Configuring the Node

Primary settings

In the settings tab, you can configure your workspace.

In the Settings tab, configure your workspace. To become a validator, insert the mnemonic key in the KEY MANAGEMENT section by clicking the "Insert mnemonic" button.

You will be prompted with the following dialog to generate and insert the mnemonic.

Generating a mnemonic

To generate a mnemonic, press the GENERATE button. A new dialog will pop up, showing you the mnemonic.

Copy the mnemonic and save it somewhere safe. Once you close this dialog, your clipboard will be erased. This is intentionally made so that you save your mnemonic somewhere else.

Note - you can also use the same menomic:

1. You used for participating in the Testnets.

2. You generated for your native Humanode address on Polkadot Substrate Wallet or Talisman Wallet.

Important: make sure to save your mnemonic key!

If you lose the key, you will not be able to decrypt your biometric data anymore and will lose your ability to become a validator forever in the blockchain.

Inserting the mnemonic

After successfully saving the mnemonic, type in or paste it into the MNEMONIC text box and then you can proceed to insert the mnemonic key into your node by pressing the INSERT button:

Once the mnemonic is inserted in the workspace, it cannot be modified. If you want to change it, you must remove the workspace and reconfigure it from scratch.

Additional Settings

Inserting the menomic will be sufficient to complete this step. However, there are some optional settings that you can configure:

Name

You can additionally add a name to your node that will be publicly shared with the blockchain.

Public URL

If you have a public URL associated with your machine, you can use that by setting the Public URL field.

Tunnel type

When you connect to your node through the QR code described later, you are accessing it through a tunnel which allows your phone to properly establish a connection with your node through the networks. There are two types of tunnels available in the Humanode app:

• ngrok: a tunnel provider available at https://ngrok.com/. This type of tunnel requires additional configuration listed below
• Humanode WebSocket Tunnel: a tunnel provider built by the humanode team. This type of tunnel does not require any additional configuration

ngrok settings

ngrok is a free service that allows us to create a tunnel between your node and your mobile phone that you will use when scanning a QR code.

You need to create a ngrok account at ngrok.com and insert your authorization key to allow the Desktop App to create ngrok tunnels for you.

There is a chance that ngrok will "just work" without the key - but if it doesn't, you will have to create an account and provide your authorization key.

To insert a ngrok auth key, press Insert Authorization Key. That will open a modal window with an input field.

Copy and paste your auth key, which can be found here.

Press Insert to save this key. The state of the section will not be changed since we can't detect whether the key was inserted. However, rest assured that the key is there.

If you want to start ngrok from your terminal, put a tick in Manually start ngrok.

Updates

The updates section stands for checking the available peer updates. Most likely, if you just downloaded the app, you have the latest version, but in the future, make sure you regularly check for updates.

Danger Zone

This section contains destructive actions and has to be used carefully.