Run a Local Devnet

This guide helps you understand how to set up a local instance of the VSL protocol for development and testing. It provides a high-level overview of how the setup works and points you to the appropriate resources for installation and usage instructions.

The VSL Devnet and its tools currently support only Linux AMD64 (x86-64) environments. Windows and macOS users may encounter compatibility issues when running the devnet locally.

We strongly recommend following the setup steps in the VSL-SDK repository to ensure you have the most up-to-date configuration.

Overview

The local devnet setup uses Docker Compose to spin up multiple services:

Service	Description
vsl-core	The main VSL node exposing a JSON-RPC interface on port 44444.
explorer-backend	Backend API used by the Explorer frontend to query blockchain data.
explorer-frontend	A web-based Explorer interface to visualize VSL activity.

These services run together using pre-built images hosted on GitHub Container Registry. When deployed locally, they are accessible on:

• RPC server: http://localhost:44444

• Explorer: http://localhost:4000.

You can test your local RPC service with:

curl -X POST http://localhost:44444 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "vsl_getHealth",
    "params": {}
  }'

Remote Deployment URLs

In addition to running locally, you can also interact with our public deployment:

• RPC server: https://rpc.vsl.pi2.network

• Explorer: https://explorer.vsl.pi2.network

Quick Start via Docker

To get started quickly using Docker, check out the Quick Start section of the VSL-SDK repository. It provides step-by-step instructions to:

• Configure environment variables

• Start the services

• Choose between persistent or fresh data volumes

The Docker Compose file includes health checks and exposes necessary ports so you can access services as soon as they’re ready.

Rust SDK Setup

The repository also provides tools and helpers written in Rust. If you want to explore the SDK:

• Visit the vsl-sdk directory.

• Follow the setup instructions in the README to install dependencies and build the SDK.

• Take a look at additional examples and workflows, such as the faucet example.

Use the CLI

For a CLI-based approach to interacting with the VSL node (e.g., sending transactions, querying data), refer to our Run Commands with CLI guide.

You can also check out the VSL-CLI repository for up-to-date setup and usage instructions.

If you run into issues, feel free to reach out in our Discord channel and we’ll be glad to help.