Cosmovisor (Optional)

Cosmovisor is a comprehensive process manager that can serve as an easy substitute for the standard initiad start command. It is designed for both manual use and as a system service, offering automatic updates for blockchains based on the Cosmos SDK. Cosmovisor’s main role is to keep track of software upgrade proposal signals and automatically download and update the node to the new binary following proposal approval.

1. Install Cosmovisor

   go install cosmossdk.io/tools/cosmovisor/cmd/cosmovisor@latest
   
   export DAEMON_HOME=~/.initia
   export DAEMON_NAME=initiad
   
   cosmovisor init ~/go/bin/initiad # <path-to-executable>
   
   # only if there is planned upgrade
   export UPGRADE_NAME=<upgrade-name>
   export UPGRADE_VERSION=<upgrade-version>
   mkdir -p $DAEMON_HOME/cosmovisor/upgrades/$UPGRADE_NAME/bin
   (                                                                              \
   	cd initia &&                                                           \
   	git fetch --all --tags &&                                              \
   	git checkout $UPGRADE_VERSION &&                                       \
   	make build &&                                                          \
   	mv ./build/initiad $DAEMON_HOME/cosmovisor/upgrades/$UPGRADE_NAME/bin/ \
   )
   
2. Update System Service File

   [Unit]
   Description=initiad
   
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   User=ubuntu
   ExecStart=/home/ubuntu/go/bin/cosmovisor run start --home /home/ubuntu/.initia
   WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu/.initia
   Restart=on-abort
   StandardOutput=syslog
   StandardError=syslog
   SyslogIdentifier=initiad
   LimitNOFILE=4096
   Environment="DAEMON_NAME=initiad"
   Environment="DAEMON_HOME=/home/ubuntu/.initia" 
   Environment="DAEMON_ALLOW_DOWNLOAD_BINARIES=true"
   Environment="DAEMON_RESTART_AFTER_UPGRADE=true"
   Environment="DAEMON_RESTART_DELAY=5s"
   Environment="UNSAFE_SKIP_BACKUP=true"
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   

   To update the node manually, set the environment variable DAEMON_ALLOW_DOWNLOAD_BINARIES=false. This disables automatic binary downloads. Afterward, download the required binary yourself and place it in the designated installation directory.

3. Restart initiad

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl restart initiad