The guardian node is the heart of the Gridlock network. It stores part of a user's private key and works together with other guardian nodes to approve transactions and recover accounts. This distributed approach removes single points of failure, which is the root cause of most crypto loss.
Anyone can run one or more guardian nodes. You can run them to protect your own assets or participate in Gridlock's main network and help protect others—earning rewards in the process.
To understand how the full system works, see SystemOverview.md.
Related: Orch Node | SDK | CLI
The easiest way to see the full setup in action is to use the Gridlock CLI, which can run both the orchestration node and three guardian nodes with a single command.
Alternatively, you can run the single Docker image:
docker run --rm --name guardian-node --network gridlock-net \
gridlocknetwork/guardian-node:latest
To run three guardian nodes (useful when running the example in gridlock-cli), you can use docker compose:
docker compose up
For detailed customization options, local development setup, and advanced configuration, see Customization and Development Guide.
This code is yours to use — but it's even better when you're part of the official Gridlock network.
By running guardian nodes, you can earn rewards while helping secure the network.
Join the community: gridlock.network/join