Setting up local development environment
This is a quick guide on how to setup a local development environment for working with the parsec codebase.
To begin with, create a directory called something like ParsecLabsRepos somewhere on your file system:
mkdir ParsecLabsRepos
cd ParsecLabsRepos
First we will deploy the required smart contracts in our local truffle network. Start by cloning parsec-contracts and building it:
git clone -b migrations https://github.com/parsec-labs/parsec-contracts.git
cd parsec-contracts/
npm install
Now run:
truffle develop
You should see something like this:
This starts a local ethereum network on localhost:9545. Also note the mnemonic on the bottom, you can use it to import the generated accounts into metamask. Now in the truffle console run:
migrate --reset
You should see something like this:
The above command will also generate a node_config.json configuration file which we will use later for running the parsec node.
Leave the truffle console running, open a new terminal tab and cd into ParsecLabsRepos. Now run:
git clone https://github.com/parsec-labs/parsec-node.git
cd parsec-node/
yarn
Now start the node with:
DEBUG=parsec,parsec:tx,parsec:period node index.js --config=../parsec-contracts/node_config.json
Should look something like this:
Now you need to buy a slot to become a validator on your chain. This means we have to interact with the bridge contract. You can do this in remix or you can use the web-ui.
First install remixd, which will allow remix to access your local files. Then run this in your parsec-contracts folder:
remixd -s .
Now go to remix. In the upper left corner you will see a button like this:
Click this to connect remix to your contracts folder. Then in the left-most column, navigate to /localhost/contracts/ParsecBridge.sol. Now remix should compile your contract. Then in the upper right, click run and under environment select Web3 Provider. In the popup enter http://localhost:9545. Now you can load the ParsecBridge at address given by the truffle console when we ran migrations and can call functions on the contract.
For supporting functions, the easiest way to interact with your contract is with the parsec-bridge-ui. In the ParsecLabsRepos folder, clone the web-ui repo:
git clone https://github.com/parsec-labs/parsec-bridge-ui.git
cd parsec-bridge-ui/
npm install
Now find your bridge address in the truffle console output and run this command:
NETWORK_ID=4447 BRIDGE_ADDR={your bridge address} yarn run start
You should now be able to visit the web-ui at http://localhost:1234. Now in metamask, select Costum RPC for the network provider and connect to http://localhost:9545. Then restore accounts from the seed given by the truffle console earlier. You should see some ether on this account.
Now to become a validator, notice the message left by the node when we started it. There you can see the parameters you need to register your node as a validator. Fill the form on the web-ui with this data, mine looks like this:
Then submit the transaction and you should be a validator now. Now go back to the node and restart it, the validator warning should be gone now.
We now have a basic setup, but it would be nice to have some transactions in our blockchain. This is what we will do next.