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Run Nwaku with Docker Compose

nwaku-compose is a ready-to-use Docker Compose setup that runs the following:

  • nwaku node running Relay and Store protocols with RLN enabled.
  • Simple frontend to interact with your node and the network to send and receive messages.
  • Grafana metrics dashboard for advanced users or node operators.

This guide provides detailed steps to configure, run, monitor, and interact with a nwaku node with nwaku-compose.

Prerequisites​

Clone the repository​

git clone https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku-compose
cd nwaku-compose

Configure the setup​

Modify the run_node.sh file to customise your node's configuration and docker-compose.yml to specify particular Docker image tag. Next, export your Ethereum Sepolia configuration and membership password:

export ETH_CLIENT_ADDRESS=wss://sepolia.infura.io/ws/v3/[INFURA API KEY]
export ETH_TESTNET_KEY=[INFURA API KEY]
export KEYSTORE_PASSWORD=[RLN MEMBERSHIP PASSWORD]

Register RLN membership​

The RLN membership is your access key to The Waku Network. Its registration is done on-chain and allows your nwaku node to send messages decentralised and privately, respecting some rate limits. Other peers won't relay messages exceeding the rate limit:

./register_rln.sh
info

If you only want to relay traffic without sending messages to the network, you don't need to register for RLN membership.

Run the node​

Start all processes: nwaku node, database and Grafana for metrics. Your RLN membership is loaded into nwaku under the hood:

docker-compose up -d

Interact with the node​

Visit http://localhost:3000/d/yns_4vFVk/nwaku-monitoring to view your node metrics in real-time.

nwaku compose dashboard

tip

To access Grafana from outside your machine, remove 127.0.0.1 and open the port. Consider setting up a password for Grafana to ensure security.

Use the REST API​

Your nwaku node provides a REST API on port 8645 for interacting with it:

# Get nwaku version
curl --location 'http://127.0.0.1:8645/debug/v1/version'

# Get nwaku info
curl --location 'http://127.0.0.1:8645/debug/v1/info'

Send a message to a contentTopic, which all subscribers will receive. Please note that the payload is encoded in base64.

curl --location 'http://127.0.0.1:8645/relay/v1/auto/messages' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
    "payload": "'$(echo -n "Hello Waku Network - from Anonymous User" | base64)'",
    "contentTopic": "/my-app/2/chatroom-1/proto"
}'

Retrieve messages sent to a contentTopic. Please note that this query can be made to any Store node within the network:

curl --location 'http://127.0.0.1:8645/store/v1/messages?contentTopics=%2Fmy-app%2F2%2Fchatroom-1%2Fproto&pageSize=50&ascending=true' \
--header 'Accept: application/json'
Congratulations!

You have successfully started a nwaku node with RLN enabled using Docker Compose. Have a look at the Node Configuration Examples and Advanced Configuration guides to learn how to configure nwaku for different use cases.