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Neutron v6.0.3 Upgrade Instructions

Chain upgrade point: July 2nd 2025, 15:00 UTC (approximately), at height 28886600 This document describes the steps for validators and full node operators to upgrade successfully to the Neutron v6.0.3 release. For more details on the release, please see the release notes.
COORDINATED MAINNET UPGRADE ON HEIGHT 28886600. DO NOT APPLY MANUALLY

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Upgrade Schedule

The upgrade will take place approximately on July 2nd at 15:00 UTC at height 28886600.
Chain-id will remain the same: The chain-id of the network will remain the same, neutron-1. This is because an in-place migration of state will take place, i.e., this upgrade does not export any state.

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System Requirements

64GB RAM is recommended to ensure a smooth upgrade.
If you have less than 64GB RAM, you might try creating a swapfile to swap an idle program onto the hard disk to free up memory. This can allow your machine to run the binary than it could run in RAM alone. 
sudo fallocate -l 64G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile
Make sure you have enough disk space for upgrade, the state can grow twice during upgrade.

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Backups

Prior to the upgrade, validators are encouraged to take a full data snapshot. Snapshotting depends heavily on infrastructure, but generally this can be done by backing up the .neutrond directory. If you use Cosmovisor to upgrade, by default, Cosmovisor will backup your data upon upgrade.
Critical: It is critically important for validator operators to back-up the .neutrond/data/priv_validator_state.json file after stopping the neutrond process. This file is updated every block as your validator participates in consensus rounds. It is a critical file needed to prevent double-signing, in case the upgrade fails and the previous chain needs to be restarted.

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Current and Target Runtime

  • Current runtime: The Neutron mainnet network, neutron-1, is currently running Neutron v6.0.2. We anticipate that operators who are running on v6.0.2, will be able to upgrade successfully.
  • Target runtime: The Neutron mainnet network, neutron-1, will run Neutron v6.0.3. Operators MUST use this version post-upgrade to remain connected to the network.
Validators are expected to ensure that their systems are up-to-date and capable of performing the upgrade. This includes running the correct binary, or if building from source, building with go 1.23.

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Upgrade Methods

There are 2 major ways to upgrade a node:
  1. Manual upgrade
  2. Upgrade using Cosmovisor
    • Either by manually preparing the new binary
    • Or by using the auto-download functionality (this is not yet recommended)
If you prefer to use Cosmovisor to upgrade, some preparation work is needed before upgrade.

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Create the Updated Neutron Binary

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Step 1: Get the Source Code

Go to neutron directory if present else clone the repository: 
git clone https://github.com/neutron-org/neutron.git
Follow these steps if neutron repo already present: 
cd $HOME/neutron
git pull
git fetch --tags
git checkout v6.0.3
make install

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Step 2: Verify the Installation

Check the new neutron version, verify the latest commit hash: 
$ neutrond version --long
build_tags: netgo,ledger
commit: 0625c4069419e310e6295d102fb1552c89a357c5
cosmos_sdk_version: v0.50.13-neutron-rpc
go: go version go1.23.4 darwin/arm64
name: neutron
server_name: neutrond
version: 6.0.3
Or check checksum of the binary if you decided to download it: 
$ shasum -a 256 neutrond-linux-amd64
74b757fe6f9ad3dc8282c2b4bed440da396fc41f789e70d2c34f23929132519b  neutrond-linux-amd64

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Step 3: Verify libwasmvm Version

Make sure you are using the proper version of libwasmvm
You can check the version you are currently using by running the following command: 
$ neutrond q wasm libwasmvm-version
2.1.5
The proper version is 2.1.5. If the version on your machine is different you MUST change it immediately!

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Ways to change libwasmvm

  1. Use a statically built Neutrond binary from an official Neutron release: https://github.com/neutron-org/neutron/releases/tag/v6.0.3
  2. If you built Neutron binary by yourself, libwasmvm should be loaded dynamically in your binary and somehow, the wrong libwasmvm library was present on your machine. You can change it by downloading the proper one and linking it to the Neutron binary manually: 
# Download a proper version of libwasmvm
$ wget https://github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm/releases/download/v2.1.5/libwasmvm.x86_64.so

# Tell the linker where to find it
$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/lib/

# Check that libwasmvm version is correct
$ neutrond q wasm libwasmvm-version
2.1.5

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Method I: Manual Upgrade

1

Prepare Binary

Make sure Neutron v6.0.3 is installed by either downloading a compatible binary, or building from source. Building from source requires Golang 1.23.x.
2

Wait for Upgrade Height

Run Neutron v6.0.2 till upgrade height, the node will panic:
ERR UPGRADE "v6.0.3" NEEDED at height: 28886600: upgrade to v6.0.3 and applying upgrade "v6.0.3" at height: 28886600
3

Switch Binary and Restart

Stop the node, and switch the binary to Neutron v6.0.3 and re-start by neutrond start.It may take several minutes to a few hours until validators with a total sum voting power > 2/3 to complete their node upgrades. After that, the chain can continue to produce blocks.

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Method II: Upgrade using Cosmovisor

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Manually Preparing the Binary

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Preparation

1

Install Cosmovisor

Install the latest version of Cosmovisor (1.5.0):
go install cosmossdk.io/tools/cosmovisor/cmd/cosmovisor@v1.5.0
Verify Cosmovisor Version:
cosmovisor version
# cosmovisor version: v1.5.0
2

Create Cosmovisor Structure

Create a cosmovisor folder:
# Create a Cosmovisor folder inside $NEUTRON_HOME and move Neutron v6.0.2 into $NEUTRON_HOME/cosmovisor/genesis/bin
mkdir -p $NEUTRON_HOME/cosmovisor/genesis/bin
cp $(which neutrond) $NEUTRON_HOME/cosmovisor/genesis/bin

# Build Neutron v6.0.3, and move neutrond v6.0.3 to $NEUTRON_HOME/cosmovisor/upgrades/v6.0.3/bin
mkdir -p  $NEUTRON_HOME/cosmovisor/upgrades/v6.0.3/bin
cp $(which neutrond) $NEUTRON_HOME/cosmovisor/upgrades/v6.0.3/bin
Then you should get the following structure:
.
├── current -> genesis or upgrades/<name>
├── genesis
│   └── bin
│       └── neutrond  #v6.0.2
└── upgrades
    └── v6.0.3
        └── bin
            └── neutrond  #v6.0.3
3

Set Environment Variables

Export the environmental variables:
export DAEMON_NAME=neutrond
# please change to your own neutron home dir
# please note `DAEMON_HOME` has to be absolute path
export DAEMON_HOME=$NEUTRON_HOME
export DAEMON_RESTART_AFTER_UPGRADE=true
4

Start with Cosmovisor

Start the node:
cosmovisor run start --x-crisis-skip-assert-invariants --home $DAEMON_HOME
Skipping the invariant checks is strongly encouraged since it decreases the upgrade time significantly and since there are some other improvements coming to the crisis module in the next release of the Cosmos SDK.

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Expected Upgrade Result

When the upgrade block height is reached, Neutron will panic and stop. After upgrade, the chain will continue to produce blocks when validators with a total sum voting power > 2/3 complete their node upgrades.

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Upgrade Duration

Most likely it takes a couple of minutes.

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Rollback Plan

During the network upgrade, core Neutron team will be keeping an ever vigilant eye and communicating with operators on the status of their upgrades. During this time, the core team will listen to operator needs to determine if the upgrade is experiencing unintended challenges. In the event of unexpected challenges, the core team, after conferring with operators and attaining social consensus, may choose to declare that the upgrade will be skipped. Steps to skip this upgrade proposal are simply to resume the neutron-1 network with the (downgraded) v6.0.2 binary using the following command: 
neutrond start --unsafe-skip-upgrade 28886600
There is no particular need to restore a state snapshot prior to the upgrade height, unless specifically directed by core Neutron team.
Important: A social consensus decision to skip the upgrade will be based solely on technical merits, thereby respecting and maintaining the decentralized governance process of the upgrade proposal’s successful YES vote.

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Risks

As a validator performing the upgrade procedure on your consensus nodes carries a heightened risk of double-signing and being slashed. The most important piece of this procedure is verifying your software version and genesis file hash before starting your validator and signing. The riskiest thing a validator can do is discover that they made a mistake and repeat the upgrade procedure again during the network startup. If you discover a mistake in the process, the best thing to do is wait for the network to start before correcting it.

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AppHash Errors

If you are facing AppHash errors on your nodes, disable the fastnode subsystem by setting the following in <NEUTRON_DATA>/config/app.toml:
iavl-disable-fastnode = true

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FAQ

A: No. Most likely the upgrade will be completed successfully. But you get AppHash error after the network gets up. It’s a lot safer to restart full process from scratch (recover the node from a backup).To perform an upgrade you need to keep your ./data/priv_validator_state.json file when you are applying a snapshot from the backup. This will help you avoid the risk of slashing due to double signing.