FAQ
Basic
What is Gonka?
Gonka is a decentralized network for high‑efficiency AI compute — run by those who run it. It functions as a cost-effective and efficient alternative to centralized cloud services for AI model training and inference. As a protocol, it's not a company or a start-up.
What is the GNK coin?
GNK is the native coin of the Gonka network. It is used to incentivize participants, price resources, and ensure the sustainable growth of the network.
What makes the protocol efficient?
Our difference from the "big players" is the pricing and the fact that, despite the size of the user, the inference is being distributed equally. To learn more, please review the Whitepaper.
How does the network operate?
The network's operation is collaborative and depends on the role you wish to take:
- As a Developer: You can use the network's computational resources to build and deploy your AI applications.
- As a Host: You can contribute your computational resources to power the network. The protocol is designed to reward you for your contribution, ensuring the network's continuity and sovereignty.
Where can I find information on key management?
You can find a dedicated section on Key Management in the documentation. It outlines the procedures and best practices for securely managing your application's keys on the network.
What is the incentive for contributing computational resources?
We've created a dedicated document focused on Tokenomics, where you can find all the information about how the incentive in being measured.
What are the hardware requirements?
You can find the minimum and recommended hardware specifications clearly outlined in the documentation. You should review this section to ensure your hardware meets the requirements for effective contribution.
What if I want to stop mining but still use my account when I come back?
To restore a Network Node in the future, it will be sufficient to back up:
- cold key (most important, everything else can be rotated)
- secres from tmkms:
.tmkms/secrets/ - keyring from
.inference .inference/keyring-file/ - node key from
.inference/config .inference/config/node_key.json - password for warm key
KEYRING_PASSWORD
Governance
What types of changes require a Governance Proposal?
Governance Proposals are required for any on-chain changes that affect the network, for example:
- Updating module parameters (
MsgUpdateParams) - Executing software upgrades
- Adding, updating, or deprecating inference models
- Any other actions that must be approved and executed via the governance module
Who can create a Governance Proposal?
Anyone with a valid governance key (cold account) can pay the required fee and create a Governance Proposal. However, each proposal must still be approved by active participants through PoC-weighted voting. Proposers are encouraged to discuss significant changes off-chain first (for example, via GitHub or community forums) to increase the likelihood of approval. See the full guide.
What’s the difference between Governance Proposals and Improvement Proposals?
Governance Proposals → on-chain proposals. Used for changes that directly affect the network and require on-chain voting. Examples:
- Updating network parameters (
MsgUpdateParams) - Executing software upgrades
- Adding new models or capabilities
- Any modification that needs to be executed by the governance module
Improvement Proposals → off-chain proposals under the control of active participants. Used for shaping the long-term roadmap, discussing new ideas, and coordinating larger strategic changes.
- Managed as Markdown files in the /proposals directory
- Reviewed and discussed through GitHub Pull Request
- Approved proposals are merged into the repository
How are Improvement Proposals reviewed and approved?
- Create a Markdown proposal in the /proposals folder.
- Open a Pull Request with your proposal.
- Community review: - Active contributors and maintainers discuss the proposal in the PR thread. - Feedback, suggestions, and refinements are discussed openly.
- Approval and merge: - If the community agrees, the PR is merged. - Approved proposals become part of the official community roadmap.
Can an Improvement Proposal lead to a Governance Proposal?
Yes. Often, an Improvement Proposal is used to explore ideas and gather consensus before drafting a Governance Proposal. For example:
- You might first propose a new model integration as an Improvement Proposal.
- After the community agrees, an on-chain Governance Proposal is created to update parameters or trigger the software upgrade.
How does the voting process work?
- Once a proposal is submitted and funded with the minimum deposit, it enters the voting period
-
Voting options:
yes,no,no_with_veto,abstain -
yes→ approve the proposalno→ reject the proposalno_with_veto→ reject and signal a strong objectionabstain→ neither approve nor reject, but counts toward quorum
-
You can change your vote anytime during the voting period; only your last vote is counted
- If quorum and thresholds are met, the proposal passes and executes automatically via the governance module
To vote, you can use the command below. This example votes yes, but you can replace it with your preferred option (yes, no, no_with_veto, abstain):
./inferenced tx gov vote 2 yes \
--from <cold_key_name> \
--keyring-backend file \
--unordered \
--timeout-duration=60s --gas=2000000 --gas-adjustment=5.0 \
--node $NODE_URL/chain-rpc/ \
--chain-id gonka-mainnet \
--yes
How can I track the status of a Governance Proposal?
You can query the proposal status at any time using the CLI:
export NODE_URL=http://47.236.19.22:18000
./inferenced query gov tally 2 -o json --node $NODE_URL/chain-rpc/
What happens if a proposal fails?
- If a proposal does not meet quorum → it automatically fails
- If the majority votes
no→ proposal rejected, no on-chain changes - If a significant percentage votes
no_with_veto(above veto threshold) → proposal is rejected and flagged, signaling strong community disagreement - Deposits may or may not be refunded, depending on chain settings
How is governance power calculated in Gonka?
Gonka uses a PoC-weighted voting model:
- Proof-of-Compute (PoC): Voting power is proportional to your verified compute contribution.
- Collateral commitment:
- 20% of PoC-derived voting weight is activated automatically.
- To unlock the remaining 80%, you must lock GNK coins as collateral.
- This ensures that governance influence reflects real compute work + economic collateral.
For the first 180 epochs (approximately 6 months), new participants can participate in governance and earn voting weight through PoC alone, without collateral requirements. During this period, the full governance rights are available, while voting weight remains tied to verified compute activity.
Why does Gonka require locking GNK coins for governance power?
Voting power is never derived solely from holding coins. GNK coins serve as economic collateral, not as a source of influence. Influence is earned through continuous computational contribution, while locking GNK collateral is required to secure participation in governance and enforce accountability.
Can governance parameters themselves be changed?
Yes. All key governance rules — quorum, majority threshold, and veto threshold — are on-chain configurable and can be updated via Governance Proposals. This allows the network to evolve decision-making rules as participation patterns and compute economic changes.
Hosts FAQ
My node was jailed. What does it mean?
Your validator has been jailed because it signed fewer than 50 blocks out of the last 100 blocks (the requirement counts the total number of signed blocks in that window, not consecutive ones). This means your node was temporarily excluded (about 15 minutes) from block production to protect network stability. There are several possible reasons for this:
- Consensus Key Mismatch. The consensus key used by your node may differ from the one registered on-chain for your validator. Make sure the consensus key you are using matches the one registered on-chain for your validator.
- Unstable Network Connection. Network instability or interruptions can prevent your node from reaching consensus, causing missed signatures. Ensure your node has a stable, low-latency connection and isn’t overloaded by other processes.
Rewards: Even if your node is jailed, you will continue to receive most of the rewards as a Host as long as it remains active in inference or other validator-related work. So, the reward is not lost unless inference issues are detected.
How to Unjail Your Node: To resume normal operation, unjail your validator once the issue is resolved. Use your cold key to submit the unjail transaction:
export NODE_URL=http://<NODE_URL>:<port>
./inferenced tx slashing unjail \
--from <cold_key_name> \
--keyring-backend file \
--chain-id gonka-mainnet \
--gas auto \
--gas-adjustment 1.5 \
--fees 200000ngonka \
--node $NODE_URL/chain-rpc/
./inferenced query staking delegator-validators \
<cold_key_addr> \
--node $NODE_URL/chain-rpc/
jailed: true.
How to simulate Proof-of-Compute (PoC)?
You may want to simulate PoC on a MLNode yourself to make sure that everything will work when the PoC phase begins on the chain.
To run this test you either need to have a running MLNode that isn't yet registered with the api node or pause the api node. To pause the api node use docker pause api. Once you’re finished with the test you can unpause: docker unpause api.
For the test itself you will be sending POST /v1/pow/init/generate request to mlnode, the same that api node sends at the start of the POC phase:
https://github.com/gonka-ai/gonka/blob/312044d28c7170d7f08bf88e41427396f3b95817/mlnode/packages/pow/src/pow/service/routes.py#L32
The following model params are used for PoC: https://github.com/gonka-ai/gonka/blob/312044d28c7170d7f08bf88e41427396f3b95817/mlnode/packages/pow/src/pow/models/utils.py#L41
If your node is in the INFERENCE state then you first need to transition the node to the stopped state:
curl -X POST "http://<ml-node-host>:<port>/api/v1/stop" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json"
Now you can send a request to initiate PoC:
curl -X POST "http://<ml-node-host>:<port>/api/v1/pow/init/generate" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"node_id": 0,
"node_count": 1,
"block_hash": "EXAMPLE_BLOCK_HASH",
"block_height": 1,
"public_key": "EXAMPLE_PUBLIC_KEY",
"batch_size": 1,
"r_target": 10.0,
"fraud_threshold": 0.01,
"params": {
"dim": 1792,
"n_layers": 64,
"n_heads": 64,
"n_kv_heads": 64,
"vocab_size": 8196,
"ffn_dim_multiplier": 10.0,
"multiple_of": 8192,
"norm_eps": 1e-5,
"rope_theta": 10000.0,
"use_scaled_rope": false,
"seq_len": 256
},
"url": "http://api:9100"
}'
8080 port of MLNode's proxy container or directly to MLNode's 8080 https://github.com/gonka-ai/gonka/blob/312044d28c7170d7f08bf88e41427396f3b95817/deploy/join/docker-compose.mlnode.yml#L26
If the test runs successfully, you will see logs similar to the following:
2025-08-25 20:53:33,568 - pow.compute.controller - INFO - Created 4 GPU groups:
2025-08-25 20:53:33,568 - pow.compute.controller - INFO - Group 0: GpuGroup(devices=[0], primary=0) (VRAM: 79.2GB)
2025-08-25 20:53:33,568 - pow.compute.controller - INFO - Group 1: GpuGroup(devices=[1], primary=1) (VRAM: 79.2GB)
2025-08-25 20:53:33,568 - pow.compute.controller - INFO - Group 2: GpuGroup(devices=[2], primary=2) (VRAM: 79.2GB)
2025-08-25 20:53:33,568 - pow.compute.controller - INFO - Group 3: GpuGroup(devices=[3], primary=3) (VRAM: 79.2GB)
2025-08-25 20:53:33,758 - pow.compute.controller - INFO - Using batch size: 247 for GPU group [0]
2025-08-25 20:53:33,944 - pow.compute.controller - INFO - Using batch size: 247 for GPU group [1]
2025-08-25 20:53:34,151 - pow.compute.controller - INFO - Using batch size: 247 for GPU group [2]
2025-08-25 20:53:34,353 - pow.compute.controller - INFO - Using batch size: 247 for GPU group [3]
DAPI_API__POC_CALLBACK_URL.
2025-08-25 20:54:58,822 - pow.service.sender - INFO - Sending generated batch to http://api:9100/
I Cleared or Overwrote My Consensus Key
If you are using tmkms and deleted the .tmkms folder, simply restart tmkms — it will automatically generate a new key.
To register the new consensus key, submit the following transaction:
./inferenced tx inference submit-new-participant \
<PUBLIC_URL> \
--validator-key <CONSENSUS_KEY> \
--keyring-backend file \
--unordered \
--from <COLD_KEY_NAME> \
--timeout-duration 1m \
--node http://<node-url>/chain-rpc/ \
--chain-id gonka-mainnet
I Deleted the Warm Key
Back up the cold key on your local device, outside the server.
1) Stop the API container:
docker compose down api --no-deps
2) Set KEY_NAME for the warm key in your config.env file.
3) [SERVER]: Recreate the warm key:
source config.env && docker compose run --rm --no-deps -it api /bin/sh
4) Then execute inside the container:
printf '%s\n%s\n' "$KEYRING_PASSWORD" "$KEYRING_PASSWORD" | \
inferenced keys add "$KEY_NAME" --keyring-backend file
5) [LOCAL]: From your local device (where you backed up the cold key), run the transaction:
./inferenced tx inference grant-ml-ops-permissions \
gonka-account-key \
<address-of-warm-key-you-just-created> \
--from gonka-account-key \
--keyring-backend file \
--gas 2000000 \
--node http://<node-url>/chain-rpc/
6) Start the API container:
source config.env && docker compose up -d
How to decommission an old cluster?
Follow this guide to safely shut down an old cluster without impacting reputation.
1) Use the following command to disable each MLNode:
curl -X POST http://localhost:9200/admin/v1/nodes/<id>/disable
You can list all node IDs with:
curl http://localhost:9200/admin/v1/nodes | jq '.[].node.id'
2) Nodes that are not scheduled to serve inference during the next Proof-of-Compute (PoC) will automatically stop during that PoC. Nodes that are scheduled to serve inference will remain active for one more epoch before stopping. You can verify a node’s status in the mlnode field at:
curl http://<inference_url>/v1/epochs/current/participants
Once a node is marked as disabled, it is safe to power off the MLNode server.
3) After all MLNodes have been disabled and powered off, you can shut down the Network Node. Before doing so, it’s recommended (but optional) to back up the following files:
- .dapi/api-config.yaml
- .dapi/gonka.db (created after on-chain upgrade)
- .inference/config/
- .inference/keyring-file/
- .tmkms/
If you skip the backup, the setup can still be restored later using your Account Key.
My node cannot connect to the default seed node specified in the config.env
If your node cannot connect to the default seed node, simply point it to another one by updating three variables in config.env.
SEED_API_URL- HTTP endpoint of the seed node (used for API communication). Choose any URL from the list below and assign it directly toSEED_API_URL.Available genesis API URLs:export SEED_API_URL=<chosen_http_url>http://185.216.21.98:8000 http://36.189.234.197:18026 http://36.189.234.237:17241 http://node1.gonka.ai:8000 http://node2.gonka.ai:8000 http://node3.gonka.ai:8000 https://node4.gonka.ai http://47.236.26.199:8000 http://47.236.19.22:18000 http://gonka.spv.re:8000SEED_NODE_RPC_URL- the RPC endpoint of the same seed node. Use the same host as inSEED_API_URL, but always port 26657.Exampleexport SEED_NODE_RPC_URL=http://<host>:26657SEED_NODE_RPC_URL=http://node2.gonka.ai:26657-
SEED_NODE_P2P_URL- the P2P address used for networking between nodes. You must obtain the P2P port from the seed node’s status endpoint.Query the node:
Examplehttp://<host>:<http_port>/chain-rpc/statusFindhttp://node3.gonka.ai:8000/chain-rpc/statuslisten_addrin the response, for example:""listen_addr"": ""tcp://0.0.0.0:5000""Use that port:
Exampleexport SEED_NODE_P2P_URL=tcp://<host>:<p2p_port>export SEED_NODE_P2P_URL=tcp://node3.gonka.ai:5000Final result example
export SEED_API_URL=http://node2.gonka.ai:8000 export SEED_NODE_RPC_URL=http://node2.gonka.ai:26657 export SEED_NODE_P2P_URL=tcp://node2.gonka.ai:5000"
How to change the seed nodes?
There are two distinct ways to update seed nodes, depending on whether the node has already been initialized.
Once the file .node_initialized is created, the system no longer updates seed nodes automatically.
After that point:
- The seed list is used as-is
- Any changes must be done manually
- You can add as many seed nodes as you want
The format is a single comma-separated string:
seeds = "<node1_id>@<node1_ip>:<node1_p2p_port>,<node2_id>@<node2_ip>:<node2_p2p_port>"
curl http://47.236.26.199:8000/chain-rpc/net_info | jq
In response, look for:
listen_addr- P2P endpointrpc_addr- RPC endpoint
Example:
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 94098 0 94098 0 0 91935 0 --:--:-- 0:00:01 --:--:-- 91982
{
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"id": -1,
"result": {
"listening": true,
"listeners": [
"Listener(@tcp://47.236.26.199:5000)"
],
"n_peers": "50",
"peers": [
{
"node_info": {
"protocol_version": {
"p2p": "8",
"block": "11",
"app": "0"
},
"id": "ce6f26b9508839c29e0bfd9e3e20e01ff4dda360",
"listen_addr": "tcp://85.234.78.106:5000",
"network": "gonka-mainnet",
"version": "0.38.17",
"channels": "40202122233038606100",
"moniker": "my-node",
"other": {
"tx_index": "on",
"rpc_address": "tcp://0.0.0.0:26657"
}
},
...
This displays all peers the node currently sees.
Use this method if you want the node to regenerate its configuration and automatically apply the seed nodes defined in config.env.
source config.env
docker compose down node
sudo rm -rf .inference/data/ .inference/.node_initialized
sudo mkdir -p .inference/data/
sudo cat .inference/config/config.toml
seeds = [...]
How are Hardware, Node Weight, and MLNode configuration actually validated?
The chain does not verify real hardware. It only validates the total participant weight, and this is the sole value used for weight distribution and reward calculation. Any breakdown of this weight across MLNodes, as well as any “hardware type” or other descriptive fields, is purely informational and can be freely modified by the host. Real hardware is never validated (it exists only as a self-reported field, and participants may report anything they want). When creating or updating a node (for example, via POST http://localhost:9200/admin/v1/nodes as shown in the handler code at https://github.com/gonka-ai/gonka/blob/aa85699ab203f8c7fa83eb1111a2647241c30fc4/decentralized-api/internal/server/admin/node_handlers.go#L62), the hardware field can be explicitly specified. If it is omitted, the API service attempts to auto-detect hardware information from the MLNode. In practice, many hosts run a proxy MLNode behind which multiple servers operate; auto-detection only sees one of these servers, which is a fully valid setup. Regardless of configuration, all weight distribution and rewards rely solely on the participant’s total weight, and the internal split across MLNodes or the reported hardware types never affect on-chain validation.
How much free disk space is required for a Cosmovisor update, and how can I safely remove old backups from the .inference directory?
Cosmovisor creates a full backup in the .inference state folder whenever it performs an update. For example, you can see a folder like data-backup-<some_date>.
As of November 20, 2025, the size of the data directory is about 150 GB, so each backup will take approximately the same amount of space.
To safely run the update, it is recommended to have 250+ GB of free disk space.
You can remove old backups to free space, although in some cases this may still be insufficient and you might need to expand the server disk.
To remove an old backup directory, you can use:
sudo su
cd .inference
ls -la # view the list of folders. There will be folders like data-backup... DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING EXCEPT THESE
rm -rf <data-backup...>
How can I pre-download the binaries to avoid GitHub during the upgrade?
(Applicable only if the v0.2.5 Upgrade Proposal is approved.)
Here is an optional instruction on how the binaries can be pre-downloaded in advance to avoid relying on GitHub during the upgrade. This step is only relevant if the v0.2.5 Upgrade Proposal is approved.
# 1. Create Directories
sudo mkdir -p .dapi/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin \
.inference/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin && \
# 2. DAPI: Download -> Verify -> Unzip directly to bin -> Make Executable
wget -q -O decentralized-api.zip "https://github.com/gonka-ai/gonka/releases/download/release%2Fv0.2.5/decentralized-api-amd64.zip" && \
echo "6fd12cd92e8226866be76a5e63a57e1b0041c7679db047af75e764e98668cb91 decentralized-api.zip" | sha256sum --check && \
sudo unzip -o -j decentralized-api.zip -d .dapi/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/ && \
sudo chmod +x .dapi/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/decentralized-api && \
echo "DAPI Installed and Verified" && \
# 3. Inference: Download -> Verify -> Unzip directly to bin -> Make Executable
wget -q -O inferenced.zip "https://github.com/gonka-ai/gonka/releases/download/release%2Fv0.2.5/inferenced-amd64.zip" && \
echo "fab7be9bcdb4e21f058e6d19cfd698b6862bf6f5a8aeecbf9165907fc7edcc64 inferenced.zip" | sha256sum --check && \
sudo unzip -o -j inferenced.zip -d .inference/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/ && \
sudo chmod +x .inference/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/inferenced && \
echo "Inference Installed and Verified" && \
# 4. Cleanup and Final Check
rm decentralized-api.zip inferenced.zip && \
echo "--- Final Verification ---" && \
sudo ls -l .dapi/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/decentralized-api && \
sudo ls -l .inference/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/inferenced && \
echo "8c6898e99acb3b1acb4e196398003453ea50f82d92ce4e2ebcec99a795f8d735 .dapi/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/decentralized-api" | sudo sha256sum --check && \
echo "9187b69322ba73f745c8ed2fbad713a39ce0e39ed15f7a48dacf9356693ed1a0 .inference/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/inferenced" | sudo sha256sum --check
Inference Installed and Verified
--- Final Verification ---
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 216176168 Jan 1 2000 .dapi/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/decentralized-api
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 212197496 Jan 1 2000 .inference/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/inferenced
.dapi/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/decentralized-api: OK
.inference/cosmovisor/upgrades/v0.2.5/bin/inferenced: OK
How to prevent unbounded memory growth in NATS?
NATS is currently configured to store all messages indefinitely, which leads to continuous growth in memory usage. A recommended solution is to configure a 24-hour time-to-live (TTL) for messages in both NATS streams.
- Install the NATS CLI. Install Golang by following the instructions here: https://go.dev/doc/install. Then install the NATS CLI:
go install github.com/nats-io/natscli/nats@latest - If you already have the NATS CLI installed, run:
nats stream info txs_to_send --server localhost:<your_nats_server_port> nats stream info txs_to_observe --server localhost:<your_nats_server_port>
How to change inference_url?
You may need to update your inference_url if:
- You changed your API domain;
- You moved your API node to a new machine;
- You reconfigured HTTPS / reverse proxy;
- You are migrating infrastructure and want your Host entry to point to a new endpoint.
This operation does not require re-registration, re-deployment, or key regeneration. Updating your inference_url is performed through the same transaction used for initial registration (the submit-new-participant msg).
The chain logic checks whether your Host (participant) already exists:
- If the participant does not exist, the transaction creates a new one;
- If the participant already exists, only three fields may be updated:
InferenceURL,ValidatorKey,WorkerKey.
All other fields are preserved automatically.
This means updating inference_url is a safe, non-destructive operation.
Note
When a Node updates its execution URL, the new URL becomes active immediately for inference requests coming from other Nodes. However, the URL recorded in ActiveParticipants is not updated until the next epoch because modifying it earlier would invalidate the cryptographic proof associated with the participant set. To avoid service disruption, it is recommended to keep both the previous and the new URLs operational until the next epoch completes.
[Locally] Perform the update locally, using your Cold Key:
./inferenced tx inference submit-new-participant \
<PUBLIC_URL> \
--validator-key <CONSENSUS_KEY> \
--keyring-backend file \
--unordered \
--from <COLD_KEY_NAME> \
--timeout-duration 1m \
--node http://<node-url>/chain-rpc/ \
--chain-id gonka-mainnet