pysubnet 1.1.0

Deploy a substrate permissioned network using python

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PySubnet

Quick & easy mutli-node substrate network setup

🔧 Description

PySubnet automates the process generating, inserting and updating chainspecs for multi-node setups. Like:

• Generating Aura and Grandpa keys (or any other keys that you wish to use as session keys).
• Inserting them into the keystore for each node's --base-path
• Generating libp2p node keys to use for running the node using --node-key-file.
• Updating the chainspec with all relevant key and network information.
• Extending chainspec edit process using custom chainspec_handlers defined in chainspec_handlers.py file

Currently, it supports Aura + Grandpa based Substrate chains. You can adapt the logic to support different key types as needed.

It also supports key generations for AccountIds using built-in subkey in the substrate binary provided or using ECDSA keys generated using the ethereum module.

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📦 Installation

🔌 Using pip:

pip install pysubnet

Or get the latest version from github:

pip install git+https://github.com/weezy20/pysubnet.git

Or run it without installing anything using pipx or uvx:

⚡ Using uv by astral.sh (recommended):

uvx git+https://github.com/weezy20/pysubnet.git

Or create a virutalenv with python >=3.10 and install it inside it using pip, uv, etc.

# Create virtualenv with python >=3.10
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate 
# or if using uv
uv venv test
source test/.venv/bin/activate
# Windows: `venv\Scripts\activate`

Then install it

pip install git+https://github.com/weezy20/pysubnet.git
# or if using uv
uv pip install git+https://github.com/weezy20/pysubnet.git

Note: If you're on a system without Python development headers (like Python.h), and see missing header errors during install you would need to install them:

• On Debian/Ubuntu, run: sudo apt install python3-dev
• On RedHat/Fedora, run: sudo dnf install python3-devel
• On Mac, make sure Xcode Command Line Tools are installed: xcode-select --install

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🚀 Usage

✅ Pre-requisites

• Substrate Binary (required):
  A compiled Substrate binary. By default, pysubnet looks for a binary named substrate. If your binary has a different name or is located elsewhere, you can specify its path using the --bin flag.

• Chainspec File (optional):
  A chainspec.json file can be provided as a base template for your network configuration.

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📦 Basic Command

pysubnet

or

pysubnet -i # Recommended

This uses the default settings:

• Chainspec: "dev"
• Root directory: ./network
• Substrate binary: ./substrate

You can use all flags with -i. The main reason for having flags is to use in non-interactive setups where developers need quick network startup A developer might create a substrate node with their custom chainspec edits in the custom_network_config() function in chainspec_handlers.py file and then may run

pysubnet -c # (clean existing root-dir if present) 
         -r # (invoke start_network())
         --bin <custom bin> # (provide a custom bin)

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🧹 Clean Start

By default, PySubnet won’t overwrite an existing root directory if it has contents. To clear it before launching:

pysubnet --clean 
or 
pysubnet -c 

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📁 Custom Root Directory

pysubnet --root ./my_custom_dir

All generated keys, node information, and chain specs will be stored under this directory, and a pysubnet.json file will be generated that holds all keys, ports, flags required to run your network:

<ROOT_DIR>/pysubnet.json

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📜 Custom Chainspec

Pass in your own chainspec file:

pysubnet --chainspec ./my_chainspec.json

Or use the default embedded options:

pysubnet --chainspec dev # default option equivalent to running without --chainspec flag

or

pysubnet --chainspec local

PySubnet will inject generated bootnodes into the chainspec, and based on one of custom_network_config() [Default] or enable_poa()[--poa] will inject authorities to the genesis. It will then generate a raw_chainspec file and use that to spawn of the network in start_network()

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-r or --run will invoke start_network() to start the network. This will:

• Spawn each node in a separate process.
• Use the generated keystores and updated chainspec.
• Write logs to <node-name>.log located inside each node's directory.

Generate keys, insert keys, update chainspec, generate raw chainspec and launch the network in one step:

pysubnet -icr # interactive
or 
pysubnet -cr # non-interactive

It's helpful to use -c as often you'll be using the same <ROOT_DIR>

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🧑‍⚖️ Enable Proof-of-Authority (PoA) Mode

For Substrate-node-template based chains (Simple Aura+Grandpa session keys), you can enable Proof-of-Authority (PoA) mode, which assigns all authorities equal weight in the chainspec and inserts their Aura-SS58 & Grandpa-SS58 keys. This is useful for testing and development purposes when starting out learning substrate. Also works for frontier/template or any node that has a "aura" and "grandpa" in their runtime-genesis["patch"] section. ] as it's same in consensus to the default substrate-node-template

pysubnet --poa -r 
# Automates the tutorial "Start a private network with 3 nodes" that used to be in the now gone substrate.io website

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🧾 Full Argument Reference

Flag	Description	Example
-i, --interactive	Run in interactive mode	pysubnet -i
--run, --start, -r	Launch network after key/chainspec generation	pysubnet --run
--root	Set custom root directory for network artifacts	pysubnet --root ./my-net
-c, --clean	Clean the root directory before starting	pysubnet -c
--chainspec	Provide a chainspec file to use as a starter template or use dev / local	--chainspec dev or --chainspec ./custom.json
--bin	Path to Substrate binary	--bin ./target/release/node-template
--account	AccountId type to use for ValidatorId, "ecdsa" or "sr25519"	--account ecdsa or --account sr25519"
--poa	Enable POA. Absence of this flag branches code into custom_network_config which is user defined	pysubnet --poa --run

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🧠 Notes

• All node data (crypto keys, Account keys, libp2p keys, node IDs) is stored in pysubnet.json.
• The script auto-generates keystores compatible with Substrate’s expected format.
• You can choose between AccountId20 or AccountId32 for your AccountId (validator account keys)
• Make sure your node uses the same account type as the --account you pass to pysubnet. Not doing so will result in a runtime error
• Chainspecs are automatically modified in-place with new authority and bootnodes + libp2p identity. All editors are defined in chainspec_handlers.py and inserted before start_network() call.
• Do not pass -r if you just want to prepare base-paths for a multi-node network.
• Sometimes CTRL-C might give you an error. This is because we use a sleep timer for 2 seconds in main.py to reduce CPU interuppts. This is easily fixed by tapping CTRL-C in succession.

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