Quickstart — calibration

This walks you from zero to a running Curio Core SP on Filecoin Calibration in about 5 minutes. Calibration is the testnet; nothing here costs real money.

Mainnet

Curio Core is beta and has run the full PDP flow end-to-end on mainnet (see curio-core#10). This quickstart uses calibration so you can get comfortable for free first; swap --network calibration for --network mainnet once you've done a calibration run and funded a mainnet wallet. Mainnet still costs real FIL (5 FIL Service Registry registration + gas) and real USDFC.

1. Install

Debian / Ubuntu (.deb) — recommended

curl -LO https://github.com/Reiers/curio-core/releases/latest/download/curio-core_amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./curio-core_amd64.deb

This installs the binary to /usr/bin/curio-core, creates the curio-core system user and /var/lib/curio-core data dir, and registers a systemd unit (not started — you run first-run setup first, below). For arm64, swap amd64 → arm64.

RHEL / Fedora (.rpm)

sudo dnf install https://github.com/Reiers/curio-core/releases/latest/download/curio-core-x86_64.rpm

Standalone binary (any Linux, no package manager)

curl -L https://github.com/Reiers/curio-core/releases/latest/download/curio-core-linux-amd64 \
  -o curio-core
chmod +x curio-core
sudo mv curio-core /usr/local/bin/

With a standalone binary you can self-update later: curio-core upgrade --apply. Package installs upgrade via apt/dnf instead.

macOS (.pkg)

curl -LO https://github.com/Reiers/curio-core/releases/latest/download/curio-core-arm64.pkg
sudo installer -pkg curio-core-arm64.pkg -target /

Installs /usr/local/bin/curio-core + a launchd job (not started — run setup first). The .pkg is unsigned in beta; the installer's postinstall strips the quarantine attribute so Gatekeeper allows it. Apple-silicon only for now.

Verify:

curio-core version
# curio-core v0.1.0-beta.1

2. Start the daemon

Package install (systemd):

sudo systemctl enable --now curio-core
sudo journalctl -u curio-core -f   # watch it boot; copy the PDP wallet address

The unit runs curio-core run --data-dir /var/lib/curio-core as the curio-core user. Edit network/flags with a drop-in: sudo systemctl edit curio-core.

macOS (launchd):

sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/io.reiers.curio-core
log stream --predicate 'process == "curio-core"'   # watch it boot

Standalone binary:

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/curio-core
sudo chown $(whoami) /var/lib/curio-core

curio-core run \
  --data-dir /var/lib/curio-core \
  --network calibration \
  --listen 127.0.0.1:4711

On first run, curio-core:

1. Creates the SQLite state DB at /var/lib/curio-core/state.sqlite.
2. Initialises the embedded Lantern light client (header store at /var/lib/curio-core/calibration/headerstore).
3. Bootstraps a fresh secp256k1 PDP wallet in eth_keys (role=pdp).
4. Starts the harmonytask engine.
5. Listens on 127.0.0.1:4711.

The console prints the PDP wallet address. Copy it.

3. Fund the wallet

Drop a small amount of tFIL (calibration testnet FIL) into the address:

• Bookmark: https://faucet.calibration.fildev.network/

You need maybe 0.5 tFIL for the bootstrap on-chain txes (register service, pay rail deposits, broadcast proofs). The proof loop costs only gas.

For USDFC accumulation flows on the client side, the synapse-sdk docs cover the payer setup.

4. Visit the dashboard

http://127.0.0.1:4711/

You should see:

• Chain head ticking forward every ~30s (calibration block time).
• Wallets with your bootstrap PDP key + a tFIL balance after the faucet drip lands.
• Empty Datasets, Rails, Tasks — those populate once a client interacts with this SP.

5. (Optional) Wire to a public hostname

curio-core terminates TLS itself — no nginx required. It runs a two-port model:

• Admin port (--admin-listen, default 127.0.0.1:4711): dashboard, /setup, /admin/*. Loopback-only; never exposed publicly.
• Public port (--public-listen): /pdp/* + /piece/*. Gets a LetsEncrypt cert automatically via baked-in autocert.

To receive client traffic:

1. Point a public DNS name (sp.example.com) at the box.
2. Open ports 80 (ACME HTTP-01 challenge) and 443 (HTTPS).
3. Start with the public surface enabled:

curio-core run \
  --data-dir /var/lib/curio-core \
  --network calibration \
  --admin-listen 127.0.0.1:4711 \
  --public-listen 0.0.0.0:443 \
  --public-tls-domain sp.example.com

On first boot curio-core provisions a cert from LetsEncrypt and serves valid TLS within ~30s. The cert + ACME account state persist in the autocert_cache SQLite table, so restarts never trigger a fresh ACME round-trip. The /admin/* and dashboard surfaces stay on the loopback admin port and are never reachable from the public internet.

4. Register the service on the Filecoin Service Registry so clients can discover you (see Operate → Registration).

Already running nginx for other services?

Point the public surface at a loopback port and proxy to it: --public-listen 127.0.0.1:14995 (plaintext, no --public-tls-domain), then terminate TLS in your existing nginx and forward only /pdp/* + /piece/*. Never proxy /admin/* or /.

What's next

• Dashboard tour — understand each panel
• Architecture — what's actually inside the binary
• Funding the wallet — production funding setup