Guide to running a Farcaster Hubble using Contabo VPS

This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to properly run the Farcaster Hubble.

Requirements

To run the Farcaster node, you need to meet the following conditions:

• 16 GB of RAM
• 6 CPU cores or vCPUs
• 400 GB of free storage
• A public IP address with ports 2282 - 2285 exposed
• RPC endpoints for Ethereum nodes on L2 OP Mainnet and L1 Mainnet. I recommend using Alchemy's services, which are entirely free.
• If you don't have a Warpcast account yet, please register your account here: https://warpcast.com/~/invite-page/195265?id=ae63d3b4

Guide to purchasing a Contabo VPS

View the Contabo VPS purchase guide here. Choose a configuration that suits your needs.

Guide to running Farcaster Hubble

Install dependencies

Install docker

Add Docker's official GPG key:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

Add the repository to Apt sources:

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update

Install docker package

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Check out the hub-monorepo locally

git clone -c advice.detachedHead=false -b @latest https://github.com/farcasterxyz/hub-monorepo.git

From the root of this folder navigate to apps/hubble

cd hub-monorepo/apps/hubble

Identity key

chmod 777 -R .rocks/

chmod 777 -R .hub/

Generate your identity key pair with docker compose

docker compose run hubble yarn identity create

Set up RPC in Alchemy

Create an account on Alchemy

Use your Gmail to register an account here: https://www.alchemy.com/

Create Farcaster Hubble app

Create the Farcaster Hubble app on the Ethereum mainnet

Create the Farcaster Hubble app on the Optimism mainnet

Get API keys information for both Ethereum and Optimism.

Create a .env file in apps/hubble with your Ethereum RPC endpoints

nano .env

ETH_MAINNET_RPC_URL=your-ETH-mainnet-RPC-URL 

OPTIMISM_L2_RPC_URL=your-L2-optimism-RPC-URL 

HUB_OPERATOR_FID=your-fid 

FC_NETWORK_ID=1 

BOOTSTRAP_NODE=/dns/nemes.farcaster.xyz/tcp/2282

Note:

<your ETH-mainnet-RPC-URL>: This is the HTTPS API keys for the Ethereum mainnet.

<your Optimism-L2-RPC-URL>: This is the HTTPS API keys for Optimism.

<your FID>: This is the FID in your Wrapcast, located at Profile -> About -> Farcaster FID.

After making the changes, Press Ctrl + S, then Ctrl + X.

Start Hubble with docker compose in detached mode

docker compose up hubble -d

To view the status of the sync and hubble, follow the logs

docker compose logs -f hubble

We have completed the Guide to running a Farcaster Hubble using Contabo VPS. If you encounter any errors while running Farcaster Hubble, please join our Telegram group for assistance.