A Full Node is software that runs a full copy of any cryptocurrency’s blockchain giving access to the protocols features. It holds a complete record of every transaction that has occurred since genesis and is therefore able to verify the validity of new transactions and blocks that are added to the blockchain.

Zcashd

Zcashd is currently the main Full Node implementation used by Zcash developed and maintained by the Electric Coin Company. Zcashd exposes a set of API’s via its RPC interface. These API’s provide functions that allow external applications to interact with the node.

Lightwalletd

Lightwalletd is an example of an application that uses a full node to enable developers to build and maintain mobile-friendly shielded light wallets without having to interact directly with cashd.

<aside> 💡 Full list of supported RPC commands

</aside>

<aside> 💡 The Zcashd book in case you need to RTFM.

</aside>

Start up a Node (Linux)

• Install Dependencies

  sudo apt update
  
  sudo apt-get install \\
  build-essential pkg-config libc6-dev m4 g++-multilib \\
  autoconf libtool ncurses-dev unzip git python3 python3-zmq \\
  zlib1g-dev curl bsdmainutils automake libtinfo5
  

• Clone latest release, checkout, setup and build:

  git clone <https://github.com/zcash/zcash.git>
  
  cd zcash/
  
  git checkout v5.4.1
  ./zcutil/fetch-params.sh
  ./zcutil/clean.sh
  ./zcutil/build.sh -j$(nproc)
  

• Sync Blockchain (may take several hours)

  To start the node run:

  ./src/zcashd