Setting Up An Underwriter

Before setting up an underwriter, ensure that you are fully aware of the associated risks and have read the associated underwriter README.

For this guide, it is assumed that you are running a relayer and have gone through the associated setup and fulfill all of the requirements for running a relayer. If the relayer isn’t working, getting bountes, collecting proofs, or submitting transactions you should try to fix those issues before running an underwriter.

It is assumed that the underwriter is running on the same VPS as the relayer AND the folder name of the relayer is ~/generalised-relayer

Installing the Underwriter Module

To install the underwrtier, pull the catalyst-underwriter repository.

git clone https://github.com/catalystdao/catalyst-underwriter.git
cd catalyst-underwriter

Similarly to the relayer, we need to make copies of the configuration files:

cp config.example.yaml config.production.yaml
cp .env.example .env

Once this has been done, we can go on to configuration.

Configuring the Underwriter

We need to edit config.production.yaml with the correct configuration values. Similarly to the relayer, we need to modify the privatekey (global.privateKey) and RPCs (chains.[chain].rpc).

Follow the tutorial for the relayer for these values.

Loss Of Funds!

Do not use this private key for anything else! Ensure that this key is different from the relayer. Any interference is likely to result in lost funds.

Pools

Currently you have to specify explicitly which pools to underwrite. For testnet, leave them as the default.

Funding the Underwriter

The relayer requires 2 types of funding:

1. Gas funding. We highly recommend filling it up with a slight excess. The underwriter will not get more gas as it is operating (unlike the relayer) and if it runs out of gas it will be unable to expire its underwriters if something goes wrong which may lead to loss of collateral.
2. Underwrite capital. The underwriter requires assets which it can front for underwrites. For testnet, these are the respective wrapped assets. You can get these by wrapping on the Catalyst UI and sending them to the associated address.

Tip

For Catalyst Tiger testnet, the underwriter requires wrapped gas. You can fund the underwriter account directly by wrapping via Catalyst App and specifying the relayer address as the Recipient Address.

Running the Underwriter

In the future, the underwriter will go through a graceful shutdown to ensure that all of its underwrites are monitored to completion. This reduces chances for loss of funds.

When everything has been set, assuming you are within the underwriter folder, ~/catalyst-underwriter, you can start the relayer by running:

docker compose up -d

You can access the log by running:

docker compose logs underwriter -fn 100

If you want to stop the underwriter you can run

docker compose stop