Installation

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.

Requirements

Node type	CPU	RAM	Storage	Notes
Non‑DA node	1 core	2 GB	negligible	Suitable for observation and testing
DA / Sequencer	4 cores	8 GB	1.2 TB SSD+	Requires PostgreSQL for SQL storage
PostgreSQL (DA)	2 cores	4 GB	~100 GB+	Size grows with chain history

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

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~..."

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

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

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

(Optional) Register & delegate on Sepolia

# 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

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.

Krews

Networks

Dashboard

Requirements

​Requirements

Requirements