Cardano Operator Tool

Cardano Pool KEY / KES Expiry Checker

Use this tool to check the estimated KEY / KES expiry date for a Cardano stake pool. Follow the steps in order, customize the commands with your own server and certificate path, paste the terminal output, and the result will show your pool status and expiry date.

Do not paste private keys, seed phrases, cold.skey, kes.skey, payment signing keys, or wallet secrets. This tool only needs the public output of the KES period info command.
What you needAccess to your block producer server. What you pasteThe output of the KES period info command. What you getExpiry date, remaining days, epochs, and status.
1

Log in to your pool server

Open your terminal and connect to the server where your Cardano block producer is running.

ssh your-user@your-server-ip
How to customize
  • Replace your-user with your real server username.
  • Replace your-server-ip with your server IP address or domain.
  • Example: ssh cardano@123.123.123.123
2

Find your node.cert file

After you log in, run this command on the server. It searches for the operational certificate file and prints its full path.

find / -name "node.cert" 2>/dev/null
What to do next
  • Copy the full path returned by the command.
  • Example: /home/cardano/cnode/priv/pool/node.cert
  • You will paste this exact path into Step 3.
3

Build and run the KES check command

Paste the node.cert path from Step 2 into the field below. The final command will be created for you automatically.

1. Paste the pathUse the exact node.cert path you copied in Step 2.
2. Copy the commandThe command below updates automatically after you paste the path.
3. Run it on serverRun the copied command inside your pool server terminal.

Only this path changes. Do not edit the rest of the command unless you know your setup uses a different network.

cardano-cli conway query kes-period-info --mainnet --op-cert-file /path/to/node.cert
After running this command, copy the full terminal output and paste it in Step 4.
4

Paste the command output

Paste the full result from Step 3. The tool will read the KES values and calculate the estimated expiry date.

Waiting for the command output.
5

Pool information and expiry date

After calculation, your pool expiry estimate and status will appear here.

Expiry DateWaitingThe result will appear after calculation.
Remaining DaysWaitingBased on current Cardano chain data.
Remaining EpochsWaitingOne Cardano epoch is about 5 days.
StatusWaitingSafe, Warning, or Expired.
Share this article :