polkadot
Polkadot blockchain node
TLDR
SYNOPSIS
polkadot [options] [subcommand]
DESCRIPTION
polkadot is the reference node implementation for the Polkadot blockchain network, a multi-chain protocol enabling cross-chain interoperability. The node participates in the network by validating transactions, producing blocks, and relaying messages between parachains.The node can operate as a full node (syncing and verifying the chain), a validator (participating in consensus), or a collator (producing blocks for parachains). Built on the Substrate framework as part of the polkadot-sdk monorepo and written in Rust.
PARAMETERS
--validator
Run as a validator node.--name NAME
Human-readable node name for telemetry.--chain CHAIN
Specify the chain: polkadot, kusama, westend, paseo, or path to chain spec JSON.--base-path DIR
Custom data directory.--sync MODE
Sync mode: Full (default), Fast, or Warp.--state-pruning N
Number of block states to keep. Use `archive` or `archive-canonical` to keep all. Default: 256.--blocks-pruning N
Number of blocks to keep. Use `archive` or `archive-canonical` to keep all. Default: archive-canonical.--rpc-port PORT
Unified JSON-RPC and WebSocket server port (default: 9944).--rpc-external
Listen on all interfaces for RPC connections.--rpc-methods METHOD
RPC methods to expose: Auto (default), Safe, or Unsafe.--bootnodes ADDRS
Specify bootstrap nodes.purge-chain
Remove the entire local chain database.key
Key management utilities (generate, insert, inspect).export-chain-spec
Export the chain specification.--help, -h
Display help.--version, -V
Display version.
CAVEATS
Validator nodes require staking DOT tokens. Running a full node requires significant disk space and bandwidth. The `--pruning` flag still works as an alias for `--state-pruning`. HTTP and WebSocket are served on a single unified port (default 9944).
SEE ALSO
cardano-node(1), geth(1)
