Join the Network

Visit the Network Portal

Go to gateways.ar.io to access the ar.io's Network Portal.

The portal shows all active gateways on the network and provides the interface to register your own gateway.

Connect Your Wallet

Click the "Start your own gateway" button to begin the registration process. You'll be prompted to connect your wallet.

Choose your preferred Solana wallet (Phantom, Solflare, or Backpack) to connect.

Fill Out Gateway Information

Complete the gateway registration form with your gateway details:

Required Fields:

• Label: A display name for your gateway (e.g., "My New Gateway")
• Address: Your gateway's domain with port (e.g., https://fastandfurious.io:443)
• Observer Wallet: The public address of your observer wallet
• Properties ID: Transaction ID of your gateway properties
• Stake (ARIO): Minimum stake required (20,000 ARIO)
• Delegated Staking: Enable to allow others to delegate stake to your gateway
• Minimum Delegated Stake: Set minimum delegation amount (e.g., 100 ARIO)
• Reward Share Ratio: Percentage of rewards shared with delegators (e.g., 50%)
• Note: Additional information about your gateway (e.g., "ar.io rules!")

Confirm Registration

Review all information carefully and click "Confirm" to submit your gateway registration to the network.

What happens next:

• Your gateway will be added to the Gateway Address Registry
• Observers will start observing your gateway at the next Epoch (day)
• You will begin to receive rewards based on your gateway performance
• You can monitor your gateway's performance in the portal

Confirm your gateway registration:

Your gateway should now be viewable at gateways.ar.io/#/<ar-io-wallet-address> with the wallet address you used to join.

This dashboard shows your gateway's information, stats, and performance metrics including join date, uptime, operator stake, and delegated stake details.

Install the ar.io CLI

First, install the ar.io CLI tool if you haven't already:

npm install -g @ar.io/sdk

Run the Join Network Command

Use the ar.io join-network command with your gateway configuration. The operator key can be supplied either as a JSON keypair file (--wallet-file) or as a base58-encoded 64-byte secret key string (--private-key). The latter is the format Phantom and similar browser wallets export, so most operators can paste it directly.

ar.io join-network \
  --wallet-file ./path/to/solana-keypair.json \
  -t solana \
  --mainnet \
  --rpc-url https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com \
  --core-program-id 73YoECm6NKXpVRoe5f1Q9BcP5DJGPFUjnFy6AxBE5Nvh \
  --gar-program-id 89fNiiwgpFSPHKuqfNUkgYTYjtAJAhyqHjXmgXeppGpf \
  --arns-program-id 2yCUx5edFvUrkibYaUa2ZXWyx9kuJkS8CwyzsgHPWdZZ \
  --ant-program-id 2MWexMHfMhGJwMHv9Qm9YAVCqjUFUJwDJAysW4oCUGk5 \
  --operator-stake 20000 \
  --auto-stake \
  --allow-delegated-staking \
  --min-delegated-stake 100000000 \
  --delegate-reward-share-ratio 10 \
  --label "My Gateway" \
  --note "Production ar.io gateway" \
  --observer-address 7xKXtR2qpZm8FjvKNsG3kL9p5yMnYhVdEbxQ4oWc2Rn \
  --fqdn my-gateway.example.com \
  --port 443 \
  --protocol https

Parameter explanations:

• --operator-stake 20000 — operator stake in whole ARIO units (CLI converts to mARIO internally). Minimum is 20,000 ARIO on mainnet.
• --auto-stake — flag-only (no value). When set, operator rewards auto-restake to your gateway.
• --allow-delegated-staking — flag-only. Permits other wallets to delegate stake to you.
• --min-delegated-stake 100000000 — minimum delegation in mARIO (100 ARIO × 1,000,000). Unlike --operator-stake, this argument is in mARIO directly.
• --delegate-reward-share-ratio 10 — percentage of rewards shared with delegators (0-100).
• --observer-address — Solana address of the observer key (often the same as the operator address).
• --fqdn — your gateway's public domain name.
• -t solana — required to switch the CLI into Solana mode (default is Arweave).
• --mainnet — selects Solana mainnet behavior. The explicit --core-program-id, --gar-program-id, --arns-program-id, --ant-program-id, and --rpc-url flags pin the command to the canonical mainnet deployment.

Verify Registration

Verify the on-chain registration via the CLI:

ar.io get-gateway \
  --mainnet \
  -t solana \
  --rpc-url https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com \
  --core-program-id 73YoECm6NKXpVRoe5f1Q9BcP5DJGPFUjnFy6AxBE5Nvh \
  --gar-program-id 89fNiiwgpFSPHKuqfNUkgYTYjtAJAhyqHjXmgXeppGpf \
  --arns-program-id 2yCUx5edFvUrkibYaUa2ZXWyx9kuJkS8CwyzsgHPWdZZ \
  --ant-program-id 2MWexMHfMhGJwMHv9Qm9YAVCqjUFUJwDJAysW4oCUGk5 \
  --address <your-operator-pubkey>

The result should show "status": "joined" and the settings (FQDN, stake, allow-delegated, etc.) you passed at join time.

Once your gateway is running and pointed at the same network, cross-check from the gateway side too:

curl https://<your-gateway>/ar-io/info | jq '{wallet, programIds}'

• wallet should match the operator pubkey you joined with.
• programIds.{core,gar,arns,ant} should match the network you joined (mainnet program IDs, or whichever staging/devnet set you're using).

If those don't line up, your gateway is querying a different network than the one you joined. That's the usual reason a freshly-joined gateway doesn't show up as observing.

You can also verify in the portal: gateways.ar.io/#/<your-operator-pubkey>.