# Deployment Guide

This deployment guide provides **chain-agnostic** instructions for deploying Firehose. The concepts, commands, and deployment patterns shown here can be applied to any blockchain that has Firehose support.

{% hint style="info" %}
We use [dummy-blockchain](https://github.com/streamingfast/dummy-blockchain) as our example throughout this guide. This is a simple test blockchain that demonstrates all Firehose concepts without the complexity of a real blockchain.
{% endhint %}

## Prerequisites

Before starting, you'll need:

1. **Firecore binary**: Download from [firehose-core releases](https://github.com/streamingfast/firehose-core/releases)
2. **Dummy blockchain binary**: Install the example blockchain client

### Installing Dummy Blockchain

```bash
# Install the dummy blockchain binary
go install github.com/streamingfast/dummy-blockchain@latest

# Verify installation
dummy-blockchain --help
```

The dummy blockchain can be run standalone with:

```bash
dummy-blockchain start --store-dir=<data-dir> --block-rate=180
```

## Deployment Options

Choose your deployment approach based on your needs:

### 🏠 [Single Machine Deployment](/firehose/overview/single-machine-deployment.md)

**Recommended for**: Development, testing, small-scale production

* All components run on one machine
* Shared local storage between components
* Simpler setup and management
* Lower resource requirements

### 🏢 [Distributed Deployment](/firehose/overview/distributed-deployment.md)

**Recommended for**: Production, high-availability, scalability

* Components run as separate processes/services
* Shared object storage (cloud storage)
* Horizontal scalability
* Production-ready architecture

## Architecture Overview

Both deployment patterns use the same core [Firehose architecture](/firehose/architecture.md):

1. **Reader**: Manages the blockchain node and extracts block data
2. **Merger**: Combines one-block files into merged block files
3. **Relayer**: Streams live blocks to consumers
4. **Firehose**: Serves historical and live block data via gRPC
5. **Substreams Tier 1**: Handles consumer requests and coordinates parallel processing
6. **Substreams Tier 2**: Executes WASM modules for parallel historical data transformation

{% hint style="info" %}
**About Substreams**: Substreams is a high-performance parallel data transformation engine that runs alongside Firehose. It enables users to define custom data pipelines in Rust/WASM that execute directly within your infrastructure. Running Substreams adds significant value for users while reusing the same block storage as Firehose. See [Substreams Component](/firehose/architecture/components/substreams.md) for details.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
For detailed information about each component, see the [Architecture Components](/firehose/architecture/components.md) documentation.
{% endhint %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://firehose.streamingfast.io/firehose/overview.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.