setup-nctl

Setup Local Casper Node (NCTL)

Extracts keys from a running NCTL container and creates the .env.nctl configuration file.

Step 1 — Check Docker

docker --version

If Docker is not installed or not running, tell the user and stop.

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Step 2 — Check if NCTL is Already Running

docker ps --filter name=mynctl --format '{{.Names}}'

If mynctl is listed, tell the user NCTL is already running and stop and move to step 4.

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Step 3 — Start NCTL

docker run --rm -it --cpus=1 --name mynctl -d \
  -p 11101:11101 \
  -p 14101:14101 \
  -p 18101:18101 \
  -p 25101:25101 \
  makesoftware/casper-nctl:v203

Wait for readiness running the bundled wait script under scripts/wait-for-nctl.sh with a timeout of 120 seconds passed as an argument.

./${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/wait-for-nctl.sh 120

If the wait script exits non-zero, report failure and stop.

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Step 4 — Extract Keys

Run the bundled key extraction script under scripts/extract-keys.sh:

./${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/extract-keys.sh

If the script exits non-zero, report error and stop.

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Step 5 — Create .env

Create .env.nctl from .env.sample with nctl defaults:

ODRA_CASPER_LIVENET_SECRET_KEY_PATH=.node-keys/secret_key.pem
ODRA_CASPER_LIVENET_NODE_ADDRESS=http://localhost:11101
ODRA_CASPER_LIVENET_EVENTS_URL=http://localhost:18101/events
ODRA_CASPER_LIVENET_CHAIN_NAME=casper-net-1

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Step 6 — Report

NCTL environment configured.
- RPC: http://localhost:11101
- Events: http://localhost:18101/events
- Chain: casper-net-1
- Keys: .node-keys/secret_key.pem, .node-keys/secret_key_1.pem
- .env: configured for nctl

To stop: docker stop mynctl

Port Reference

Port	Service
11101	JSON-RPC
14101	REST API
18101	SSE (events)
25101	Speculative RPC

Edge Cases

• Docker not running: If docker run fails with a connection error, tell the user Docker Desktop may not be running.
• Port conflicts: If ports are already bound, suggest stopping any ewqxisting mynctl container first.
• Key already exists: Overwrite silently (or warn the user if they seem cautious about overwriting).
• Custom user: The default key is for user-1. If the user wants a different user (user-2, user-3, etc.), substitute in the path: /home/casper/casper-nctl/assets/net-1/users/user-N/secret_key.pem.