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Building a ZENIQ Smart Chain node

zeniqsmartd is the ZENIQ Smart Chain full-node client. It is a Tendermint ABCI application running an Ethereum-compatible EVM, and it serves the JSON-RPC API. Most developers never need to run their own node — the public https://api.zeniq.network endpoint is enough. Build from source when you want a private endpoint, an archive/index node, or to run a validator.

info

zeniqsmartd is a cgo build: it links C/C++ libraries (RocksDB and the evmone-based EVM), so you need a C/C++ toolchain in addition to Go. A helper script, build.sh, compiles the C dependencies from source and then builds the binary.

Source layout​

The client is split across four sibling Go modules, each its own repository under github.com/zeniqsmart:

RepositoryRole
zeniq-smart-chainThe application: ABCI app, JSON-RPC, staking, cross-chain importer, and the zeniqsmartd binary
evm-zeniq-smart-chainEVM engine + C++ evmwrap/evmone bridge
ads-zeniq-smart-chainAuthenticated Merkle world-state store
db-zeniq-smart-chainBlock/transaction/log history + query index
Directory names matter

zeniq-smart-chain references the other three modules with replace => ../<dir> directives, so the four repositories must be checked out side by side using exactly the names above. Renaming a directory breaks the build.

Prerequisites​

  • Go 1.23 or newer
  • A C/C++ toolchain: gcc, g++, make, cmake, git

On Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential cmake git

Install Go from go.dev/dl and make sure go is on your PATH.

Clone the four repositories side by side​

mkdir smart-chain-dev && cd smart-chain-dev
git clone https://github.com/zeniqsmart/ads-zeniq-smart-chain
git clone https://github.com/zeniqsmart/db-zeniq-smart-chain
git clone https://github.com/zeniqsmart/evm-zeniq-smart-chain
git clone https://github.com/zeniqsmart/zeniq-smart-chain

You should end up with:

smart-chain-dev/
├── ads-zeniq-smart-chain/
├── db-zeniq-smart-chain/
├── evm-zeniq-smart-chain/
└── zeniq-smart-chain/

Build​

From the application module, source build.sh (source it, don't just run it — it exports the cgo build flags into your shell):

cd zeniq-smart-chain
. ./build.sh

build.sh will, in order:

  1. Export CGO_CFLAGS / CGO_LDFLAGS pointing at the compiled C dependencies.
  2. Build the C dependencies (RocksDB and friends) from source into build/.
  3. Enable the replace directives that wire in the three sibling modules.
  4. Build the evmone-based EVM bridge (libevmwrap.a).
  5. go build the client.

The result is the binary at build/zeniqsmartd:

./build/zeniqsmartd version
Toolchain notes

Because the C dependencies are compiled from source, a very new GCC/CMake may need minor flags (e.g. CMake ≥ 4 policy compatibility, or -include cstdint for RocksDB under GCC 13+). If a dependency fails to compile, check the project's deps.sh — the known workarounds live there.

Initialise and run​

Initialising, configuring (app.toml, config.toml, genesis.json, seeds/peers) and starting the node is covered by the zeniq-smart-chain repository README. In outline:

./build/zeniqsmartd init <your-moniker>
# edit ~/.zeniqsmartd config, set peers/seeds
./build/zeniqsmartd start

Once the node is synced it serves the same JSON-RPC API as the public endpoints, at your configured host and port.