How to Connect to the Testnet

Testnet 10 is the supported testnet. Testnet 7 may remain active, but is no longer officially supported by Chia.

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How to join testnet

These steps assume you have Chia installed.

Step 1. Run chia init

Step 2. If you do not already have keys generated then run chia keys generate.

Step 3. Run chia configure --testnet true.

This will make your client automatically select and configure itself for the currently active testnet. If you have previously run chia start for this installation, at this point run chia stop all -d to ensure that no mainnet processes are still running.

Step 4. Create a directory named db in the Chia root directory.

Once in root directory (~/.chia/mainnet), you can run mkdir db and cd db on Linux or if using the Windows/macOS GUI you can create the folder as normal.

Step 5. Download the Official Testnet DB (optional)

This step is optional, but it will speed up syncing with the testnet.

For Linux users wget https://download-chia-net.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/testnet10/blockchain_v1_testnet10.sqlite while in the directory. Windows users can download it from https://download.chia.net/?prefix=testnet10/ and move it to the db folder you created in step 4.

Step 6. Starting Your Node and Getting Peers

To start your node, run chia start farmer and wait for it to start. Once your node has started, you can connect to Chia's testnet node by using chia show -a testnet10-node.chia.net:58444. You can use chia show -s to check your sync status, and once fully synced you can run chia wallet show to see your wallet. chia wallet get_address will give you your testnet wallet address, which will differentiate itself from your mainnet wallet by beginning with txch instead of xch.

Step 7. (Optional) Getting funds.

Go to Chia testnet faucet and input your testnet address from step 6. If it says you are in the queue, it has worked. Funds will not appear in your wallet until you are fully synced to the blockchain.

What to do if you are having trouble with setting up testnet.

Join Our Keybase and join the #testnet channel for support