Validator Guide¶

Validators are the consensus participants in the Citizen network. They propose blocks, vote on proposals, and maintain the ledger.

Validator Responsibilities¶

Stay online - validators must maintain uptime to participate in consensus
Vote on blocks - every validator must vote on proposed blocks
Vote on governance - participate in governance proposals
Maintain synchronization - keep the ledger in sync with the network

Admission Process¶

New validators must be admitted through governance:

Generate node identity - create a cryptographic identity for the node
Submit admission manifest - apply for validator status through a governance proposal
Pass preflight checks - the node must pass admission preflight validation
Receive approval - the governance vote must pass with required quorum
Join consensus - upon approval, the validator joins the consensus set

Generating Node Identity¶

./target/release/citizen-node --generate-identity

This creates the identity key pair stored in data/IDENTITY.

Admission Manifest¶

See citizen-protocol/docs/ADMISSION_MANIFEST_GENERATION_HOWTO.md for the full admission manifest format and generation process.

Validator Operations¶

Monitoring Quorum¶

Ensure enough validators are online to maintain >2/3 quorum:

curl http://localhost:7001/consensus/status | jq '.validators.online'

If online validators drop below the quorum threshold, the network halts until enough validators return.

Key Management¶

Validator identity keys should be backed up securely. See Key Management in the security policies.

View Changes¶

If the leader becomes unresponsive, the network automatically triggers a view change. No operator intervention is required, but you should monitor for excessive view changes which may indicate network issues.

Security Best Practices¶

Run validators on dedicated infrastructure
Keep the node identity key secure and backed up
Monitor node health and uptime
Use firewall rules to restrict API access
Regularly update to the latest protocol version