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Decaf is a testnet. Operator access may be limited; see Espresso’s announcement and contact form for inclusion. Staking on Decaf uses Ethereum Sepolia and the Decaf stake table.

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Requirements

Node typeCPURAMStorageNotes
Non‑DA node1 core2 GBnegligibleSuitable for observation and testing
DA / Sequencer4 cores8 GB1.2 TB SSD+Requires PostgreSQL for SQL storage
PostgreSQL (DA)2 cores4 GB~100 GB+Size grows with chain history
1

Prepare the host

Ensure Docker is installed and your firewall allows the advertised libp2p UDP port you will configure.
Create directories for persistent data and keys:
mkdir -p /opt/espresso/{store,keys}
chmod 700 /opt/espresso/keys
2

Provide keys

You can pass keys either via a single key file or via two environment variables.
  • Key file path inside the container: /mount/sequencer/keys/0.env
  • Or set:
    • ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_PRIVATE_STAKING_KEY="BLS_SIGNING_KEY~..."
    • ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_PRIVATE_STATE_KEY="SCHNORR_SIGNING_KEY~..."
3

Set Decaf environment

Export environment variables (edit values as needed). The Docker image tag below is the current Decaf release.
export IMAGE_TAG="20251106-patch1" # Decaf image tag
export L1_HTTP="https://sepolia.infura.io/v3/<API_KEY>"          # Ethereum Sepolia HTTP
export L1_WS="wss://sepolia.infura.io/v3/<API_KEY>"              # Ethereum Sepolia WS (recommended)
export API_PORT="8080"                                           # Sequencer API/metrics
export LIBP2P_BIND="0.0.0.0:18000/udp"                           # Bind address (UDP)
export LIBP2P_ADVERTISE="<PUBLIC_IP_OR_DNS>:18000/udp"           # Publicly reachable address

# Decaf bootstrap/config + core services
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_CONFIG_PEERS="https://cache.decaf.testnet.espresso.network"
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_ORCHESTRATOR_URL="https://orchestrator-UZAFTUIMZOT.decaf.testnet.espresso.network/"
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_CDN_ENDPOINT="cdn.decaf.testnet.espresso.network:1737"
export ESPRESSO_STATE_RELAY_SERVER_URL="https://state-relay.decaf.testnet.espresso.network"
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_GENESIS_FILE="/genesis/decaf.toml"

# Paths inside the container
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_STORAGE_PATH="/mount/sequencer/store/"
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_KEY_FILE="/mount/sequencer/keys/0.env"

# Optional: identify your node in Espresso’s node dashboard
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_NODE_NAME="espresso-sequencer-01"
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_COMPANY_NAME="YourOrg"
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_COMPANY_WEBSITE="https://your.org"
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_OPERATING_SYSTEM="$(uname -sr)"
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_NETWORK_TYPE="Hosted"         # Residential | Hosted | AWS | GCP | Azure
export ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_COUNTRY_CODE="TR"             # ISO-3166 Alpha-2
4

Run a Regular (non‑DA) node

docker run -d --name espresso-sequencer --restart unless-stopped       -p "${API_PORT}:${API_PORT}"       -v /opt/espresso/store:/mount/sequencer/store       -v /opt/espresso/keys:/mount/sequencer/keys:ro       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_L1_PROVIDER="${L1_HTTP}"       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_L1_WS_PROVIDER="${L1_WS}"       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_CONFIG_PEERS       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_ORCHESTRATOR_URL       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_CDN_ENDPOINT       -e ESPRESSO_STATE_RELAY_SERVER_URL       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_GENESIS_FILE       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_STORAGE_PATH       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_KEY_FILE       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_LIBP2P_BIND_ADDRESS="${LIBP2P_BIND}"       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_LIBP2P_ADVERTISE_ADDRESS="${LIBP2P_ADVERTISE}"       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_API_PORT="${API_PORT}"       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_NODE_NAME       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_COMPANY_NAME       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_COMPANY_WEBSITE       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_OPERATING_SYSTEM       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_NETWORK_TYPE       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_IDENTITY_COUNTRY_CODE       ghcr.io/espressosystems/espresso-sequencer/sequencer:${IMAGE_TAG}         sequencer -- http -- catchup -- status
5

Run a DA (sequencer) node with PostgreSQL

Requires a reachable PostgreSQL instance and extra storage.
docker run -d --name espresso-sequencer-da --restart unless-stopped       -p "${API_PORT}:${API_PORT}"       -v /opt/espresso/keys:/mount/sequencer/keys:ro       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_L1_PROVIDER="${L1_HTTP}"       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_L1_WS_PROVIDER="${L1_WS}"       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_CONFIG_PEERS       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_ORCHESTRATOR_URL       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_CDN_ENDPOINT       -e ESPRESSO_STATE_RELAY_SERVER_URL       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_GENESIS_FILE       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_KEY_FILE       -e ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_API_PORT="${API_PORT}"       # add your Postgres connection env (e.g., DATABASE_URL) as required by your setup       ghcr.io/espressosystems/espresso-sequencer/sequencer:${IMAGE_TAG}         sequencer -- storage-sql -- http -- catchup -- status -- query
6

(Optional) Register & delegate on Sepolia

Register the node once to enter the staking set; then delegate to activate.
# Register
docker run -e L1_PROVIDER="${L1_HTTP}"       -e STAKE_TABLE_ADDRESS="0x40304fbe94d5e7d1492dd90c53a2d63e8506a037"       -e MNEMONIC -e ACCOUNT_INDEX       -e CONSENSUS_PRIVATE_KEY -e STATE_PRIVATE_KEY       ghcr.io/espressosystems/espresso-sequencer/staking-cli:main         staking-cli register-validator --commission 0.10

# Delegate (bootstrap your own validator or from another account)
docker run -e L1_PROVIDER="${L1_HTTP}"       -e STAKE_TABLE_ADDRESS="0x40304fbe94d5e7d1492dd90c53a2d63e8506a037"       -e MNEMONIC -e ACCOUNT_INDEX       ghcr.io/espressosystems/espresso-sequencer/staking-cli:main         delegate --validator-address $ADDRESS --amount $DELEGATION_AMOUNT
7

Health checks & networking tips

  • Verify logs: docker logs -f espresso-sequencer
  • Ensure the UDP libp2p port is open from the Internet to your host.
  • The first start needs ESPRESSO_SEQUENCER_CONFIG_PEERS. Subsequent restarts should reuse cached config.
  • Apply TCP optimizations per Espresso docs (sysctl or Docker flags).
Supported networks: Espresso Decaf testnet.