How to run a miner
A UR miner shares your internet connection as an exit for a network operator. Validators check that it really carries traffic, and Bittensor SN25 (netuid 25) pays rewards for that work in the subnet's α token, branded $UR.
This page gets you from nothing to a running miner. The rest of the miner guide goes deeper, one topic per page:
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Install | The installers for Linux, macOS and Windows, a manual download, and building from source. |
| Run and monitor | Starting and stopping, running in the background, logs and the status page, backups. |
| Updates | How the miner stays up to date, and how to control that. |
| Get paid | Setting your payout wallet, how rewards are counted, and claiming them. |
| Troubleshooting | The common errors and what to do about each one. |
| Advanced | Mining every operator, several exits on one host, automatic claims and the head tier for large fleets. |
| Reference | Every everyday command, the files the miner keeps, environment variables and a glossary. |
For the other roles, see Run a validator and Run a network operator.
How it works
your miner (provider)
│ carries internet traffic for
↓
a network operator ←─ validators
│ pays its pool measure it
↓ every epoch
your Bittensor coldkey (α, $UR)Most miners join an operator's pool. You don't need your own Bittensor registration: you sign in to the operator, your miner registers itself as a device, and the pool's rewards are paid to the Bittensor wallet you choose. Large fleets can instead claim their own miner UID; see the head tier.
What you need
- A Linux, macOS or Windows computer that stays online. A home PC, a server or a Raspberry Pi 2 or newer all work. On Windows the miner runs while you're signed in.
- One stable public internet address per miner. The miner also tries to listen on TCP port 443 and on UDP ports 443, 53 and 4053 for its extender. To run more than one exit from a host, see Several exits on one host.
- An account with a network operator. The miner uses the default operator,
bringyour.com, unless you choose another. You'll get an auth code from your account to sign the miner in. - A Bittensor wallet address (coldkey) for your rewards. It's an ss58 address that starts with
5. You can sign for it on another device; its secret never needs to be on the miner.
Quick start
The miner program is called provider. Install it, run provider setup, and check on it with provider status.
1. Install
The installer is the easiest way. It puts the miner in your home folder, runs it in the background, and keeps it up to date automatically.
On Linux:
curl -fsSL https://On macOS:
curl -fsSL https://On Windows, in PowerShell (not as administrator):
irm https://Then open a new terminal. The installer asks for an auth code from your operator account (for the default operator, from your URnetwork account at ur.io), registers this device and starts mining.
The installer names the command urnetwork, not provider. If you used it, type urnetwork wherever this guide says provider, including in commands the miner prints for you to copy.
To install without an installer, see Manual download.
2. Run setup
provider setupIt walks you through four steps, and you can stop and run it again at any time; it keeps the steps you've finished:
- Sign in. Paste an auth code from your operator account. The prompt hides what you paste.
- Register this device. A new device gets its own miner identity, saved in
~/.urnetwork. - Payout address. Your Bittensor coldkey address. Setup prints a short message; sign it in your wallet app (Polkadot.js, Talisman or btcli) and paste the signature. You can press Enter to skip this and set it later.
- Keep it running. Starts the miner in the background now and again after every restart (on Windows, whenever you sign in), and keeps it up to date.
If you used an installer, it already signed you in, registered this device and runs the miner in the background. Run urnetwork setup --no-service to add your payout address; --no-service keeps setup from adding a second background miner beside the installer's.
3. Check on it
provider statusA minute after the miner starts, the Miner, Signed in, Device and Connected lines should each have a ✓. It exits with 0 when all is well, 3 when the device needs setup, and 4 when the miner isn't running or isn't connected, so scripts can check it too (provider status --json prints the details).
When something isn't right, status prints the command to run next. provider doctor looks for the reason: the state folder, DNS, the connection, a proxy that inspects TLS, and the clock. See Run and monitor for logs and stopping and starting.
4. Back up your miner
Copy the folder ~/.urnetwork somewhere private. It holds this device's identity and your signed wallet history. If you lose it, the device can't be recovered, even though you can still sign in to your account. See Back up your miner.
That's it. Rewards are counted per settlement epoch, about a week on mainnet, and are claimed after the epoch closes: see Get paid. If something didn't work, see Troubleshooting.
Step by step instead of setup
provider setup runs these commands for you. To do it by hand:
provider login # paste the auth code when asked
provider start # the first start asks before registering this device
provider wallet challenge '<your coldkey ss58 address>'
provider service install # in a second terminal, after Ctrl-C in the firstprovider wallet challenge prints a message to sign; then run the provider wallet set command it prints, with your signature. Get paid explains it. login, start and network are the same commands as auth, provide and choose_.
Where this guide comes from
This guide follows the current sn/miner implementation and its cli/miner entry point. Many parts of it are refined in conversations on our Discord, which is also the place to ask for help.