Before you begin, check out our [official documentation portal](https://prysmaticlabs.gitbook.io/prysm/) and join our active chat room on Discord or Gitter below:
Also, read our [Roadmap Reference Implementation Doc](https://github.com/prysmaticlabs/prysm/blob/master/docs/ROADMAP.md). This doc provides a background on the milestones we aim for the project to achieve.
Bazel manages all of the dependencies for you (including go and necessary compilers) so you are all set to build prysm. Then, build both parts of our system: a beacon chain node implementation, and a validator client:
Prysm ships with two important components: a beacon node and a validator client. The beacon node is the server that performs the heavy lifting of Ethereum 2.0., A validator client is another piece of software that securely connects to the beacon node and allows you to stake 3.2 Goerli ETH in order to secure the network. You'll be mostly interacting with the validator client to manage your stake.
Another critical component of Ethereum 2.0 is the Validator Deposit Contract, which is a smart contract deployed on the Ethereum 1.0 chain which can be used for current holders of ETH to do a one-way transfer into Ethereum 2.0.
1) You will need to share the local drive you wish to mount to to container (e.g. C:)
1. Enter Docker settings (right click tray icon)
2. Click Shared Drives
3. Select Drive to share
4. Click Apply
2) You will next need to create a folder in the drive to use as your data directory (Docker will not create this if it does not exist). For the purposes of these instructions, C: is shared, and we created the /tmp/prysm-data/ directory within. This path must be used for the local data directory for chain data for the Beacon Node, and when creating an account and keystore for the validator, and when running the validator.
This will sync you up with the latest head block in the network, and then you'll have a ready beacon node.
The chain will then be waiting for you to deposit 3.2 Goerli ETH into the Validator Deposit Contract before your validator can become active! Now, you'll need to create a validator client to connect to this node and stake 3.2 Goerli ETH to participate as a validator in Ethereum 2.0's Proof of Stake system.
Once your beacon node is up, you'll need to attach a validator client as a separate process. Each validator represents 3.2 Goerli ETH being staked in the system, so you can spin up as many as you want to have more at stake in the network
It'll take a while for the nodes in the network to process your deposit, but once you're active, your validator will begin doing its responsibility! In your validator client, you'll be able to frequently see your validator balance as it goes up. If you ever go offline for a while, you'll start gradually losing your deposit until you get kicked out of the system. Congratulations, you are now running Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 :).
We have put all of our contribution guidelines into [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/prysmaticlabs/prysm/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)! Check it out to get started.
