Run a Falcon PL node

Create an observer node

An observer follows the chain and checks it. It keeps the last 128 ledgers, serves your own wallet and falcon-pl-ctl, and does not bond or get paid.

• Linux x86_64, about 2 GB RAM and 10 GB disk.
• Keys stay on that machine. The installer checks the release signature, installs a service, and peers through the public seeds.
• No seat id and no bond. Re-run any time. Manage it with falcon-node status, logs, upgrade, or uninstall.

Create a validator node

A validator does everything an observer does, then bonds 50,000 FPL and can seal blocks and vote. Rewards land on the seat account. An optional payout address receives that spendable balance after each epoch. The bond is not sent.

• About 4–8 GB RAM, 20 GB disk, and online all the time.
• Enter a seat id. That name is the account on the chain. No contact field.
• After it syncs, Scott approves the seat and you fund the bond account. The installer bonds from that machine.

The install command appears here after the seat id is valid.

1. Run that command. The node syncs first, then writes application.json on that machine. The file has the public key only.
2. The installer prints a link. Open it and send the application. That is the only use of the application page.
3. For activation, say the seat id in Discord. Scott approves that id and key on the chain.
4. Send 50,000 FPL plus fees to the bond account. The installer bonds from the node.
5. The seat joins the lottery with the same odds as every other seat. If a payout address is set, each new epoch sends the seat's spendable FPL there. The bond stays on the node.

Binaries and checksums: github.com/beartec-jpg/falcon-pl-releases. Applications: github.com/beartec-jpg/falcon-pl-validators.

Bridge operators keep FBTC withdrawals moving. This is a testnet4 preview: the operator installer is not published yet and the on-chain operator registry is not active, so you cannot join yet. The steps below show what setup will look like.

What an operator does

• Fronts BTC withdrawals: when a user burns FBTC, the operator pays them BTC from its own wallet.
• Is repaid from the locked deposits through the presigned peg-out graph.
• Watches the other operators' claims against the Falcon ledger and challenges bad ones.
• Earns FPL for liveness, watching and payouts.

Requirements

• Linux x86_64, glibc 2.34+ (Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, RHEL 9+).
• A Bitcoin node (Bitcoin Core, synced, txindex=1) or Bitcoin RPC access.
• A BTC wallet you control with liquidity to front withdrawals (testnet4 coins for now) plus fees.
• A 5,000 FPL bond. Cheating is slashed 100%.
• Rewards: 5% of emissions, taken off the top, split across liveness, watching and payouts.

Setup (preview)

1. Run the operator installer install-operator.sh (not published yet; it will verify a signed release and install to ~/.falcon-operator).
2. Create and fund a BTC wallet in your own bitcoind, e.g. bitcoin-cli -testnet4 createwallet fpl-operator.
3. Edit ~/.falcon-operator/operator.env: your Falcon account for FPL rewards, Falcon RPC, bitcoind args, wallet name, payout/reserve limits.
4. Run falcon-operator check and confirm every item shows ok.
5. Get your public key with fpl-operatord pubkey and list the other operators in ~/.falcon-operator/peers.json as [{"name", "xonly", "url"}] (until the on-chain registry is live).
6. Start the daemon fpl-operatord (it starts in dry-run mode).
7. Check it is healthy: curl 127.0.0.1:19480/health returns 200 when both the Falcon node and your bitcoind wallet are reachable; /status shows what it would front.

Testnet preview only. Mainnet operation is possible only once the bridge activates.

Requirements

Ubuntu 20.04+ / Debian 11+ (glibc ≥ 2.31). AVX-512 is not needed. A validator that misses 20 turns in a row goes inactive (no slash) until it sends Reactivate.

Look up a seat

Type a seat id to see whether it is waiting for approval, approved, bonded, or not on the chain. This does not install anything.