CLI PoP Miner
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This guide provides straightforward steps to download, set up, and run your PoP Miner, either by downloading pre-built binaries or by building from source.
Ensure you have your development environment ready and follow the steps below to start PoP mining.
Basic CLI skills are required.
Basic CLI Knowledge
BTC (See Bitcoin fee/vB to understand how much BTC is required to PoP mine)
Download a pre-built binary or build from source using the README. Choose the release you want to use (if unsure, choose the latest), and click on Assets dropdown:
The package you will need to download depends on your OS and architecture:
Windows (Intel/AMD CPU): heminetwork_v1.0.0_windows_amd64.zip
Mac (Intel CPU): heminetwork_v1.0.0_darwin_amd64.tar.gz
Mac (Apple Silicon "M" CPU): heminetwork_v1.0.0_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
Linux (Intel/AMD CPU): heminetwork_v1.0.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz
Linux (ARM CPU): heminetwork_v1.0.0_linux_arm64.tar.gz
After downloading the necessary files, you must extract them from their compressed format before you can use or access the software. On most operating systems, you can right-click on the downloaded archive and choose "Extract" or similar.
Linux/macOS tip:
You can also use the command tar xvf heminetwork_v1.0.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz
Run the uname -a command in the Terminal to view all system information, ensuring compatibility with the correct asset on GitHub.
Depending on the output:
"x86_64" => Choose the "amd64" package corresponding to your OS
"arm64" => Choose the "arm64" package corresponding to your OS
Launch your CLI:
For Windows:
Press ⊞ Win + R together to open the "Run Program Or File" Window
Type "cmd" and press Enter
For macOS:
Press ⌘ + Space together to open Spotlight Search
Type "terminal" and press Enter
For Linux:
Depends on OS. On Ubuntu (Gnome): Ctrl + Alt + T
For most other distros, you can press Super (Windows Key) and search for Terminal.
Navigate to the folder you extracted by typing cd (don't press Enter yet) and then drag the path of the extracted folder into your CLI, or type the path in manually and then press Enter.
For example on Linux if you downloaded the package to your Downloads folder and extracted it through the GUI, you might run a command like:
cd '/home/<user>/Downloads/heminetwork_v1.0.0_linux_amd64'
List the files:
For Windows:
dir (and press Enter) Type "cmd" and press Enter
For macOS:
ls (and press Enter)
Your output should be:
Linux & macOS
For Windows
To ensure you downloaded the correct binaries and are able to run them, execute the command below:
This will display the help menu for popmd, indicating that it's installed and operational.
Note: Starting with v1.0.0, the PoP miner defaults to mainnet. If you want to PoP mine on testnet, you must specify "testnet" in the POPM_BTC_CHAIN_NAME.
If you prefer to PoP mine using a preexisting private key, you may skip step 6a and 6b. You may import a private key from either an EVM or BTC address. For your BTC wallet (Unisat for example), use the HEX private key and not the WIF private key.
Note: The net flag in the ./keygen command will default to "mainnet". If you are running a PoP miner in testnet, you must also add the flag -net="testnet".
If you chose to generate a new private key in Step 6a, open your JSON to view your file contents.
On Windows: See the above instructions for how to open the file in Notepad.
On Linux/macOS: Run the following command to print the contents of your key file to the Terminal:
cat ~/popm-address.json
You should see a result like:
Find your wallet address:
New Address: If you generated a new public key in Step 6a, check the JSON file from Step 6b for your pubkey_hash.
Existing BTC Address: If you are importing a private key from an existing BTC address, change your wallet type to P2PKH (Legacy) and locate the pubkey hash.
Existing EVM Address: If you are importing a private key from an existing EVM address, import your private key into UniSat and select P2PKH (Legacy) as your wallet type.
Best Practices for BTC Allocation
We advise against sending large amounts of Bitcoin to the private key connected to your PoP miner. To run the miner, ~0.002 BTC is required per day assuming a Bitcoin fee rate of 2-3 sat/vB. As a safety practice, consider sending only enough BTC for a week or a month at a time and refilling periodically.
To determine how much BTC to send to your wallet, review Bitcoin fee/vB.
Testnet Mining
If you want to test out PoP mining on testnet, you can get tBTC from faucets like this one.
In your console, execute the following commands while:
replacing <private_key> with either the value from your JSON file in Step 5 OR your preexisting EVM/BTC private key,
replacing <fee_per_vB_integer> with the fee in sat/vB you want to pay.
Read the "Bitcoin fee/vB" section below if you need help determining what value to set here.
Linux & macOS
Windows
Let us know how this process was for you via Discord. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our documentation.
The Bitcoin transaction (normally represented in satoshis per virtual byte or sats/vB) is a fee paid to the Bitcoin miners to include a transaction in a Bitcoin block. It varies with network congestion, typically rising during periods of high transaction volume and decreasing when there is less activity.
The PoP Miner consumes BTC to pay the Bitcoin miners to include PoP transactions in Bitcoin blocks.
In order to ensure PoP transactions from your PoP miner are included in Bitcoin blocks, ensure the configured fee is set to an appropriate value. The PoP miner can be configured to use a certain fee in sats/vB by changing the POPM_STATIC_FEE environment variable when running the PoP miner. In a future version, the PoP miner will automatically calculate the current network fee to guarantee PoP transactions are included in Bitcoin blocks.
The lower you set the fee, the less BTC you will pay per PoP transaction. If your fees are too low, Bitcoin miners may not include your transaction quickly enough for you to successfully PoP mine.
Bitcoin fee determination:
Check Current Fee Levels: Visit mempool.space to see the current fee levels. Look at the "sat/vB" numbers for the different transaction fee priorities. It is recommended to set the value to the "High Priority" value or slightly higher.
Set the Static Fee: Re-run the command to set the POPM_STATIC_FEE environment variable from above (export on Linux/macOS, set on Windows) each time you want to change the fee, and restart the PoP Miner afterwards.
Linux & macOS
⚠️ On Mac you will need to first remove the quarantine by running the following command in your Terminal:
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./popmd
Run
./popmd --help
Windows
⚠️ Important Note for Windows Users: To successfully execute this command, you must use the Command Prompt (CMD), not PowerShell (which is the default terminal in environments like Visual Studio Code).
Run
popmd.exe --help
Linux & macOS
⚠️ On Mac you will need to remove the quarantine by running:
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./keygen
Run the following command:
Windows
⚠️ Important Note for Windows Users: To successfully execute this command, you must use the Command Prompt, not PowerShell (which is the default terminal in environments like Visual Studio Code). Follow these steps to open Command Prompt:
Click on the Start Menu button or press the Windows key on your keyboard.
Type cmd into the search bar and open it.
Type the following command and press Enter:
Note: After running the command, you might not see any immediate feedback in the Command Prompt. This is expected behavior.
Open the generated key file
After generating the key file, you'll want to check its contents. To do this, use the following command in Command Prompt:
This command opens the popm-address.json file in Notepad, allowing you to view or edit the generated key.
Note: The following commands connect to a Hemi Labs-owned BFG. This BFG can get busy and requests will often time out due to a high load and serving the large number of connected users. If you'd like to run your own, you can do so by following the instructions then you may connect to that with by changing the POPM_BFG_URL value to be your own BFG.
To run a PoP miner connected to a custom BFG endpoint, provide the additional line of code to the run commands listed below:
Linux & macOS:
export POPM_BFG_URL=<YOUR_BFG_URL>
Windows:
set POPM_BFG_URL=<YOUR_BFG_URL>
