How to Get Started on the Mawari TestNet: Install and Activate Your Node

On the Mawari TestNet, the two most common stumbling blocks for most people are:
① “I typed the code into Command Prompt, but I’m getting errors,” and
② “My node stays in Pending and never becomes Active.”

In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything from scratch to the final step. If you’ve already completed the relatively easy part up to minting the Guardian NFT, feel free to skip ahead.

Let’s start with the prerequisites.

To run a Guardian Node on the Mawari Network TestNet, you’ll first need to prepare a wallet, test tokens, and a Guardian NFT. This section explains each step in deta.

① Set up a wallet

If you don’t already have a wallet, please follow this MetaMask setup guide. That said, as of Sept 20, anyone holding the Navigator role on Discord (and thus able to join the testnet) is likely already experienced with Web3 and probably has MetaMask installed.

➡️ Wallet setup guide

Once your wallet is ready, the next step is to acquire testnet tokens and an NFT.

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② Connect to the Mawari Network TestNet

1. Go to the Mawari Network TestNet site.
2. Click Mint Mawari Guardian NFTs.
3. At the top of the page, click Connect Wallet and link your wallet.
4. Switch your network to Mawari Network TestNet.

This step enables all the required actions in the following processes.

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③ Copy your wallet address

• At the top right of the screen, click the copy icon next to your wallet address.
• You’ll need this address to receive test tokens in the next step.

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④ Claim test MAWARI tokens (Faucet)

1. Visit Mawari Hub (Faucet).
2. Paste your wallet address into the Faucet field.
3. Click Request to claim test MAWARI tokens.

💡 Note:

• On the testnet, you can request up to 2 tokens.
• Start by claiming 2 tokens into your main wallet (the wallet you’ll use to purchase the Guardian Node).
• Later, you’ll need to send 1 token from your main wallet to a Burner Wallet (operator wallet).

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⑤ Mint a Guardian NFT

Back on the Mawari Network TestNet page:

• In the Step 1 section, you can mint up to 3 Guardian NFTs.
• This NFT is required to launch the Guardian Node client.

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⚠️ This is the first major stumbling point!！！！

At this stage, you should now have:

• A wallet
• Test tokens (MAWARI)
• A Guardian NFT

Next, let’s move on to setting up and running the Guardian Node client.

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⑥ Configure the Guardian Node client application

First, as the Mawari guide states, install Docker:
👉 Docker Install Guide

From there, click Overview of Docker Desktop and scroll down to install the version for your OS.

Once installed, launch Docker Desktop Installer.exe and follow the instructions.

⚠️ Don’t assume your node is active just because Docker is installed—you’ll need to confirm the Docker settings.

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⑦ Check Docker settings

1. Launch Docker Desktop

• On Windows, Docker Desktop is required.
• Start it from the Windows menu.
• You should see the whale icon in the taskbar’s system tray.
• Wait until it says “Docker Engine is running.”

⚠️ If Docker isn’t running, commands like docker run won’t work in Command Prompt or PowerShell.

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2. Verify Docker is running

Run this in PowerShell or Command Prompt:

docker version

If both Client: and Server: are displayed → ✅ good.
If you see an error like error during connect… → ❌ Docker isn’t running.

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3. Confirm WSL2 backend is enabled (Windows only)

Open Docker Desktop → Settings → General

Ensure ✅ Use the WSL 2 based engine is enabled

Then go to Settings → Resources → WSL Integration and check ✅ for your installed distributions

Click Apply & Restart

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4. Run the command

set "MNTESTNET_IMAGE=us-east4-docker.pkg.dev/mawarinetwork-dev/mwr-net-d-car-uses4-public-docker-registry-e62e/mawari-node:latest"

set "OWNER_ADDRESS=0x123abc"

mkdir %USERPROFILE%\mawari 2>nul & docker run --pull always -v %USERPROFILE%\mawari:/app/cache -e OWNERS_ALLOWLIST=%OWNER_ADDRESS% %MNTESTNET_IMAGE%

📝 About OWNER_ADDRESS

set "OWNER_ADDRESS=0x123abc"

Replace 0x123abc with your actual wallet address (the one you used to claim tokens and mint NFTs).

Example:

set "OWNER_ADDRESS=0xF9c7082CA8a6A882859f16661701c1ad65d12812"

If successful, logs such as [INFO] loaded config ... will start appearing.

I personally made the mistake of running this command without starting Docker Desktop, which caused errors—because the docker command couldn’t connect to the engine.

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📝 About the Burner Wallet

A burner wallet is a temporary, disposable wallet.

When you launch a Guardian Node, the node automatically generates this burner wallet locally (private key + address stored on your PC).

Why use a burner wallet?

• Your main wallet (owner wallet) holds NFTs and assets. Using it directly for node operations would be a security risk.
• Instead, you delegate to a low-risk burner wallet for node operation.

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📌 Summary of terms

用語	内容
Main wallet (OWNER_ADDRESS)	your created wallet, registered as the NFT owner
Burner wallet	temporary wallet auto-generated by the node, used for operation

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Now we move on to:
“Send tokens to the burner wallet (for gas) → Activate the node client.”

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⑧ Get your burner wallet address

From the logs shown when launching the node, look for:

[INFO]  Using burner wallet {"address": "0x...."}

Copy the address shown (0x….).

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⑨ Send tokens from main wallet to burner wallet

1. Open MetaMask (your faucet-funded wallet).
2. You should have 2 test tokens. Send 1 MAWARI token to the burner wallet address.

💡 If you only have 1 token in your main wallet, you can directly request another token from the Hub faucet to the burner wallet address.

⚠️ I forgot to send 1 MAWARI to the burner wallet the first time, which caused endless errors in Command Prompt—don’t make the same mistake!

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⑩ Activate your Guardian Node (Delegation)

1. Open the Guardian Dashboard: https://app.testnet.mawari.net/
2. Connect your main wallet (the one holding the NFT).
3. Select all Guardian NFT IDs you own.
4. Click Delegate.
5. Paste your burner wallet address into the input field, then confirm with Delegate.
6. Sign the transaction in MetaMask.

✅ If successful:

• Your node logs will show:

[DEBUG] received delegation offers count {"delegation offers": "1"}
[DEBUG] accepting delegation offer {"hash": "..."}
[INFO]  delegation offer accepted {"hash": "..."}

• On the Guardian Dashboard, the node should move from Pending → Running.

🎉 That’s it! Your Guardian Node is now live and running via the burner wallet.

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⑪ Optional (advanced): Keep your node running in the background

Even after closing PowerShell, you can keep your node running in the background. Two main approaches:

🅐 Use nohup or Start-Job (simple, manual)
Example (PowerShell):

Start-Job -ScriptBlock { node index.js }

Replace node index.js with your node start command.

Jobs continue running even if PowerShell is closed (but stop when PC restarts).
To stop a job:

Get-Job | Stop-Job

🅑 Run as a Windows service (permanent, auto-start)
For auto-start at boot, register your node as a Windows Service using NSSM (Non-Sucking Service Manager).

Steps:

1. Download NSSM: https://nssm.cc/download
2. Extract nssm.exe
3. Register service: nssm install MyNode
4. In GUI:
   • Path: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe
   • Arguments: index.js (your node file)
   • Startup directory: folder containing your node file
5. Start service: nssm start MyNode
6. Now your node auto-starts with Windows.

To stop: nssm stop MyNode
To uninstall: nssm remove MyNode