Getting started with the Görli Testnet

The Görli testnet

The Görli testnet is the first cross-client proof-of-authority network for Ethereum. It is based on the Clique PoA protocol. It was launched on 31 January 2019 at the GörliCon. The development is led by Chainsafe Systems + Afri Schoedon from Parity but there are dozens of more contributors that helped in making this a reality.

To play around with the Görli (Goerli) testnet, you’ll need some goerli ether first. A Bridge that will allow you to convert other testnet ether to goerli ether is under works currently but there is a faucet live already.

Görli Faucet

You can get some sweet goerli ether from https://faucet.goerli.mudit.blog/ . The faucet is based on the Rinkeby Authenticated faucet created by the Geth team. The faucet address is 0x8c1e1e5b47980D214965f3bd8ea34C413E120ae4 and it started with 1000 goerli ether funded by Eleazar (E.G.) Galano from Infura. Go get a piece of the goerli ether while it’s hot and fresh!

Now that you have some goerli ether, it’s time to spend it. You can either host your own goerli node (more on this later) or use one of the open RPC endpoints.

Görli RPC Endpoint

For ease of access, I am hosting an open goerli RPC endpoint at https://rpc.goerli.mudit.blog/ . It is powered by a single geth node so there is no uptime guarantee. It’s hosted on a shared i7 6700, 32gig RAM and RAID 1 SSD system so it should be able to handle a decent amount of load. Infura is already working on providing goerli endpoints that will be more reliable with their redundant and massive infrastructure.

To use the RPC endpoint with metamask , Open the metamask settings and set the new RPC url as https://rpc.goerli.mudit.blog/ and networkID as 5. You can optionally set a nickname and symbol as well. Save the settings and you should be good to go. It should look something like

Metamask settings for Goerli RPC endpoint

You can use metamask normally now to do actions on the goerli testnet. You can also directly use the endpoint in your projects using Web3. If you don’t trust an external RPC node, you can start your own goerli node within Minutes.

Syncing a Görli node

Goerli is a cross-client testnet which means you can pick from various clients including geth , parity, nethermind and pantheon to sync your Goerli testnet. Instructions for syncing the node are available on https://github.com/goerli/testnet . As there are only a few blocks currently, your node should finish syncing within minutes. You can then use the RPC endpoints provided by your client.

Görli blockchain explorer

You can use https://blockscout.com/eth/goerli and https://explorer.goerli.net/ but keep in mind that they both are under heavy development and may not be work at all times.

More info about the Görli tesnet is available on https://goerli.net/ If you need any help, feel free to drop a comment here or join the Görli Gitter channel .