aleo-devnode

The devnode is a standalone Aleo development node for local testing and development. Unlike a production node, it does not verify proofs. This means transactions can be built with placeholder proofs (for executions) and placeholder verifying keys (for deployments and upgrades), making quick local iteration and fast end-to-end testing by bypassing proof generation when creating a transaction.

Build

cargo build --release

Usage

Start the devnode

aleo-devnode start --private-key APrivateKey1zkp8CZNn3yeCseEtxuVPbDCwSyhGW6yZKUYKfgXmcpoGPWH

The private key above is the standard Aleo testnet development key — safe to use locally, never use it in production.

The node starts a REST API on http://127.0.0.1:3030 by default and automatically advances the ledger to the latest consensus version.

Options

Flag	Default	Description
--private-key	$PRIVATE_KEY env var	Private key for block creation
-a, --socket-addr	127.0.0.1:3030	REST API bind address
-v, --verbosity	2	Log verbosity: 0 = info, 1 = debug, 2 = trace
-g, --genesis-path	built-in	Path to a custom genesis block file
-m, --manual-block-creation	off	Disable automatic block creation on broadcast
-s, --storage [DIR]	in-memory	Persist the ledger to disk at DIR (default: devnode/)
-c, --clear-storage	off	Clear the storage directory before starting (requires -s)

Pre-funded accounts

The built-in genesis block seeds 50 accounts with funds for testing. The first five are:

#	Address	Private Key
0	aleo1rhgdu77hgyqd3xjj8ucu3jj9r2krwz6mnzyd80gncr5fxcwlh5rsvzp9px	APrivateKey1zkp8CZNn3yeCseEtxuVPbDCwSyhGW6yZKUYKfgXmcpoGPWH
1	aleo1s3ws5tra87fjycnjrwsjcrnw2qxr8jfqqdugnf0xzqqw29q9m5pqem2u4t	APrivateKey1zkp2RWGDcde3efb89rjhME1VYA8QMxcxep5DShNBR6n8Yjh
2	aleo1ashyu96tjwe63u0gtnnv8z5lhapdu4l5pjsl2kha7fv7hvz2eqxs5dz0rg	APrivateKey1zkp2GUmKbVsuc1NSj28pa1WTQuZaK5f1DQJAT6vPcHyWokG
3	aleo12ux3gdauck0v60westgcpqj7v8rrcr3v346e4jtq04q7kkt22czsh808v2	APrivateKey1zkpBjpEgLo4arVUkQmcLdKQMiAKGaHAQVVwmF8HQby8vdYs
4	aleo1p9sg8gapg22p3j42tang7c8kqzp4lhe6mg77gx32yys2a5y7pq9sxh6wrd	APrivateKey1zkp3J6rRrDEDKAMMzSQmkBqd3vPbjp4XTyH7oMKFn7eVFwf

⚠️ These are development keys. Never use them in production.

To list all 50 accounts:

aleo-devnode accounts

If you are using a custom genesis block, query block 0 to inspect funded accounts:

curl http://127.0.0.1:3030/testnet/block/0

Advance the ledger manually

When running with --manual-block-creation, use advance to create blocks explicitly:

aleo-devnode advance

Advance by a specific number of blocks:

aleo-devnode advance 5

By default this targets 127.0.0.1:3030. Use --socket-addr to point at a different instance.

Persistent storage

aleo-devnode start --private-key APrivateKey1zkp8CZNn3yeCseEtxuVPbDCwSyhGW6yZKUYKfgXmcpoGPWH --storage

This persists the ledger to a devnode/ directory. To start fresh:

aleo-devnode start --private-key APrivateKey1zkp8CZNn3yeCseEtxuVPbDCwSyhGW6yZKUYKfgXmcpoGPWH --storage --clear-storage

Building transactions for devnode

Leo CLI

Add the appropriate flag when building transactions against a devnode:

Command	Flag	Description
leo execute	--skip-execute-proof	Skips execution proof generation
leo deploy	--skip-deploy-certificate	Skips verifying key certificate for deployment
leo upgrade	--skip-deploy-certificate	Skips verifying key certificate for upgrade

JavaScript/TypeScript SDK

Use the dedicated devnode transaction builder methods in ProgramManager:

Method	Description
buildDevnodeExecutionTransaction	Builds an execution transaction with a placeholder proof
buildDevnodeDeploymentTransaction	Builds a deployment transaction with a placeholder verifying key
buildDevnodeUpgradeTransaction	Builds an upgrade transaction with a placeholder verifying key

Snapshots

Snapshots capture the ledger state at a specific block height and can be restored later. They require persistent storage (--storage).

Snapshots are saved alongside the storage directory — e.g. if storage is devnode/, snapshots are written to devnode-snapshots/.

Take a snapshot

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:3030/testnet/snapshot \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"name": "before-deploy"}'

If no name is provided, the snapshot is named automatically using the current block height (e.g. snapshot-42):

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:3030/testnet/snapshot \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{}'

Response: {"name": "before-deploy", "height": 42}

List snapshots

curl http://127.0.0.1:3030/testnet/snapshots

Response: ["before-deploy", "snapshot-42"]

Restore a snapshot

The devnode must not be running when restoring. Stop it first, then run:

aleo-devnode restore --snapshot before-deploy --storage devnode

The original snapshot directory is left untouched, so the same snapshot can be restored multiple times.

Restore and restart in one step

aleo-devnode restore \
    --snapshot before-deploy \
    --storage devnode \
    --restart \
    --private-key APrivateKey1zkp8CZNn3yeCseEtxuVPbDCwSyhGW6yZKUYKfgXmcpoGPWH

If PRIVATE_KEY is set in the environment, --private-key can be omitted.

Restore options

Flag	Default	Description
--snapshot	required	Name of the snapshot to restore
--storage	devnode	Ledger storage directory to restore into
--restart	off	Restart the devnode after restoring
--private-key	$PRIVATE_KEY env var	Private key (forwarded to start when --restart is set)
-a, --socket-addr	127.0.0.1:3030	REST API address (forwarded to start when --restart is set)
-v, --verbosity	2	Log verbosity (forwarded to start when --restart is set)
-m, --manual-block-creation	off	Disable auto block creation (forwarded to start when --restart is set)

REST API

The node exposes the standard Aleo REST API under /<network>/ (e.g. /testnet/), with versioned prefixes /v1/testnet/ and /v2/testnet/ also available.

Key endpoints:

Method	Path	Description
GET	/testnet/block/height/latest	Latest block height
GET	/testnet/block/latest	Latest block
GET	/testnet/block/{height_or_hash}	Block by height or hash
POST	/testnet/transaction/broadcast	Broadcast a transaction
POST	/testnet/block/create	Create blocks (body: {"num_blocks": N}, optional)
GET	/testnet/program/{id}	Get a deployed program
GET	/testnet/program/{id}/mapping/{name}/{key}	Get a mapping value
GET	/testnet/program/{id}/mapping/{name}?all=true	Get all key-value pairs in a mapping
POST	/testnet/snapshot	Take a snapshot (body: {"name": "optional"})
GET	/testnet/snapshots	List available snapshots
POST	/testnet/shutdown	Gracefully shut down the node

Shutdown

To stop the node gracefully (draining any in-flight requests before exiting):

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:3030/testnet/shutdown

Ctrl+C and SIGTERM also trigger graceful shutdown.