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Run Nwaku in a Docker Container

This guide provides detailed steps to build and run a nwaku node in a Docker container. If you prefer a pre-configured setup with a monitoring dashboard, see the Run Nwaku with Docker Compose guide.

Prerequisites

Ensure Docker is installed on your system using the appropriate instructions provided in the Docker documentation.

info

We recommend running a nwaku node with at least 2GB of RAM, especially if WSS is enabled. If running just a Relay node, 0.5GB of RAM is sufficient.

Get Docker image

The Nwaku Docker images are available on the Docker Hub public registry under the statusteam/nim-waku repository. Please visit statusteam/nim-waku/tags for images of specific releases.

Build Docker image

You can also build the Docker image locally:

# Clone the repository
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku
cd nwaku

# Build docker image
make docker-image

Run Docker container

Run nwaku in a new Docker container:

docker run [OPTIONS] [IMAGE] [ARG...]

Run nwaku using the most typical configuration:

docker run -i -t -p 60000:60000 -p 9000:9000/udp statusteam/nim-waku:v0.20.0 \
--dns-discovery=true \
--dns-discovery-url=enrtree://AIRVQ5DDA4FFWLRBCHJWUWOO6X6S4ZTZ5B667LQ6AJU6PEYDLRD5O@sandbox.waku.nodes.status.im \
--discv5-discovery=true \
--nat=extip:[YOUR PUBLIC IP] # or, if you are behind a nat: --nat=any

To find your public IP, use:

dig TXT +short o-o.myaddr.l.google.com @ns1.google.com | awk -F'"' '{ print $2}'
info

We recommend using explicit port mappings (-p) when exposing ports accessible from outside the host (listening and discovery ports, API servers).

tip

If you encounter issues running your node or require assistance with anything, please visit the #node-help channel on our Discord.

Congratulations!

You have successfully built and started a nwaku node in a Docker container. Have a look at the Node Configuration Examples guide to learn how to configure nwaku for different use cases.