polkadot-launch

The polkadot-launch program enables you to set up a local relay chain and parachain test network. Before you use polkadot-launch, you must have the binary files for a relay chain and a collator available in the bin folder. You can generate the relay chain and collator binary files by cloning the rococo-v1 branch of the polkadot and cumulus projects in the same root directory as the polkadot-launch repository. For detailed instructions about how to clone, compile, and copy the required binary files, see the README in the polkadot-launch repository.

The polkadot-launch program also requires you to provide a configuration file that defines the properties of the test network you want to set up. The configuration file can be a JSON or a JavaScript file. You can find examples for both JSON and JavaScript configuration files in the polkadot-launch repository.

Before you begin

Before you use polkadot-launch to set up a local test network, you need to prepare your environment with the required files:

• Download and compile the polkadot relay chain and copy polkadot binary to the polkadot-launch/bin directory.
• Download and compile the polkadot-collator and copy polkadot-collator binary to the polkadot-launch/bin directory.
• Prepare a configuration file with the properties for your test network.

See the documentation in in the polkadot-launch repository for additional informmation abot performing these steps.

Installation

To install the polkadot-launch program:

1. Open a terminal shell on your computer.

2. Clone the polkadot-launch repository by running the following command:

   git clone https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-launch.git

3. Change to the root directory of the polkadot-launch repository by running the following command:

   cd polkadot-launch

4. Verify that you have either yarn or npm installed by running either of the following commands:

   yarn --version

   or

   npm --version

5. Install polkadot-launch by running either of the following commands:

   yarn global add polkadot-launch

   or

   npm i polkadot-launch -g

6. Verify the properties in your configuration file reflect the location of the relay chain and collator binaries.

Basic command usage

The basic syntax for running {polkadot-launch} commands is:

polkadot-launch <configuration-file> [flag]

Flags

You can use the following optional flags with the polkadot-launch command.

Flag	Description
-h, --help	Displays usage information.
-V, --version	Displays version information.

For additional information about using polkadot-launch, see the README in the polkadot-launch repository.