabica devnet and Mocha testnet.

If you are planning to run a light node, it is recommended to use Arabica, which you will find options to connecting to in the later sections.

If you plan on running a validator, your only option is to run your node on Mocha.

In this quick start guide, we will go over installing both of the software clients: celestia-node and celestia-app.

NOTE: If you just want to run a light node, you don't need to install celestia-app and can skip that part.

Proceed to the next section in order to get started.