Local Interchain
Windows

Setup Windows Environment to Run Local Interchain

This is a step-by-step guide to setup a Windows environment and add the missing dependencies to run Local Interchain

Local Interchain enables developers to :-

  • Quickly spin up a local testnet for any wasm chain.
  • Test IBC connection compatibility on a high level between multiple local chains.
  • Execute binary commands such as tx decode see example (opens in a new tab).
  • Store and execute wasm smart contracts see example (opens in a new tab).
  • Local RPC node + REST API which enables building scripts with any language.
  • Configure chains to be launched within the testing environment, adjusting parameters such as gas options, number of validators, IBC paths, governance parameters, genesis accounts, and much more.
  • Configure IBC relayers.

Local Interchain is the optimal playground for developers to flexibly test chain infrastructure and smart contract development.

This guide aims to configure a Windows OS environment to be compatible with Local Interchain.

This will allow wasm chains to run locally on a Windows system which has been unprecedented until now.

Requirements

  1. Make sure the Windows version is compatible with Docker (opens in a new tab).

Windows Desktop: Win 7 or higher

Windows Server: Windows Server 2016 or higher

  1. Enable Virtualization. You can check if Virtualization is enabled by opening Task Manager and going to Performance as shown below. If your Windows system is missing Hyper-V, you can follow this guide (opens in a new tab) to install and enable it.

  2. Permissions to run software installers and write to Program Files.

Environment Setup

1. Installing Docker

Make sure you have wsl installed, you can check by running Windows PowerShell as adminstrator and running wsl --install which would install wsl2 if missing.

For Win 10 and Win 11, follow this guide (opens in a new tab) to setup and install Docker Desktop on your Windows system.

For Windows Server, Win 7 and Win 8/8.1, use this installation guide (opens in a new tab) for installing Docker Toolbox.

Confirm docker setup by running docker version in a cmd or a shell.

2. Installing Git

In case, you do not have Git already installed, use this link (opens in a new tab) to setup Git on Windows.

After installation, you will be able to run git --version in a cmd or a shell.

Note: The guide assumes you installed Git under C:/Program Files/Git. If you have chosen a different installation location then use it instead.

3. Installing Go

If you already have Go installed, run go version and make sure it is version1.19 or higher.

In case, you have an older version or do not have Golang installed, go to golang downloads (opens in a new tab) and download the featured Windows installer .wsi

After installation, open a new cmd or shell, and you will be able to run go version

4. Downloading Make

Make is a tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program from the source files. It is necessary for building makefiles.

Make does not come with Windows, so we need to download the make binary which you can find provided by GNU here (opens in a new tab) and download the Binaries zip, or go to this link (opens in a new tab) directly and begin downloading.

  1. Extract the downloaded zip file
  2. Go to the bin folder, copy make.exe
  3. Go to C:/Program Files/Git/mingw64/bin and paste make.exe
  4. Through the control panel or your start menu, search and go to Edit the system environment variables, on Advanced tab, click Environment Variables, click Path and choose Edit, and add C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\bin

After finishing the steps above, open a new cmd or shell, and you will be able to run make --version

5. Installing GCC

GCC is the GNU compiler collection and it is necessary for compiling cgo (opens in a new tab).

GCC does not come with Windows, and the best compatible setup I've found was using this guide (opens in a new tab) which works on both Windows Server and Windows Desktop including Win 11.

  1. Go to codeblocks and select the Windows option, then download the mingw-setup.exe binary.
  2. Start installation.
  3. Keep default component selection.

  1. Choose installation folder and click Install.

  1. After installation, no need to run Code::Blocks and click Next then Finish.

  1. Go to your installation folder i.e. C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\MinGW\bin and you should find gcc.exe
  2. Through the control panel or your start menu, search and go to Edit the system environment variables, on Advanced tab, click Environment Variables, click Path and choose Edit, and add C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\MinGW\bin (choose the path from step 4 + \MinGW\bin)

After finishing the steps above, open a new cmd or shell, and you will be able to run gcc --version

Running Local Interchain

  1. Start the docker daemon by running Docker Desktop on Win 10/11 or using Docker Quickstart Terminal (opens in a new tab) if you have installed Docker Toolbox.
  2. Clone the Local Interchain Repo.
git clone https://github.com/strangelove-ventures/interchaintest.git 
cd interchaintest/local-interchain
  1. Run make install
  2. Run local-ic start base.json

Wait for it to set up and go to https://127.0.0.1:8080/info (opens in a new tab), you should see each local chain running in its own docker container docker ps

Now you are running a complete local wasm IBC-connected environment on a Windows operating system.

Happy building!

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