Subnets

Create subnets, add validators, transfer ownership, and convert to L1 blockchains

Platform CLI supports creating subnets, transferring ownership, and converting them to L1 blockchains.

Create a Subnet

platform-cli subnet create --key-name mykey --network fuji

Creating new subnet...
Owner: P-fuji1abc123...
Submitting transaction...
Subnet created successfully!
Subnet ID: 2QYfFcfZ9...

The subnet owner is the wallet address used to create it. You need P-Chain AVAX balance to create subnets.

Transfer Subnet Ownership

Transfer ownership to a new P-Chain address:

platform-cli subnet transfer-ownership \
  --subnet-id 2QYfFcfZ9... \
  --new-owner P-fuji1xyz789... \
  --key-name mykey

Add a Validator (Permissioned Subnet)

Add a validator to a permissioned subnet (AddSubnetValidatorTx). The node must already be a primary network validator, and the subnet owner key authorizes the transaction.

platform-cli subnet add-validator \
  --subnet-id 2QYfFcfZ9... \
  --node-id NodeID-BFa1paAAAA... \
  --weight 100 \
  --duration 336h \
  --key-name mykey

The validation period must fall within the node's primary network validation window. --weight is the validator's sampling weight on the subnet (not a stake amount). To add validators to a subnet that has already been converted to an L1, use l1 register-validator instead.

Convert Subnet to L1

Convert a permissioned subnet to an L1 blockchain. This operation is irreversible.

Auto-Discovery Mode

Provide validator node addresses and let the CLI fetch NodeID and BLS credentials:

platform-cli subnet convert-to-l1 \
  --subnet-id 2QYfFcfZ9... \
  --chain-id 3RZgGdaH1... \
  --manager 0x1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678 \
  --validators 127.0.0.1:9650,127.0.0.1:9652 \
  --validator-balance 1.0 \
  --key-name mykey

Manual Mode

Provide validator data explicitly (all lists must be comma-separated and aligned by index):

platform-cli subnet convert-to-l1 \
  --subnet-id 2QYfFcfZ9... \
  --chain-id 3RZgGdaH1... \
  --manager 0x1234... \
  --validator-node-ids NodeID-A...,NodeID-B... \
  --validator-bls-public-keys 0xabc...,0xdef... \
  --validator-bls-pops 0x111...,0x222... \
  --validator-balance 1.0 \
  --key-name mykey

Validator Owners

Each initial validator has two P-Chain owners. The P-Chain cannot change them after the conversion.

Owner	Flag	Permission
Remaining balance owner	`--validator-remaining-balance-owner`	Receives the validator's remaining balance when the validator is disabled or removed
Deactivation owner	`--validator-deactivation-owner`	Can disable the validator (`l1 disable-validator`)

Both owners default to the P-Chain address of your key, with threshold 1. To set other owners, give 1 address for all validators, or 1 address per validator in the same order as --validators or --validator-node-ids:

platform-cli subnet convert-to-l1 \
  --subnet-id 2QYfFcfZ9... \
  --chain-id 3RZgGdaH1... \
  --manager 0x1234... \
  --validators 127.0.0.1:9650,127.0.0.1:9652 \
  --validator-remaining-balance-owner P-fuji1abc... \
  --validator-deactivation-owner P-fuji1def...,P-fuji1ghi... \
  --key-name mykey

The CLI prints both owners of each validator before it submits the transaction.

An empty owner has threshold 0, so any funded P-Chain key can disable the validator and spend its remaining balance. The CLI refuses to issue an empty owner unless you set --allow-empty-owners. Do not use that flag on a real L1. Versions before v2.2.0 set both owners to empty on every conversion.

Mock Validator (Testing)

For local testing, generate a mock validator with random BLS credentials:

platform-cli subnet convert-to-l1 \
  --subnet-id 2QYfFcfZ9... \
  --chain-id 3RZgGdaH1... \
  --mock-validator \
  --key-name mykey \
  --rpc-url http://127.0.0.1:9650

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