What Blockchain Types Does Starship Support for Development and Testing?

Starship supports over 30 distinct blockchain implementations spanning Cosmos-SDK chains, Solana, and the Ethereum ecosystem through a unified Docker-based configuration system.

The hyperweb-io/starship repository provides a universal inter-chain development environment designed to spin up local devnets for testing cross-chain applications. Understanding what blockchain types does Starship support helps developers determine if their target networks are compatible with this Kubernetes-native testing framework.

Supported Blockchain Categories

Starship organizes its supported blockchains into three primary categories, each defined in the central Docker image catalog at starship/docker/chains/versions.yaml.

Cosmos-SDK Based Chains

The majority of Starship's supported chains run the Tendermint consensus engine and expose standard RPC/REST APIs. These include major networks such as Osmosis, Cosmos Hub, Gaia, Juno, Agoric, Evmos, Sei, Stride, Persistence, Regen, Quasar, Quicksilver, Sommelier, Stargaze, Umee, Wasmd, Simapp, Cheqd, Neutron, Union, Dymension, Kujira, Noble, Xpla, Cronos, Crypto.org Chain, Injective, and ics.

Each entry in versions.yaml specifies the chain identifier and base Docker image:

- name: osmosis
  base: ghcr.io/strangelove-ventures/heighliner/osmosis
- name: gaia
  base: ghcr.io/strangelove-ventures/heighliner/gaia

Non-Cosmos Smart-Contract Platforms

Starship extends beyond the Cosmos ecosystem to support Solana, including both standard and solana-agave variants. These configurations appear in versions.yaml alongside the Cosmos entries and are validated through dedicated end-to-end tests in starship/tests/e2e/solana_test.go.

Ethereum Ecosystem

For EVM-compatible development, Starship supports Geth (ethereum/client-go), Prysm beacon chain, Prysm validator, and Prysm CLI components. These Ethereum clients are enumerated in versions.yaml and exercised by the test suite in starship/tests/e2e/eth_test.go and eth-lite_test.go.

How Starship Discovers and Configures Blockchains

Starship employs a three-layer discovery mechanism to validate and instantiate supported chains.

Docker Image Catalog

The file starship/docker/chains/versions.yaml serves as the single source of truth for available chain types. Every blockchain Starship can spin up requires an entry containing the name identifier and Docker base image reference.

Configuration Files

Users declare target chains in config.yaml files. The test suite provides ready-made examples in starship/tests/e2e/configs/*.yaml that demonstrate real-world usage patterns:

chains:
  - id: osmosis-1
    name: osmosis
    ports:
      rest: 1313
      rpc: 26653
  - id: cosmoshub-4
    name: cosmoshub
    ports:
      rest: 1317
      rpc: 26657

Registry Service Validation

When creating a ChainClient in starship/clients/go/client/chain.go, Starship fetches the chain's registry entry from the local Starship registry endpoint /chains/{chain-id}. This runtime lookup retrieves metadata including Bech32Prefix, Slip44, and fee information, confirming the declared chain is fully supported before instantiation.

Launching a Supported Blockchain in Code

To programmatically launch a supported chain, instantiate the Go client with the appropriate chain configuration:

cfg := &client.Config{
    Chains: []*client.Chain{
        {
            ID:   "osmosis-1",
            Name: "osmosis",
            Ports: client.Port{
                Rest: 1313,
                Rpc:  26653,
            },
        },
    },
}
logger, _ := zap.NewProduction()
clients, err := client.NewChainClients(logger, cfg)
// clients[0] is a ready-to-use Lens client for the Osmosis devnet

The NewChainClients function validates the configuration against the registry via GetChainRegistry and constructs a Lens client configured with the chain's RPC address, as implemented in starship/clients/go/client/chain.go.

Summary

• Starship supports more than 30 blockchain implementations across Cosmos-SDK, Solana, and Ethereum ecosystems.
• The master list of supported chains resides in starship/docker/chains/versions.yaml, which maps chain identifiers to Docker images.
• Runtime validation occurs through the registry service in starship/clients/go/client/chain.go, which verifies chain metadata before client instantiation.
• End-to-end test configurations in starship/tests/e2e/configs/*.yaml provide working examples for most supported chain types.
• Adding new blockchain support requires only adding a Docker image entry to versions.yaml and providing a chain-registry JSON file.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many blockchain types does Starship support out of the box?

Starship ships with support for more than 30 distinct blockchain implementations. This includes the full Cosmos-SDK ecosystem (Osmosis, Cosmos Hub, Juno, Neutron, etc.), Solana (standard and Agave variants), and Ethereum ecosystem tooling including Geth and Prysm consensus clients.

Where is the master list of supported blockchains defined?

The definitive catalog resides in starship/docker/chains/versions.yaml. This file enumerates every available chain type with its corresponding Docker base image. For example, entries for name: osmosis, name: solana, and name: ethereum/client-go appear alongside their respective container images.

Can I add custom blockchains to Starship that aren't in the default registry?

Yes. Adding a new blockchain requires updating versions.yaml with the chain's Docker image reference and providing a chain-registry JSON file containing metadata such as Bech32Prefix and Slip44. Once registered, Starship can spin up devnets, expose RPC/REST endpoints, and run the full integration test suite against the new chain.

Does Starship support both mainnet and testnet configurations?

Starship primarily targets local development and testing environments through devnet configurations. While the registry contains metadata for various networks, the system is designed to spin up isolated, ephemeral chains for CI/CD pipelines and local development rather than connecting to live mainnet or public testnet infrastructure.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}