Last update: October 13, 2021

Subcommands

This reference describes the syntax of the Hyperledger Besu Command Line Interface (CLI) subcommands.

To start a Besu node using subcommands, run:

besu [OPTIONS] [SUBCOMMAND] [SUBCOMMAND OPTIONS]

If using Bash or Z shell, you can view subcommand suggestions by pressing the Tab key twice.

besu Tab+Tab

`blocks`

Provides blocks related actions.

`import`

Syntax

besu blocks import [--skip-pow-validation-enabled] [--start-block=<LONG>] [--end-block=<LONG>] --from=<block-file>

Example

besu blocks import --skip-pow-validation-enabled --start-block=100 --end-block=300 --from=/home/me/me_project/mainnet.blocks

Imports a block or range of blocks from the specified file into the blockchain database.

You can specify the starting index of the block range to import with --start-block. If omitted, the start block defaults to 0 (the beginning of the chain).

You can specify the ending index (exclusive) of the block range to import with --end-block. If omitted, all blocks after the start block will be imported.

Including --skip-pow-validation-enabled skips validation of the mixHash when importing blocks.

Note

Use --skip-pow-validation-enabled when performing Ethereum Foundation hive testing.

`export`

Syntax

besu blocks export [--start-block=<LONG>] [--end-block=<LONG>] --to=<block-file>

Example

besu --network=rinkeby --data-path=/home/data/ blocks export --start-block=100 --end-block=300 --to=/home/exportblock.bin

Exports a block or range of blocks from storage to a file in RLP format.

If you omit --start-block, the start block defaults to 0 (the beginning of the chain), and if you omit --end-block, the end block defaults to the end of the chain.

If you are not running the command against the default network (MainNet), specify the --network or --genesis-file parameter.

`public-key`

This command provides node public key related actions.

Caution

To get the public key or address of a node, ensure you use the --data-path or --node-private-key-file option with the public-key command. Otherwise, a new node key is silently generated when starting Besu.

`export`

Syntax

besu public-key export [--to=<key-file>]

Example (to standard output)

besu --data-path=<node data path> public-key export

Example (to file)

besu --data-path=<node data path> public-key export --to=/home/me/me_project/not_precious_pub_key

Outputs the node public key to standard output or to the file specified by --to=<key-file>.

`export-address`

Syntax

besu public-key export-address [--to=<address-file>]

Example (to standard output)

besu --data-path=<node data path> public-key export-address

Example (to file)

besu --data-path=<node data path> public-key export-address --to=/home/me/me_project/me_node_address

Outputs the node address to standard output or to the file specified by --to=<address-file>.

`password`

Provides password related actions.

`hash`

This command generates the hash of a given password. Include the hash in the credentials file for JSON-RPC API authentication.

Syntax

besu password hash --password=<my-password>

Example

besu password hash --password=myPassword123

`operator`

Provides operator actions.

`generate-blockchain-config`

This command generates an IBFT 2.0 or QBFT genesis file.

Syntax

besu operator generate-blockchain-config --config-file=<FILE> --to=<DIRECTORY> [--genesis-file-name=<FILE>] [--private-key-file-name=<FILE>] [--public-key-file-name=<FILE>]

Example

besu operator generate-blockchain-config --config-file=config.json --to=myNetworkFiles

The configuration file has 2 nested JSON nodes. The first is the genesis property defining the IBFT 2.0 or QBFT genesis file, except for the extraData string. The second is the blockchain property defining the number of key pairs to generate.

`generate-log-bloom-cache`

Tip

Manually executing generate-log-bloom-cache is not required unless you set the --auto-log-bloom-caching-enabled command line option to false.

Generates cached log bloom indexes for blocks. APIs use the cached indexes for improved log query performance.

Note

Each index file contains 100000 blocks. The last fragment of blocks less that 100000 are not indexed.

To generate cached log bloom indexes while the node is running, use the admin_generateLogBloomCache API.

Syntax

besu operator generate-log-bloom-cache [--start-block=<BLOCK_NUMBER>] [--end-block=<BLOCK_NUMBER>]

Example

besu --network=goerli --data-path=/project/goerli operator generate-log-bloom-cache --start-block=0 --end-block=100000

`rlp`

Provides RLP related actions.

`encode`

Encodes the RLP hexadecimal string for use in a IBFT 2.0 or QBFT genesis file. Defaults to IBFT_EXTRA_DATA.

Syntax

besu rlp encode [--from=<FILE>] [--to=<FILE>] [--type=<type>]

File example

besu rlp encode --from=ibft_extra_data.json --to=extra_data_for_ibft_genesis.txt --type=IBFT_EXTRA_DATA

Standard input/output example

cat extra_data.json | besu rlp encode > rlp.txt

Supported types are:

IBFT_EXTRA_DATA - The IBFT 2.0 genesis file includes the IBFT_EXTRA_DATA type in the extraData property.
QBFT_EXTRA_DATA - The QBFT genesis file includes the QBFT_EXTRA_DATA type in the extraData property.

IBFT 2.0 extra data

To generate the RLP encoded extraData string, specify a JSON input that is an array of validator addresses in ascending order.

JSON Schema for IBFT_EXTRA_DATA

Use the following JSON Schema to validate that your JSON data is well formed. To validate your JSON content, use an online validation tool, such as https://www.jsonschemavalidator.net/.

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "$id": "http://org.hyperledger.besu/cli_rlp_ibft_extra_data.json",
  "type": "array",
  "definitions": {},
  "title": "IBFT extra data",
  "description":"JSON format used as input to generate an IBFT extra data RLP string",
  "items": {
    "$id": "#/address",
    "type": "string",
    "title": "Validator address",
    "description":"The validator node address",
    "default": "",
    "examples": [
      "be068f726a13c8d46c44be6ce9d275600e1735a4",
      "5ff6f4b66a46a2b2310a6f3a93aaddc0d9a1c193"
    ],
    "pattern":"^([0-9a-f]{40})$"
  }
}

Example IBFT_EXTRA_DATA encoding

JSON Input

[
  "be068f726a13c8d46c44be6ce9d275600e1735a4",
  "5ff6f4b66a46a2b2310a6f3a93aaddc0d9a1c193"
]

RLP Output

0xf853a00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ea94be068f726a13c8d46c44be6ce9d275600e1735a4945ff6f4b66a46a2b2310a6f3a93aaddc0d9a1c193808400000000c0

`retesteth`

Runs a Retesteth-compatible server. Retesteth is a developer tool that can generate and run consensus tests against any Ethereum client running such a server.

The command accepts the following command line options:

Syntax

besu retesteth [--data-path=<PATH>] [--rpc-http-host=<HOST>] [--rpc-http-port=<PORT>] [-l=<LOG VERBOSITY LEVEL>] [--host-allowlist=<hostname>[,<hostname>…]… or * or all]

Example

besu retesteth --data-path=/home/me/me_node --rpc-http-port=8590 --host-allowlist=*

Subcommands

blocks

import

export

public-key

export

export-address

password

hash

operator

generate-blockchain-config

generate-log-bloom-cache

rlp

encode

retesteth

`blocks`

`import`

`export`

`public-key`

`export`

`export-address`

`password`

`hash`

`operator`

`generate-blockchain-config`

`generate-log-bloom-cache`

`rlp`

`encode`

`retesteth`