Create and import validator keys to the client

You will deposit ETH to the deposit contract, and receive staking rewards on this locked ETH in turn.

Vital Recommendations.md has comments on key security. If you haven't read these yet, please do so now. You need to know how to guard your keystore password and your seed phrase (mnemonic). Without the mnemonic, you may be unable to withdraw your funds. You need the seed phrase or your ETH could be gone forever.

Create keys

For mainnet, best practice is to create keys using a Linux Live USB and the official staking-deposit-cli. I have a YouTube walkthrough for this process. Make sure to safeguard your mnemonic and only ever keep it offline! In steel and in a safe is best.

You want to create keys with Eth Docker

If you are going to use the deposit-cli that is bundled with Eth Docker, please make sure to edit .env and that the COMPOSE_FILE line contains :deposit-cli.yml. You can edit with nano .env.

Make sure you're in the project directory, cd ~/eth-docker by default.

When creating keys, you can specify an Ethereum address that withdrawals will be paid to. If you have a hardware wallet that withdrawals should go to, this is a good option.

Make sure the Ethereum address is correct, you cannot change it after you deposit. You can also remove that parameter, in which case withdrawals would be done with the mnemonic seed, not against a fixed address

Do not set your withdrawal address to an exchange wallet. The funds will not be credited, and you will battle support for them.

This command will create the keys to deposit ETH against:

./ethd cmd run --rm deposit-cli-new --execution_address YOURHARDWAREWALLETADDRESS --uid $(id -u)

Specifying the uid is optional. If this is not done, the generated files will be owned by the user with uid 1000

Choose the number of validators you wish to create.

A validator is synonymous to one 32 Ethereum stake. Multiple validators can be imported to a single validator client.

The created files will be in the directory .eth/validator_keys in this project.

staking-deposit-cli shows you a different directory, that's because it has a view from inside the container.

This is also where you'd place your own keystore files if you already have some for import.

Test your Seed Phrase

From the project directory:

./ethd cmd run --rm deposit-cli-existing --folder seed_check --execution_address YOURHARDWAREWALLETADDRESS --uid $(id -u)

Specifying the uid is optional. If this is not done, the generated files will be owned by the user with uid 1000

Select your language preference.

Type your mnemonic seed.

Enter the index (key number).

If generated 1 previous validator key file and entered 1 initially, then it is index[0]. So you will enter 0. Hence, you are entering the index from which to start generating the key file from.

Enter how may new validators you wish to run.

Enter the number of validators you entered when initially generating the key file. If you are running 1 previous validator and entered 1 initially, then enter 1.

Type any password you like, as you'll throw away the duplicate keystore-m files.

Compare the deposit_data JSON files to ensure the files are identical.

diff -s .eth/validator_keys/deposit_data*.json .eth/seed_check/deposit_data*.json

Cleanup duplicate deposit_data.

rm .eth/seed_check/*

Decide whether to use web3signer

You have the option of keeping the keys in web3signer, which means you will not need to move them if you switch CL clients. To enable web3signer, nano .env and set WEB3SIGNER=true and add :web3signer.yml to COMPOSE_FILE.

Do not run keys in both the client directly and web3signer. This can get you slashed. If you wish to switch to web3signer, and already have keys loaded, look at switching instructions.

Using the keymanager API to import keys

Warning Import your validator key(s) to only one client. If you run them in two locations at once, you will be slashed: Forcibly exited and assessed a penalty greater than 1 ETH.

If you use the Prysm Web, you can use it or this command-line process to import keys.

Prysm - create a wallet

Prysm requires a wallet first. Run ./ethd cmd run --rm create-wallet, which will set up a wallet and a password for it. You can then print the password with ./ethd keys get-prysm-wallet

If you used eth2-val-tools

eth2-val-tools is an alternative to staking-deposit-cli/Wagyu Keygen to create keys. If you used eth2-val-tools to generate keys, please copy the generated keys and secrets directories into .eth/validator_keys.

Start the client and import keys

./ethd up to start the client and the client's keymanager API

./ethd keys to see all options available to you

./ethd keys import to import keys and their slashing protection data. This looks in .eth/validator_keys for *keystore*.json files and optionally slashing_protection*.json files, and will also import from keys and secrets directories as created by eth2-val-tools.

If the key JSON files are in another directory, run:

./ethd keys import --path PATHTOKEYS

replacing PATHTOKEYS with the actual path where they are.

./ethd keys list to list all imported keys

After import, the files in .eth/validator_keys can be safely removed from the node, once you have copied them off the node. You'll need the deposit_data file to deposit at the launchpad. The keystore-m files can be safeguarded in case the node needs to be rebuilt, or deleted and recreated from mnemonic if required. See Recommendations.md for some thoughts on key security.

Importing keys from another validator instance

If you are migrating to Eth Docker from another validator node that uses systemd or some other init system, please see SwitchClient and Moving for advice. Ultimately, you'll likely need to export your keys from your old client and move them to your new node manually, and then use Eth Docker's key management commands to import the keys into clients managed by Eth Docker.

For example, for moving from a system+prysm setup, you'll want to use prysm's export functionality. For other clients, check their official documentation to find out how to export your validator keys. You can then use Eth Docker's key management API to import your keys with ./ethd keys import.

Please read all of the warnings about slashing and make sure to exercise tons of caution when moving validators to avoid being slashed.

Deposit at launchpad

Caution: You may wish to wait until the consensus and execution client are fully synchronized before you deposit. Check their logs with ./ethd logs -f consensus and ./ethd logs -f execution. This safe-guards against the validator being marked offline if your validator is activated before the consensus client syncs.

Once you are ready, you can send eth to the deposit contract by using the .eth/validator_keys/deposit_data-TIMESTAMP.json file at the Goerli launchpad or Mainnet launchpad.

You can transfer files from your node to a machine with a browser using scp. A graphical tool such as WinSCP will work, or you can use command line scp.