Deploying Hummingbot on a Raspberry Pi

Firstly, we owe much of this blog post's content to one of our community members, @Punkhead, on our Discord. He experimented with running Hummingbot on a Raspberry Pi and achieved success! He also shared his experience in a Reddit post: Hummingbot on RPI4, how-to.

Why Run Hummingbot on a Raspberry Pi?

While we generally recommend deploying Hummingbot on a cloud server for long-term usage, running it on a Raspberry Pi presents a compelling alternative. Cloud servers are ideal for 24/7 operation in a market that never sleeps. They offer dedicated resources and reduced risks of system crashes. However, they come with monthly costs and might not be ideal for everyone.

Running Hummingbot on a Raspberry Pi offers similar benefits to a cloud server, such as having a dedicated machine. Raspberry Pis are cost-effective, easy to set up, energy-efficient, and incur no recurring fees. These devices can reliably run multiple Hummingbot instances. Of course, if you have an unreliable internet connection or power supply, a cloud server might still be preferable.

Required Equipment

Building a Raspberry Pi requires:

• Raspberry Pi Board: We used a Raspberry Pi 4 with 8 GB RAM for testing.
• SD Card: Acts as the data store for the Raspberry Pi. A reader/USB adapter is needed if the SD card isn't preloaded with an OS.
• USB-C Power Supply
• Mini-HDMI Display Cable: Necessary only for setup.
• Case: Optional, but recommended.

Purchasing components is straightforward on Amazon.com or through retailers listed on Raspberry Pi’s website. While all-in-one kits are available, buying individual components allows for greater customization.

System Requirements

Our tests showed that each Hummingbot instance requires approximately 200 MB of RAM and 600-650 MB of hard drive space. Thus, even Raspberry Pis with less than 8 GB RAM are suitable. Punkhead successfully runs 17 instances on his Raspberry Pi!

The most resource-intensive part is compiling from source, which utilizes 100% CPU for a few minutes during installation or updates.

Installing Hummingbot

Currently, Hummingbot installation on a Raspberry Pi is only possible by compiling from source. Although this process is more complex than using binaries or Docker, the following guide will assist you.

Preparing the Raspberry Pi for Installation

Step 1: Install 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS

A 64-bit OS is required to run Hummingbot. Raspberry Pi offers a beta 64-bit version of their OS, available for download here.

Step 2: Load the Image File to Your SD Card

Follow Raspberry Pi's installation guide for detailed instructions. For Mac OS users, this guide explains how to load the OS using the diskutil command line tool.

Step 3: Boot Your Raspberry Pi

Insert the SD card and connect the power source to boot. Follow the prompts for initial setup.

Install Hummingbot Dependencies

Step 1: Open the Terminal

Access the terminal via the shortcut in the top left corner of the desktop.

Step 2: Install from Source

Update the repository and install important dependencies:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev gcc python3-dev python-dev python3.7 -y

Install Miniforge:

wget https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/download/4.11.0-4/Miniforge3-4.11.0-4-Linux-aarch64.sh
sh Miniforge3-4.11.0-4-Linux-aarch64.sh

Restart the terminal:

exec bash

Install conda-build:

conda install conda-build

Clone the Hummingbot repository:

git clone https://github.com/hummingbot/hummingbot.git

Note

If you need to switch branches (ie. development branch) then after cloning the repository use the command git checkout [branch_name] to switch branches. For example, to switch to the development branch use git checkout development

Change directory into the Hummingbot folder:

cd hummingbot

Run the install command:

./install

Activate the conda environment:

conda activate hummingbot

Clean your Hummingbot directory and then compile:

./clean && ./compile

Launch Hummingbot:

./start

And that’s it! Hummingbot should be up and running.

Running Multiple Bots

To run multiple bots, clone the Hummingbot repository into separate folders and compile each instance independently.

Running Multiple bot with tmux

Tmux, a terminal multiplexer, allows the management of multiple Hummingbot instances from a single installation. Learn more about Tmux here

Remote Control with VNC Viewer

The Raspberry Pi supports SSH and VNC, allowing remote control from other devices.

Step 1. Enable SSH and VNC on your Raspberry Pi

Option 1: Terminal using raspi-config

sudo raspi-config

Under Interfacing Options, enable SSH and VNC.

Option 2: Access in Raspberry Pi Configuration

Select the menu in the top left corner of the screen then go to Preferences > Raspberry Pi configuration > Interfaces from there you will see options to enable SSH and VNC.

Step 2. Get your Raspberry Pi’s private IP address

Useifconfig to find the IP address for VNC Viewer. For SSH, use ssh pi@[ipaddress]. The IP address is listed under inet, excluding localhost (127.0.0.1):