# Lotus
Lotus is a Filecoin implementation written by Protocol Labs, the creators of IPFS, libp2p, and Filecoin.
It is written in Go (opens new window) and it is actually a suite of command-line applications:
- Lotus Node (
lotus
): a Filecoin Node: validates network transactions, manages a FIL wallet, can perform storage and retrieval deals. - Lotus Miner (
lotus-miner
): a Filecoin miner. See the the respective Lotus Miner section in the Mine documentation. - Lotus Worker (
lotus-worker
): a worker that assists miners to perform mining-related tasks. See its respective guide for more information.
The installation instructions are common to all three, but this section just focuses on getting started with the Lotus Node: installing, launching, syncing the chain and managing a Lotus wallet. Documentation on how to make storage deals using Lotus is available in the store section. Additional documentation is also available for miners and developers!
WARNING
Lotus is a command line application that works on Linux and MacOS only, and needs to be built from source. Users should be familiar with how command-line applications work.
# Getting started with Lotus
These are the main guides to switfly get started with Lotus:
- Install and launch a Lotus node
- Create a wallet and send or receive FIL to your address
- Switch between different networks
- Learn about the Lotus configuration
Please check the side menu for additional guides!