> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.portaldefi.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.portaldefi.com/validators/become-a-validator.md).

# Become a Validator

Validators must run a full PortalOS node to participate in auctioning (by staking $PTB token) and validating the network once selected. Here are the steps to downloading, installing, and running the PortalOS node:

On a download section of our website, we will have four options available:

1. An installable image for each of AWS, Azure, and GCP, e.g., an AMI in the case of AWS.
   1. These will be made available in some sequence conditioned by market demand
2. A binary image for installing on bare hardware, e.g., via PXEboot or Netboot.

Note: If the download section of our website still needs to be put up and running, we will send the requested image directly to you. These images will contain binaries for a stack consisting of NixOS, Node.js (and relevant Node packages), the PortalOS node (which runs on Node), and an HTTP server (we will initially use a Node package for this), a Bitcoin node, an Ethereum node (geth), and a Lightning node (based on LND).

When launching the image for the first time, we plan to launch a web-based configuration wizard where you will specify configuration parameters for your installation, including, among other things, the location of nodes for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Lightning and whether any of these should be launched locally, on a particular server, or connected via a particular network. After entering this information, the stack will be configured and re-launched according to your specified configuration.


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