Firestarter Node Wallet and LovePIPE

Public mainnet Firestarter node participation requires a dedicated node wallet holding LovePIPE LSTs representing at least 10,000 PIPE. Individual nodes receive no rewards or payouts. Enrollment is invite-only. There is no public waitlist and no self-serve enrollment form. Operators who want to run a node may email hello@pipe.network to inquire; see Mainnet Firestarter Nodes for ordinary public admission requirements.

Prepare the Wallet Locally

The helper below creates compatible wallet and node identity files locally. It lives in this documentation repository as docs/scripts/prepare_node_identity.py. A compatible lattice-node source or binary is provided with the enrollment invite, by Pipe Network operations; the helper is not part of that node release package. Operators need the helper from a docs checkout, a copied script, or the documentation website path below. It makes no network requests, transfers no tokens, and does not enroll a node. It refuses to overwrite existing files or initialize a directory that already contains node data.

Use a trusted machine for wallet preparation. Install Python 3 and its cryptography package; on Ubuntu or Debian:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y git python3 python3-cryptography

From a checkout of this documentation repository:

git clone https://github.com/PipeNetwork/docs.git pipe-docs
cd pipe-docs
umask 077
mkdir -p "$HOME/pipe-wallet-backup"
python3 docs/scripts/prepare_node_identity.py \
  --create-keypair "$HOME/pipe-wallet-backup/node-wallet.json" \
  --data-dir "$HOME/pipe-node-identity"

The helper prints only lattice_hex and solana_address, two encodings of the same public key. It saves a Solana JSON keypair at the specified backup path and a hexadecimal node.key inside the identity directory. Keep the JSON keypair as private recovery material; it controls the wallet and its LovePIPE position.

To use an existing dedicated Solana JSON keypair instead, choose a new empty output directory:

python3 docs/scripts/prepare_node_identity.py \
  --keypair /secure/path/node-wallet.json \
  --data-dir "$HOME/pipe-node-identity"

The helper validates that the keypair's public key matches its signing seed. A node seed is 32 bytes encoded as 64 hexadecimal characters; the Solana keypair file is a 64-byte JSON array. Wallet tools expecting the JSON format cannot read node.key directly.

The helper source is available for review. Download it through /static/scripts/prepare_node_identity.py if using the documentation website without a repository checkout.

Fund the Correct LovePIPE Position

1. Record the helper's solana_address. This is the wallet the control plane will check.
2. Deposit PIPE through LovePIPE, or transfer an existing LovePIPE position to that address. You can retain your usual staking wallet and transfer the resulting LSTs to the node wallet.
3. Verify that the node address holds LSTs representing at least 10,000 underlying PIPE using the finalized vault exchange state. Holding unstaked PIPE alone is insufficient.
4. Keep the position in that wallet throughout qualification and active participation. The node wallet need not have been the original depositor.

The minimum is measured in PIPE-equivalent, not a fixed number of LST units. Acquiring or withdrawing a position follows the vault's current on-chain configuration. Vault withdrawal timing is separate from node qualification.

Install and Verify the Node Identity

Transfer only the prepared node.key to the node host through your private file-transfer channel. Preserve the original wallet backup separately. The node host holds a signing seed that can control the wallet, so protect this file and its backups as wallet material.

Follow Mainnet Firestarter Nodes to install it without overwriting an existing identity. Verify the installed binary prints the same lattice_hex before starting enrollment:

sudo -u pipe-node /usr/local/bin/lattice-node identity --data-dir /var/lib/pipe-node

A label or public key written in configuration cannot change the node's signing identity. Do not share one wallet position across multiple nodes.

Maintain Qualification

Ordinary public admission requires every finalized hourly observation in one complete UTC calendar month to pass. An active node that drops below the minimum is removed from routing and must qualify again through a complete valid month.

LovePIPE is the staking path for eligibility. Any later treasury support for PIPE is independent of node operation. See Tokenomics and the Eligibility Checklist.

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