Kiln is a tool for both baking and monitoring on the Tezos network. It provides a locally hosted graphical interface, binaries for tezos-client, tezos-node, tezos-baker, and it builds a cache of chain data from the nodes to which it connects.

For step-by-step instructions on how to get started, see the Obsidian System's medium post How to Install Kiln and Bake on Ubuntu.

Installation guide for MacOS Catalina or later is available here.

Past release notes are available here.

If you don't need/want graphical user interface, consider baking setup with Serokell Tezos distributions and using Pyrometer for monitoring.

• Download latest release from Releases

• Install or update:

  On desktop:

  • Double click downloaded .deb file
  • Click Install button

  From the command line: assuming .deb file (e.g. kiln_0.11.1_amd64.deb) is downloaded to ~/Downloads folder

  • Open terminal
  • Run

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/kiln_0.11.1_amd64.deb

• Go to Kiln web user interface: open http://localhost:8000 in a web browser

• Install or update:

  • Right click downloaded .pkg file, select "Open With > Installer"
  • Confirm you would like to install this application
  • Follow installer prompts

• After computer reboots, go to Kiln web user interface: open http://localhost:8444 in a web browser

There are instances where Kiln’s user interface will stop updating, but the backend will continue functioning properly. For instance, resolving a notification will not cause the notification to disappear until the page is refreshed. Stopping and restarting Kiln fixes this issue.

Restart Kiln (Ubuntu):

sudo systemctl stop kiln
sudo systemctl start kiln

Restart Kiln (MacOS):

launchctl stop tezos.kiln
launchctl start tezos.kiln

Sometimes Kiln UI may stop properly updating monitored node status.

To verify that Kiln's Tezos node is synchronized with the network run the following command:

Check node is synced (Ubuntu):

/usr/share/kiln/nix/store/*-tezos-*/bin/tezos-client --endpoint http://localhost:8733 bootstrapped

Check node is synced (MacOS):

export DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/kiln-nix/lib
/usr/local/kiln-nix/nix/store/*tezos*/bin/tezos-client --endpoint http://localhost:8733 bootstrapped

If node is synchronized with the network, the command will print "Node is bootstrapped." message and exit immediately.

Or check via node's web API, e.g. using curl:

curl http://localhost:8733/chains/main/is_bootstrapped

Healthy node should return

{"bootstrapped":true,"sync_state":"synced"}

Stopping and restarting Kiln typically resolves the issue.

A typical reason for missing a bake or endorsement is unavailable Ledger device. Examine baker logs to verify if that's the case.

Check logs (Ubuntu):

# everythin
journalctl -u kiln

# filter messages from baker
journalctl -u kiln | grep baker

# filter message from baker within a time period
journalctl -u kiln --since "5 days ago" --until "1 hour ago" | grep baker

Consult journalctl documentation or tutorial for more ways to browse and filter the logs.

Check logs (MacOS):

• go to Applications > Utilities and launch Console application.
• Select Log Reports
• Type kiln in search bar
• Select one of kiln log files

Verify that Ledger is connected (Ubuntu):

/usr/share/kiln/nix/store/*-tezos-*/bin/tezos-client --endpoint http://localhost:8733 list connected ledgers

Verify that Ledger is connected (MacOS):

export DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/kiln-nix/lib
/usr/local/kiln-nix/nix/store/*tezos*/bin/tezos-client --endpoint http://localhost:8733 list connected ledgers

If ledger is not listed in the output:

• Make sure Tezos baking application is running on the device
• Make sure that device is properly plugged in, on both ends
• Try unplug the device, plug it back in, unlock and start baking app again
• Try different USB port
• Try different USB cable

System requirements are dependent on whether you plan on running a Tezos node in Kiln, which is necessary for baking.

Note: If you are running a node using our Docker Image, note that Docker's default memory allocation is 2GB. Increasing this to 8GB is highly recommended.

Disk: The monitor uses PostgreSQL for all storage. The entire database typically uses about 1-2GB.

Memory: Idle memory usage is typically under 1GB. When initializing history (usually right after start-up or adding your first node) memory can spike to about 3GB for a short time.

CPU: Running with at least 2 cores is recommended.

Kiln bakes with a local node, which increases system requirements.

Disk: A node running in Kiln will sync with the Tezos blockchain, which is currently ~70GB. SSD is highly recommended over HHD.

Memory: Recommendated RAM for running a Tezos Node is 8GB. We recommend at least 10GB RAM to account for the node, baker, and Kiln’s processes.

CPU: Running with at least 2 cores is recommended.

Kiln, in conjunction with Tezos Baking for the Ledger Nano S, can be used to bake. Kiln runs the node, baker locally while monitoring them to notify the user of common issues and events.

Baking requires the Kiln node to be fully synced with the Tezos blockchain. Once the node is synced, click ‘Add Baker’ in the left sidebar. Then click ‘Start Baking’ and follow the instructions provided.

Once you’ve registered as a delegate, it will take time for you to earn baking and endorsing rights. As soon as Kiln detects you have rights, your next right will be displayed.

Kiln monitors nodes, bakers, and the Tezos network to keep bakers fully informed. The dashboard displays a tile with relevant information for all the nodes and bakers it is monitoring, and it alerts the user of any issues that it may encounter.

Kiln produces a notification if an update is pushed to the Tezos network. For instance, if a user is monitoring mainnet with Kiln, they will be notified if mainnet is updated.

Kiln produces a notification if a monitored node:

• Is on the wrong network
• Is unsynced with the network
• Falls behind the current head block level
• Cannot be reached by the Monitoring Software (e.g. is offline)

Kiln produces a notification if a monitored baker:

• Misses a baking or endorsing opportunity
• Is accused of double baking or double endorsing
• Has been deactivated due to inactivity or will be within one cycle

Note: To monitor a baker, you must be monitoring a node.

In addition to in-app alerts, users can configure Kiln to send Telegram alerts or use their SMTP Mail Server to send alerts to the email addresses of their choice. Notification pathways can be configured on the Settings page.

For more information, see notes on configuring Telegram and Email notifications below.

Click Add Node in the left panel. Then click Start Node on the left side of the modal. Kiln will generate an identity for a local node with the RPC port 8733 and immediately begin syncing with the blockchain. If this port is already in use, Kiln will have difficulty monitoring this node (the port can be modified by command line options). The Kiln Node can be stopped or restarted through the options menu on the Node's tile on the Dashboard.

Click Add Node from the left panel and enter the address of the node you would like to monitor under Monitor via Address. Then click Add Node. For example, if you would like to add a local node with an RPC interface on the default port of 8732, you can enter http://localhost:8732*. You can add any node URL to which you know the RPC address. If you do not know the RPC address of the node or if the node wasn't started with --rpc-addr, the monitor will not be able to retrieve information from the node.

* If you're running the monitor from Docker on macOS, localhost will not point to your host's network. Instead you can use host.docker.internal instead of localhost, e.g. http://host.docker.internal:8732. localhost will also not work on Linux if you run the container without --network host, but you can't use host.docker.internal in this case.

Once you’ve added at least one node, the Dashboard header will show the network status.

Note: This assumes that you are running at least one Tezos node. See Tezos documentation on various ways of running a node

Click Add Baker from the left panel and input the public key hash (PKH) of the baker you would like to monitor. Kiln will then use Monitored Nodes to gather information about that baker from the blockchain. This initial query can take up to a few hours.

Note: To monitor a baker, you must be monitoring a node.

In case you want to run the baker with some additional arguments, e.g. you want to run a baker with a vote for/against the liquidity baking subsidy, you should use --kiln-baker-custom-args option.

If the baker fails to register on protocols starting from Seoulnet, ensure that you have revealed your key. It's expected that future Tezos Wallet app versions will fix the problem, possibly starting from version 3.0.8.

To reveal your key manually, run the next command, replacing <YOUR_KEY> with your Tezos address:

octez-client reveal key for <YOUR_KEY>

Your device may ask you to sign an operation, in which case you may safely do so.

Liquidity baking toggle vote option is set on Kiln UI during the creation of Kiln baker. The corresponding --liquidity-baking-toggle-vote custom argument will be ignored by Kiln.

There is also an opportunity to set this option using a file. You can create a vote.json file with the following contents:

{ "liquidity_baking_toggle_vote": "on"/"off"/"pass" }

And run Kiln with --kiln-baker-custom-args="--votefile vote.json" option. This way of setting the liquidity baking options takes precendence over the option which is set on Kiln UI. More details in the documentation.

Click Settings from the left panel then click Connect Telegram and follow the instructions in the popup. Telegram notifications can be sent to a group or directly to a single user.

Click Settings from the left panel and provide the SMTP configuration for your SMTP server in the form under Email. Add an email address to receive alerts and click Save Settings.

Users can join Tezos Baking Slack to provide feedback.