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Mine on the public testnet

This is an operator path for the testnet, not a mainnet mining-pool protocol or proof that an external pool is currently connected. The network uses RandomX for miner blocks. The separate hash-commitment lane uses SHA-256; it is not the miner algorithm. The bundled testnet configuration sets 40 blocks per epoch, an initial difficulty of 1, and a 60-second target block time. Check modal net info testnet for the configuration shipped with your binary before operating.

Start a minerā€‹

Install the full modal binary and create a fresh identity as in the join guide. Keep my-node/node.modal_passfile private.

modal node create --dir ./my-node --testnet
modal node run-miner --dir ./my-node --no-tui

The generated config includes the published bootstrap peers. Open TCP 4040 for inbound peers. run-miner mines and gossips blocks; use run-hybrid instead if this node should also run a sequencer. Do not use a Foundation node template as an independent operator identity.

From a second node directory, ping a bootstrapper using its full address from modal net info testnet (including /p2p/<peer-id>):

modal node ping --dir ./ping-node --target '<bootstrapper-multiaddr>'

A successful ping proves transport to that peer, not that your blocks became canonical. Check the miner logs for mined blocks, then compare the chain tip and recent blocks with a separately running observer. Keep a dated run log if you are publishing evidence of an external join. The network checklist keeps that evidence open until an external trace exists.

Nominate a sequencerā€‹

By default each mined block nominates the miner's own peer ID. To nominate other running nodes, stop the miner and add miner_nominees to ./my-node/config.json, preserving the other fields:

{
  "miner_nominees": [
    "<sequencer-peer-id-1>",
    "<sequencer-peer-id-2>"
  ]
}

Start run-miner again. For a nonempty list, the nominee for a block at index i is miner_nominees[i % list_length]. The peer IDs must belong to nodes prepared to sequence; nomination does not start those processes for you. Hybrid selection uses the canonical mining chain from epoch Nāˆ’2 to choose sequencers for epoch N, so nomination is not immediate. An empty or absent list nominates the miner's own peer ID. The node's miner nominee implementation is the source for this selection rule.

The testnet's named validators are a separate prefix-certificate role; run-validator is not the mining join path. Mining a block also does not immediately pay spendable MOD: the MOD contract mints after the chain is two epochs past the block. Follow the wallet receive flow to claim the payout for your nominated key.