====== Chia Autostart (Linux) ======

Running Chia as a service has several benefits, the main one being this always ensures your node / farm is running. Example given: When your farm reboots unexpectedly the service will auto start your farm after boot. You can also use this to autostart only the node or harvester (change the startup script accordingly).

===== Step 1 - Create the Chia service =====

Create the Chia service: ''sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/chia@.service'' and paste the following service:

//Note: Replace {USERNAME} (2x) with the name of the user having Chia installed.
//<code>
[Unit]
Description=Chia Service
[Service]
Type=forking
User={USERNAME}
WorkingDirectory=/home/{USERNAME}/chia-blockchain
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c ". ./activate && chia start %i && deactivate"
ExecStop=/usr/bin/bash -c ". ./activate && chia stop -d all && deactivate"
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
</code>

===== Step 2 - Reload systemd manager =====

Reloading the systemd manager is needed to work with our new service.

<code>
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
</code>

===== Step 3 - Enable the Chia service =====

The service can take an argument after the '@'. Use this argument to start the required chia service.

For example, to enable the farmer:

<code>
sudo systemctl enable --now chia@farmer
</code>

Running ''sudo systemctl status chia@farmer'' will now give the following output:
<code>
$ systemctl status chia@farmer.service 
● chia@farmer.service - Chia Service
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/chia@.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-12-10 21:40:53 CET; 21s ago
    Process: 13500 ExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c . ./activate && chia start farmer && deactivate (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 13514 (chia_daemon)
      Tasks: 17 (limit: 9278)
     Memory: 1.4G
     CGroup: /system.slice/system-chia.slice/chia@farmer.service
             ├─13514 chia_daemon
             ├─13520 chia_harvester
             ├─13521 chia_farmer
             ├─13522 chia_full_node
             └─13523 chia_wallet

Dec 10 21:40:47 chia systemd[1]: Starting Chia Service...
Dec 10 21:40:53 chia bash[13501]: Daemon not started yet
Dec 10 21:40:53 chia bash[13501]: Starting daemon
Dec 10 21:40:53 chia bash[13501]: chia_harvester: started
Dec 10 21:40:53 chia bash[13501]: chia_farmer: started
Dec 10 21:40:53 chia bash[13501]: chia_full_node: started
Dec 10 21:40:53 chia bash[13501]: chia_wallet: started
Dec 10 21:40:53 chia systemd[1]: Started Chia Service.
</code>

It should say "Active: active" and "enabled" in the Loaded section. 

From now on, when you reboot the system, Chia should automatically start up.