Manage a Validator

Running a validator is an ongoing responsibility. This guide covers monitoring, updates, staking, and governance — everything you need after your node is live.

Monitor Your Validator

Check connectivity and sync status:

soma status

View your current validator configuration and metadata:

soma validator display-metadata

To inspect a specific validator, pass its address:

soma validator display-metadata <validator-address>

Key metrics to watch: sync lag (how far behind the chain tip), missed proposals (sign of instability), and uptime (validators with poor uptime earn fewer rewards).

Update Metadata

Validator metadata includes network addresses and public keys. Update individual fields with the update-metadata subcommand:

soma validator update-metadata network-address <multiaddr>
soma validator update-metadata primary-address <multiaddr>
soma validator update-metadata p2p-address <multiaddr>
soma validator update-metadata network-pubkey <path>
soma validator update-metadata worker-pubkey <path>
soma validator update-metadata protocol-pubkey <path>

All metadata changes take effect at the start of the next epoch.

Commission Rate

Set your commission rate in basis points. 100 basis points equals 1%.

soma validator set-commission-rate <rate>

Commission determines what percentage of delegator rewards your validator keeps. A rate of 500 means you take 5% of the rewards earned by tokens delegated to you. The remaining 95% goes to delegators.

Software Updates

Watch for new releases and protocol upgrade announcements from the SOMA team.
Install the new version:
Terminal window
```
sup update soma
```
Restart your validator node to pick up the new binary.

Staking and Rewards

Delegated Staking

Token holders can delegate their $SOMA to your validator:

soma stake --validator <address> --amount <amount>

Self-Stake

Validators stake with themselves using the same command and their own address.

Unstaking

To withdraw staked tokens:

soma unstake <staked-soma-id>

Unstaked tokens are subject to an unbonding period before they become available for withdrawal.

Reward Distribution

Each epoch, the rewards pool is distributed as follows:

20% goes to validators, split proportionally by stake
80% goes to target winners (submitters and models)

Validators take their commission rate from the rewards earned by delegated stake. Self-staked rewards are not subject to commission.

For full details on emissions, fees, and token economics, see Economics.

Reporting and Governance

Validators are responsible for reporting bad actors on the network.

Report a misbehaving validator:

soma validator report-validator <reportee-address>

Report a misbehaving model:

soma validator report-model <model-id>

Undo a report if the issue is resolved:

soma validator report-validator <address> --undo-report
soma validator report-model <model-id> --undo-report

Leave the Committee

To stop validating and leave the active committee:

soma validator leave-committee

Deactivation takes effect at the start of the next epoch. Your node continues participating in consensus until then. Staked tokens enter an unbonding period before they can be withdrawn.