runnin nodes: erigon

running an erigon node is a good choice if you are looking for a mature, faster version of go-ethereum.

setting up erigon

erigon can be built from source or downloaded from a package.

git clone https://github.com/ledgerwatch/erigon
cd erigon
make install

this will build a new erigon binary from source. originally after the merge was introduce in 2022, nodes required an additional coordination service called the consensus layer to run alongside their node. this is commonly the lighthouse binary. you will eventually find steps to use it here…

another option has been recently introduced behind the --internalcl flag. this references an internal consensus layer implementation that has been added to the erigon subprocesses. this is a great batteries-included choice for an introduction to running nodes.

starting with systemd

the simplest way to get started with erigon involves a few flags. in my experience, sync time is difficult to deal with on. i also ran into occasional issues on my node. personally i had a better experience since the debugging tools are easiest to work with on reth.