The execution client provides the EVM execution environment and processes transactions.
This guide covers configuration for the most popular execution client implementations.
Always run your execution client and consensus client in a one-to-one configuration.
Don’t run multiple execution client instances behind one consensus client, or vice versa.
Execution clients
Choose the execution client that best fits your needs:
op-geth
op-reth
Nethermind
op-geth configuration
op-geth is a minimal fork of go-ethereum optimized for the OP Stack.Although the Docker image is called op-geth, the actual binary is still named geth to minimize differences from go-ethereum.
See the op-geth diff viewer for details. Minimal configuration
Minimumal configuration for op-geth:geth \
--datadir=/data/optimism \
--http \
--http.addr=0.0.0.0 \
--http.port=8545 \
--http.api=eth,net,web3 \
--authrpc.jwtsecret=/path/to/jwt-secret.txt \
--op-network=op-mainnet \
--rollup.sequencerhttp=https://mainnet-sequencer.optimism.io/ \
--rollup.disabletxpoolgossip
OP Stack specific flags
--rollup.sequencerhttp: HTTP endpoint of the sequencer for transaction submission--rollup.disabletxpoolgossip: Disables transaction pool gossip (recommended for replica nodes)--rollup.historicalrpc: Enables historical RPC endpoint for upgraded networks (OP Mainnet pre-bedrock archive nodes)
This file must be identical for both op-geth and your consensus client.Complete reference
For all available configuration options, see the op-geth configuration reference.op-reth configuration
op-reth is a Rust-based execution client optimized for performance.Minimal configuration
Minimum required flags for op-reth:op-reth node \
--chain optimism \
--rollup.sequencer https://mainnet-sequencer.base.org \
--http \
--ws \
--authrpc.port 9551 \
--authrpc.jwtsecret /path/to/jwt.hex
Additional resources
For more details on op-reth configuration:Nethermind configuration
Nethermind is a .NET-based execution client with enterprise features.Installation
Download Nethermind from the releases page or build from source.Initialization
Nethermind uses a configuration file approach. Create a configuration file or use command-line flags.Minimal configuration
Minimum required flags for Nethermind:nethermind \
-c op-mainnet \
--data-dir path/to/data/dir \
--jsonrpc-jwtsecretfile path/to/jwt.hex
Additional resources
For more details on Nethermind configuration:JWT secret
To communicate with consensus client and enable the Engine API, you’ll also need to generate a JWT secret file and enable the execution client’s authenticated RPC endpoint.
To generate the JWT secret file:
openssl rand -hex 32 > jwt-secret.txt
