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There are three common ways to install and run Stellar Core:
  1. Using published packages. For production use, we recommend installing Stellar Core using published packages.
  2. Building from source. In some uncommon situations, or if you want to sacrifice convenience for maximum control, building from source may be necessary.
  3. Use a Docker image. Using a Docker image is the quickest and easiest method, so it’s a good choice for a lot of developers.
Stellar Core is also available through some third-party packages, such as Homebrew on macOS.

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Release Version

Whichever method you use, you should make sure to install the latest release since these builds are backwards compatible and are cumulative. The version number scheme that we follow is protocol_version.release_number.patch_number, where:
  • protocol_version is the maximum protocol version supported by that release (all versions are 100% backward compatible),
  • release_number is bumped when a set of new features or bug fixes not impacting the protocol are included in the release, and
  • patch_number is used when a critical fix has to be deployed.

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Package-Based Installation

If you are using a recent LTS version of Ubuntu, we provide stellar-core and stellar-rpc in Debian binary package format. The packages are cryptographically signed by the Stellar Development Foundation and files can be validated on the system to confirm they were not tampered with. Debian packages utilize operating system built-in cryptographic verification during upgrades which mitigates many supply chain attacks. SDF package signing key fingerprint is AEAF 01EE A6CA FCEF DDAE 8AA7 0463 8272 A136 B5A6 (A136B5A6) Currently we do not publish packages for RPM based Linux distributions. If you use such distribution we recommend using docker images

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Configure SDF Apt Repository On The System

Optionally you can add testing repository. This is not recommended for production systems but may be useful for non-production systems using testnet:

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Install packages

We publish multiple packages for convenience. To install a chosen package run:

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Installing From Source

The Stellar Core source code repository contains extensive and thorough instructions to build the software from source. Please check out INSTALL.md for more information.

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Docker-Based Installation

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Development Environments

SDF maintains a quickstart image that runs a Stellar Core validator, a “Captive Core” bundled with Stellar RPC, and all other necessary components to support local development. It’s a quick way to set up a default, non-validating, ephemeral configuration that should work for most developers. Additionally, the quickstart image can be spun up pre-configured for use as a Mainnet, Testnet, Futurenet, or Local network node.
The quickstart image is not intended to serve as a production-level instance node. Please plan your production instance(s) carefully.

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Production Environments

SDF also maintains a Stellar-Core-only standalone image, stellar/stellar-core. Example usage:
To run the Stellar Core daemon you need to provide a configuration file:
The image utilizes deb packages so it’s possible to confirm the checksum of the stellar-core binary in the docker image matches what is in the cryptographically signed deb package. See package based installation section for information. To calculate this checksum in the docker image you can run:

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Third-Party Packages

Stellar Core is also packaged by some third-party package managers.
Third-party packages are not supported or verified by the Stellar Development Foundation. They are built and maintained by their respective communities, and may lag behind the latest release. For production use, we recommend the SDF-published packages or Docker images.Tier 1 validators should use the packages, as they receive security patches. See Tier 1 Organizations.

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Homebrew (macOS and Linux)

Stellar Core is available in Homebrew:

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Nix

Stellar Core is available in Nixpkgs: