> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.joinbase.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Running a validator

> Start the validator runtime and understand the two loops it runs.

`platform validator run` starts the normal validator runtime
(`src/platform_network/cli_app/main.py:834-854`). It runs two coroutines
concurrently with `asyncio.gather`
(`src/platform_network/cli_app/main.py:821-831`).

## Start the runtime

<Steps>
  <Step title="Run the command">
    ```bash theme={"dark"}
    platform validator run --config config/validator.yaml
    ```

    The config defaults to `config/validator.example.yaml` when `--config` is
    omitted (`src/platform_network/cli_app/main.py:835`).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Runtime builds the submit wiring">
    Startup constructs the bittensor submit runtime (subtensor + wallet +
    weight setter) from your config
    (`src/platform_network/cli_app/main.py:838`,
    `src/platform_network/bittensor/factory.py:62-76`).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## The two loops

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Registry reconcile" icon="arrows-rotate">
    `run_forever` calls `run_once` and then sleeps `retry_seconds` between
    passes (`validator/normal_runner.py:109-115`). Each pass fetches the
    registry and starts the active challenges
    (`validator/normal_runner.py:45-62`).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Weight submit" icon="scale-balanced">
    `run_epoch_loop` calls `submit_latest_weights` every
    `weights_interval_seconds` (`src/platform_network/cli_app/main.py:828-831`,
    `bittensor/validator_loop.py:10-18`).
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Reconcile cadence

The reconcile loop retries on the `registry_retry_seconds` interval, which
defaults to **15 seconds** (`config/validator.example.yaml:17`,
`src/platform_network/config/settings.py:43`). It maps to the runner's
`retry_seconds` (`validator/normal_runner.py:31`). On any error it logs and
retries on the next interval (`validator/normal_runner.py:109-115`).

## Submit cadence

The submit loop fetches and submits weights every `weights_interval_seconds`,
which defaults to **360 seconds** (`config/validator.example.yaml:19`,
`src/platform_network/config/settings.py:45`). For the full submit path, read
[Weight setting](/validators/weight-setting).

## Where weights come from

The validator fetches the latest vector from the master over HTTP at
`GET /v1/weights/latest` (`validator/weights_client.py:18-30`). The URL is
`resolved_weights_url`, which is `weights_url` when set, otherwise `registry_url`
(`src/platform_network/config/settings.py:50-52`). The fetch uses
`weights_timeout_seconds` (default 15.0) and retries `weights_retries` times
(default 3) (`config/validator.example.yaml:20-21`).

## Submit-only alternative

On the Docker Swarm validator node, a trimmed submit-only process replaces the
full runtime and runs only the submit loop, with no challenge orchestration and
no database connection (`deploy/swarm/submitter/run_submitter.py:1-17`). See
[The submitter](/validators/submitter).

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Monitoring & logs" icon="chart-line" href="/validators/monitoring">
    Read the runtime's log output.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Troubleshooting" icon="wrench" href="/validators/troubleshooting">
    Fix common failures.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>