Hydra Node

The hydra-node extension brings Hydra into the Supernode operating model.

Use it when you want to run Hydra experiments alongside the rest of your Supernode workloads.

What it provides

• persistent Hydra state
• offline-mode defaults for fast experimentation
• flexible integration points for Hydra and Cardano key material
• optional Vault-backed secret sync
• service exposure for API, P2P, and monitoring ports

Canonical offline install

Create the required key objects first:

kubectl create namespace hydra
kubectl -n hydra create secret generic hydra-signing \
  --from-file=hydra.sk=/path/to/hydra.sk
kubectl -n hydra create configmap hydra-verification \
  --from-file=hydra.vk=/path/to/hydra.vk

Then install the chart:

helm install hydra ./extensions/hydra-node \
  --namespace hydra \
  --set displayName="Hydra Node" \
  --set keys.hydraSigning.existingSecret.name=hydra-signing \
  --set keys.hydraSigning.existingSecret.key=hydra.sk \
  --set keys.hydraVerification.existingConfigMap.name=hydra-verification \
  --set keys.hydraVerification.items[0].filename=hydra.vk \
  --set extraLabels.supernode/status=ready

Inline values form:

displayName: Hydra Node

keys:
  hydraSigning:
    existingSecret:
      name: hydra-signing
      key: hydra.sk
  hydraVerification:
    existingConfigMap:
      name: hydra-verification
    items:
      - filename: hydra.vk

extraLabels:
  supernode/status: ready

Online mode pattern

When you want the Hydra node to talk to a Cardano node, switch out of offline mode and provide Cardano connectivity:

displayName: Hydra Node

node:
  offlineMode: false
  hydraScriptsTxId: abcd1234...
  cardanoSocketProxy:
    enabled: true
    targetHost: relay.cardano.example.com
    targetPort: 3001

keys:
  hydraSigning:
    existingSecret:
      name: hydra-signing
      key: hydra.sk
  hydraVerification:
    existingConfigMap:
      name: hydra-verification
    items:
      - filename: hydra.vk
  cardano:
    enabled: true
    signing:
      existingSecret:
        name: cardano-admin
        key: cardano.sk
    verification:
      existingConfigMap:
        name: cardano-admin

extraLabels:
  supernode/status: ready

Operational role in Supernode

Hydra is not part of the baseline Cardano producer story, but it still benefits from the same Supernode primitives:

• consistent Helm packaging
• shared control-plane
• optional Vault-backed secret delivery
• standard monitoring and logging paths