Testnet
Testnet is a full Decred network which is completely independent from mainnet. Decred on testnet carry no economic value, making testnet the perfect place to test new applications and experiment without risk before moving onto mainnet.
Decred is currently on its 3rd testnet, also known as testnet3. Testnets are periodically reset to help keep a manageable blockchain file size.
Special rules apply to testnet in order to make it easier to work with. For example, if no blocks are found on testnet in a 10 minute period, the PoW difficulty will drop so that a block can be generated using the dcrd generate RPC, as shown below:
dcrctl --testnet generate 1
This allows developers to work on testnet even if they lack PoW mining hardware.
How to Run a Testnet Node
To use testnet, your application of choice will need to download the testnet blockchain and you will need to create a new wallet file for testnet. Your mainnet blockchain and wallet files will remain untouched.
Decrediton
You can switch Decrediton between mainnet and testnet in the Settings tab by using the dropdown box labelled “Network”.
Command-Line Suite
To launch dcrd and dcrwallet on testnet, simply add the --testnet flag to
your launch command.
Alternatively, you could put testnet=1 in all of your
config files.
On the first launch of dcrd --testnet, dcrd will begin downloading the
testnet3 blockchain to the data/testnet3 folder of dcrd’s home directory.
Before you’re able to launch dcrwallet with the --testnet flag, you must
create a separate testnet wallet using the dcrwallet --testnet --create
command. The steps are the same as those found in the dcrwallet Setup
Guide.
To issue commands to both dcrwallet and dcrd, you must also add the
--testnet flag to any of the dcrctl commands that you use. E.g. you would
issue the dcrctl --testnet --wallet getbalance command to check your testnet
balance.
Acquiring Testnet Coins
You can acquire coins through the Decred Testnet Faucet. Please return any coins to the address listed at the bottom of that page when you’re done playing with the testnet.
Testnet Block Explorer
A testnet instance of dcrdata is available for public use at https://testnet.dcrdata.org/.
Testnet Voting Service Providers (VSP)
To experiment with staking and voting with a Voting Service Provider (VSP), you’ll need to sign up for a testnet VSP.