Skip to content
This repository was archived by the owner on Jul 5, 2025. It is now read-only.

validator_setup.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
142 lines (96 loc) · 3.34 KB

validator_setup.md

File metadata and controls

142 lines (96 loc) · 3.34 KB

Merit Subnet — Validator Setup Guide

Overview

This guide explains how to deploy a Merit subnet validator to participate in evaluating miners based on their active participation across the Bittensor network.

Merit validators:

  • Score miners per-hotkey based on external subnet incentives.
  • Perform dynamic global incentive refresh every epoch.
  • Conduct TOTP-secured pings to verify miner liveness.
  • Submit normalized weights dynamically to the Bittensor chain.

Requirements

  • Linux server or machine (Ubuntu 20.04+ recommended).
  • Python 3.10+ with virtualenv support.
  • Stable network connection.
  • Open ports for outbound traffic (pinging miners).
  • Accurate system clock (important for TOTP verification).

1. Install Dependencies

sudo apt -y install python3-venv python3-pip python-is-python3
sudo apt -y install ntpsec

2. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/fx-integral/merit.git
cd merit

3. Set Up a Virtual Environment

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install uv
uv pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Run the Validator

python -m merit.scripts.run_validator \
    --subtensor.network finney \
    --wallet.name {your_wallet_name} \
    --wallet.hotkey {your_hotkey_name} \
    --netuid 73 \
    --logging.debug

5. Optional Arguments

Argument Description Default
--ping_frequency Seconds between background pings 120

Example:

python -m merit.scripts.run_validator --ping_frequency 120

6. Validator Behavior

Feature Description
Dynamic Global Refresh Fetches full network miner info every epoch.
Hotkey-Specific Scoring Each registered hotkey is scored individually (no coldkey aggregation).
Incentive Averaging Rewards are averaged across all active subnets (excluding netuid 0 and 73).
BMPS Calculation bmps = (sum incentives / (active_subnets - 2)) × 100,000
Ping Adjustments -100% for failure
Weight Submission Normalized weights submitted after each epoch.

7. Troubleshooting

Issue Resolution
Time synchronization errors Install and run ntpsec to correct system clock.
Validator crash during RPC calls Validators auto-retry connection failures.
No miners found warning Happens if all hotkeys are invalid, banned, or unreachable.

8. Useful Commands

Deactivate virtual environment:

deactivate

Activate virtual environment:

source venv/bin/activate

Pull repository updates:

git pull origin main

9. Important Notes

  • Validators must have validator permit granted on the Merit subnet.
  • Only hotkeys registered on Merit are scored — not external ones.
  • Miners must be serving valid public IPv4 axons to avoid being skipped.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.
See LICENSE for details.