Beginner's Guide

Mine SOST from
Zero

Step-by-step guide for complete beginners. No programming experience required. From turning on your computer to earning your first SOST coins in about 30 minutes.

BEGINNER | 30 minutes · No experience needed · Any computer
Before You Start
What is mining?

Mining is how new SOST coins are created. Your computer solves math problems, and when it finds a solution, you earn SOST. Anyone with a regular computer can mine — no special hardware needed.

What you need
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Computer
Mining: 8 GB+ RAM (4GB dataset + 4GB scratchpad) · Node only: ~500 MB
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Internet
Any connection
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30 Minutes
One-time setup
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No Experience Required
Step-by-step guide included
0 Get Ubuntu on your computer

SOST runs on Linux (Ubuntu). Pick your operating system below:

Windows
Mac
Linux
  1. Press Win+R on your keyboard (Windows key + R at the same time)
  2. Type cmd and press Enter
  3. A black window appears. Type this and press Enter:
    wsl --install
  4. Wait for it to finish (2–5 minutes, needs internet)
  5. Restart your computer when it asks
  6. After restart, Ubuntu opens automatically
  7. It asks you to create a username and password — pick something simple you will remember
  8. Done! You are now in Ubuntu. This window is your "terminal" — you type commands here.
If Ubuntu does not open after restart: Press Win+R again, type ubuntu, press Enter.
  1. Press Cmd+Space, type Terminal, press Enter
  2. You already have a terminal. Continue to Step 1.
Note: You need Homebrew for dependencies. Run: brew install cmake openssl secp256k1 git
  1. Open your terminal application
  2. Continue to Step 1.
Install Tools
1 Install what your computer needs

Copy this line, paste it in your terminal (right-click to paste), and press Enter:

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y build-essential cmake libssl-dev libsecp256k1-dev git

It asks for your password — type it (you won't see characters appear, that's normal) and press Enter. Wait 1–2 minutes.

No errors? Great, continue to Step 2. See red text? Run the command again.
Download & Build
2 Download SOST and build it

Copy and paste these commands one at a time. Press Enter after each one:

$ git clone https://github.com/Neob1844/sost-core.git
$ cd sost-core
$ mkdir build && cd build
$ cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
$ make -j$(nproc)

The last command takes 2–5 minutes. Lots of text will scroll — that's normal. Wait until you see [100%] Built target.

Create Wallet
3 Create your wallet

Your wallet is where your coins are stored. Run these two commands:

$ ./sost-cli newwallet
$ ./sost-cli getnewaddress "mining"

You get an address that looks like: sost1c6dac46bb3a43cefe...

WRITE IT DOWN. You need it in the next step.

IMPORTANT: The file wallet.json contains your private keys. Never share it with anyone. If you lose it, your coins are gone forever. Copy it to a USB drive as backup right now.
Start the Node
4 Start the SOST node

The node connects you to the SOST network and syncs the blockchain. Run this command from the build/ directory (make sure genesis_block.json is in the same directory — copy it from the repo root if needed: cp ../genesis_block.json .):

$ ./sost-node --genesis genesis_block.json --connect seed.sostcore.com:19333 \ --rpc-user PICK_A_USERNAME --rpc-pass PICK_A_PASSWORD --profile mainnet

Replace PICK_A_USERNAME and PICK_A_PASSWORD with anything you want (example: myuser / mypass123). These are your private credentials for connecting the miner.

The node will automatically connect to the seed node and start syncing. You should see messages like: [BLOCK] Height N accepted

Leave this window open. Do NOT close it.

Open a NEW terminal window for the next step. On Windows WSL: press Win+R, type ubuntu, press Enter.
Initial Sync (Fast Sync Enabled by Default) Your node connects to seed.sostcore.com:19333 and downloads the entire blockchain. Fast sync is enabled by default — trusted historical blocks (verified via hard checkpoints + assumevalid anchor) skip expensive ConvergenceX proof recomputation. All other validation (headers, timestamps, difficulty, coinbase split, transactions, UTXO) still runs for every block.
  • ■  First month (~4,320 blocks): seconds
  • ■  First year (~52,560 blocks): 1–5 minutes
  • ■  Multiple years: 5–15 minutes
For paranoid full verification: add --full-verify flag. This recomputes every ConvergenceX proof from scratch. Your node validates every block independently — no trust required.
RPC Credentials
! About RPC credentials

RPC credentials are local and self-chosen. There is no central registry or account system. Each operator picks their own username and password. The node and the miner must use the same credentials.

Generate secure credentials:

$ echo "USER: $(openssl rand -hex 10)" $ echo "PASS: $(openssl rand -hex 20)"

Save these values securely. Use them in both --rpc-user and --rpc-pass for node and miner.

SECURITY WARNINGS
  • NEVER share your RPC credentials with anyone.
  • NEVER commit credentials to git or put them in source code.
  • NEVER use the example credentials from documentation.
  • If mining against a remote node, ALWAYS use an encrypted SSH tunnel:
    ssh -N -L 18232:127.0.0.1:18232 user@your-vps-ip
  • Credentials travel over HTTP (not HTTPS) inside the local machine. This is secure only if node and miner are on the same machine or connected via SSH tunnel.
Same-machine setup (most common): If you run node and miner on the same computer, no tunnel is needed. Just use the same --rpc-user and --rpc-pass in both commands. The connection stays on localhost (127.0.0.1).
Start Mining
5 Start mining

In the NEW terminal, run:

$ cd ~/sost-core/build
$ ./sost-miner --address YOUR_ADDRESS_FROM_STEP_3 \ --genesis genesis_block.json --chain chain.json \ --rpc 127.0.0.1:18232 \ --rpc-user SAME_USERNAME_AS_STEP_4 \ --rpc-pass SAME_PASSWORD_AS_STEP_4 \ --blocks 999999 --profile mainnet --threads 4

Replace:

  • YOUR_ADDRESS_FROM_STEP_3 = the sost1... address you wrote down
  • SAME_USERNAME_AS_STEP_4 = same username from Step 4
  • SAME_PASSWORD_AS_STEP_4 = same password from Step 4

Numbers will scroll on screen. When it finds a block you will see: BLOCK FOUND!

Leave it running to keep earning coins.

You are mining SOST! Your first coins are spendable after ~7 days (1,000 block confirmations). This is the coinbase maturity period.
Check Balance & Send SOST Transactions
6 Check your balance and send coins

Open a third terminal and run:

$ cd ~/sost-core/build

Check your balance:

$ ./sost-cli getbalance --rpc 127.0.0.1:18232 \ --rpc-user YOUR_USER --rpc-pass YOUR_PASS

Shows: Total / Available / Locked (immature)

Send coins to someone:

$ ./sost-cli send --to sost1THEIR_ADDRESS --amount 1.5 \ --rpc 127.0.0.1:18232 \ --rpc-user YOUR_USER --rpc-pass YOUR_PASS

You can also use the web wallet at wallet.sostcore.com

Common Questions
How much can I earn?
Each block rewards ~7.85 SOST every ~10 minutes. You get 50% as the miner (~3.93 SOST). As more people mine, competition increases and blocks take longer to find solo.
Can I mine on Windows without Ubuntu?
No, SOST requires Linux. WSL (Step 0) is the easiest way to get Linux on Windows. It takes 5 minutes to set up.
How much electricity does it use?
Similar to running a video game. Each mining thread uses about 8 GB RAM (4 GB dataset + 4 GB scratchpad) and moderate CPU. Your electricity bill impact is minimal for 1–4 cores.
When can I spend mined coins?
After ~7 days (1,000 block confirmations). This is the coinbase maturity period — a consensus rule. Coins received from regular transfers are spendable immediately.
Is there a visual wallet?
Yes — wallet.sostcore.com provides a web-based wallet interface.
Can I use multiple CPU cores?
Yes. Use --threads N where N is the number of cores you want to use. Example: --threads 4 for 4 cores. Each thread searches nonces independently. The miner shows combined hashrate across all threads.
I get std::bad_alloc when starting the miner
Your system has less than 8 GB free RAM. ConvergenceX needs ~8 GB (4 GB dataset + 4 GB scratchpad). Add a swap file before starting the miner:
sudo fallocate -l 4G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfileThis provides temporary overflow memory during dataset loading. Once loaded, mining runs normally.
My computer crashed — did I lose my coins?
No. Your wallet (wallet.json) and chain data (chain.json) are saved to disk. Just restart the node and miner with the same commands.
What is ConvergenceX?
The mining algorithm that makes SOST work. It requires 8 GB RAM (4 GB dataset + 4 GB scratchpad) and 100,000 sequential calculations per attempt. This keeps mining fair for regular CPUs — specialized hardware (ASICs) gets no advantage.
Troubleshooting
common errors
ErrorFix
cmake: command not found Run Step 1 again: sudo apt install build-essential cmake
openssl/sha.h: No such file sudo apt install libssl-dev
secp256k1.h: No such file sudo apt install libsecp256k1-dev
Connection refused (RPC) Make sure the node (Step 4) is running in its own terminal
wallet.json not found Run Step 3 first: ./sost-cli newwallet
Miner shows 0 H/s Wait for the node to finish syncing, check your RPC username/password match

Still stuck? Check the FAQ or reach out via Contact.

Want more detail? See Getting Started for advanced CLI flags, Technology for protocol internals, and the Whitepaper for the full specification.
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