Run Espresso Infrastructure

Pick the right Espresso infrastructure role for your team: validator, builder, or RPC Node.

There are three operator roles you can run against Espresso. Each one serves a different purpose, has different hardware needs, and is run by a different kind of team.

Pick your role

Role	Who runs it	What it does	Hardware
Validator node	Stake operators (institutional and independent) earning ESP rewards	Participates in HotShot consensus, finalizing blocks across Espresso	1 CPU core, 8 GB RAM (non-DA); 4+4 CPU, 8+4 GB RAM, 1.2 TB SSD (DA)
Builder	Block proposers serving an Espresso chain's slot	Pulls transactions from the public mempool, assembles blocks, and submits them to Espresso for finalization	2-4 CPU cores, 4-8 GB RAM
RPC Node	Chains and applications integrated with Espresso	Sits in front of an existing rollup full node and serves standard EVM JSON-RPC backed by Espresso finality (the espresso block tag), without modifying the node	Lightweight; runs alongside your full node. See the Espresso Rollup Node Proxy

When to run which

• You hold ESP and want to participate in consensus / earn rewards. Run a Validator Node. You'll register in the stake table, attract delegations, and run the node software on the network of your choice.

• You operate an Espresso-integrated chain and need to propose blocks. Run a Builder. The builder is the component that bundles transactions for your chain's namespace.

• You want fast, low-latency reads of state settled by Espresso, in front of an existing full node, without modifying it. Run an RPC Node. It proxies your full node's JSON-RPC and resolves the espresso block tag to Espresso-finalized state.

Related references

• Networks: public endpoints and contract addresses for Mainnet and Decaf Testnet.

• Stake Table Contract: validator registration and stake delegation contract addresses on Ethereum.

• Reading via the RPC Node: how the proxy serves Espresso finality in front of an existing full node.