How to configure challenger for your chain

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for setting up the configuration and monitoring options for op-challenger. The challenger is a critical fault proofs component that monitors dispute games and challenges invalid claims to protect your OP Stack chain. See the OP-Challenger Explainer for a general overview of this fault proofs feature. The challenger is responsible for:

Monitoring dispute games created by the fault proof system
Challenging invalid claims in dispute games
Defending valid state transitions
Resolving games when possible

Prerequisites

Essential requirements

Before configuring your challenger, complete the following steps:

Deploy OP Stack chain with fault proofs enabled

L1 contracts deployed with dispute game factory
Fault proof system active on your chain
Access to your chain’s contract addresses
Generate an absolute prestate for your network version - This is critical as the challenger will refuse to interact with games if it doesn’t have the matching prestate

Set up required infrastructure access

L1 RPC endpoint (Ethereum, Sepolia, etc.)
L1 Beacon node endpoint (for blob access)
L2 archive node with debug API enabled
Rollup node (op-node) with historical data

Prepare configuration files

rollup.json - Rollup configuration file
genesis-l2.json - L2 genesis file
prestate.json - The absolute prestate file generated in step 1

Software requirements

Git (for cloning repositories)
Go 1.21+ (if building from source)
Docker and Docker Compose (optional but recommended)
Access to a funded Ethereum account for challenger operations

Finding the current stable releases

To ensure you’re using the latest compatible versions of OP Stack components, always check the official releases page: OP Stack releases page Look for the latest op-challenger/v* release. The challenger version used in this guide (op-challenger/v1.5.0) is a verified stable version. Always check the release notes to ensure you’re using compatible versions with your chain’s deployment.

Software installation

For challenger deployment, you can either build from source (recommended for better control and debugging) or use Docker for a containerized setup.

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Build and Configure

Building from source gives you full control over the binaries and is the preferred approach for production deployments.Clone and build op-challenger

# Clone the optimism monorepo
git clone https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism.git
cd optimism

# Check out the latest release of op-challenger
git checkout op-challenger/v1.5.0

# Install dependencies and build
just op-challenger

# Binary will be available at ./op-challenger/bin/op-challenger

Verify installation

Check that you have properly installed the challenger component:

# Make sure you're in the optimism directory
./op-challenger/bin/op-challenger --help

# You should see the challenger help output with available commands and flags

Configuration setup

Organize your workspace

After building the binaries, create your challenger working directory:

# Create challenger directory (this should be at the same level as optimism directory)
mkdir challenger-node
cd challenger-node

# Create necessary subdirectories
mkdir scripts
mkdir challenger-data

# Verify the optimism directory is accessible
# Directory structure should look like:
# /optimism/                 (contains the built binaries)
# /challenger-node/          (your working directory)

Copy configuration files

# Copy configuration files to your challenger directory
# Adjust paths based on your deployment setup
cp /path/to/your/rollup.json .
cp /path/to/your/genesis-l2.json .

Set up environment variables

You’ll need to gather several pieces of information before creating your configuration. Here’s where to get each value:L1 network access:

L1 RPC URL: Your L1 node endpoint (Infura, Alchemy, or self-hosted)
L1 Beacon URL: Beacon chain API endpoint for blob access

L2 network access:

L2 RPC URL: Your op-geth archive node endpoint
Rollup RPC URL: Your op-node endpoint with historical data

Challenger wallet:

Private key for challenger operations (must be funded)

Network configuration:

Game factory address from your contract deployment
Network identifier (e.g., op-sepolia, op-mainnet, or custom)

Copy and paste in your terminal, to create your env file.

# Create .env file with your actual values
cat > .env << 'EOF'
# L1 Configuration - Replace with your actual RPC URLs
L1_RPC_URL=https://sepolia.infura.io/v3/YOUR_ACTUAL_INFURA_KEY

# L2 Configuration - Replace with your actual node endpoints  
L2_RPC_URL=http://localhost:8545
ROLLUP_RPC_URL=http://localhost:8547
L1_BEACON=http://sepolia-cl-1:5051

# Wallet configuration - Choose either mnemonic + HD path OR private key
MNEMONIC="test test test test test test test test test test test junk"
HD_PATH="m/44'/60'/0'/0/0"
# PRIVATE_KEY=0xYOUR_ACTUAL_PRIVATE_KEY  # Alternative to mnemonic

# Network configuration
NETWORK=op-sepolia
GAME_FACTORY_ADDRESS=0xYOUR_GAME_FACTORY_ADDRESS

# Trace configuration
TRACE_TYPE=permissioned,cannon

# Data directory
DATADIR=./challenger-data

# Cannon configuration
# Path to the cannon binary (built from optimism repo)
CANNON_BIN=<PATH_TO_OPTIMISM_REPO>/cannon/bin/cannon

# Configuration files
CANNON_ROLLUP_CONFIG=<PATH_TO_YOUR_ROLLUP_CONFIG>
CANNON_L2_GENESIS=<PATH_TO_YOUR_L2_GENESIS>
CANNON_SERVER=<PATH_TO_OPTIMISM_REPO>/op-program/bin/op-program
CANNON_PRESTATE=<PATH_TO_YOUR_PRESTATE_FILE>
EOF

Important: Replace ALL placeholder values (YOUR_ACTUAL_*) with your real configuration values.

Understanding key configuration flags

Show --l1-eth-rpc

This is the HTTP provider URL for a standard L1 node, can be a full node. op-challenger will be sending many requests, so chain operators need a node that is trusted and can easily handle many transactions.
Note: Challenger has a lot of money, and it will spend it if it needs to interact with games. That might risk not defending games or challenging games correctly, so chain operators should really trust the nodes being pointed at Challenger.

Show --l1-beacon

This is needed just to get blobs from.
In some instances, chain operators might need a blob archiver or L1 consensus node configured not to prune blobs:
- If the chain is proposing regularly, a blob archiver isn’t needed. There’s only a small window in the blob retention period that games can be played.
- If the chain doesn’t post a valid output root in 18 days, then a blob archiver running a challenge game is needed. If the actor gets pushed to the bottom of the game, it could lose if it’s the only one protecting the chain.

Show --l2-eth-rpc

This needs to be op-geth archive node, with debug enabled.
Technically doesn’t need to go to bedrock, but needs to have access to the start of any game that is still in progress.

Show --rollup-rpc

This needs to be an op-node archive node because challenger needs access to output roots from back when the games start. See below for important configuration details:

Safe Head Database (SafeDB) Configuration for op-node:
- The op-node behind the op-conductor must have the SafeDB enabled to ensure it is not stateless.
- To enable SafeDB, set the --safedb.path value in your configuration. This specifies the file path used to persist safe head update data.
- Example Configuration:
  --safedb.path <path-to-safe-head-db> # Replace <path-to-safe-head-db> with your actual path
  If this path is not set, the SafeDB feature will be disabled.
Ensuring Historical Data Availability:
- Both op-node and op-geth must have data from the start of the games to maintain network consistency and allow nodes to reference historical state and transactions.
- For op-node: Configure it to maintain a sufficient history of blockchain data locally or use an archive node.
- For op-geth: Similarly, configure to store or access historical data.
- Example Configuration:
  op-node \ --rollup-rpc <op-node-archive-node-url> \ --safedb.path <path-to-safe-head-db>
Replace <op-node-archive-node-url> with the URL of your archive node and <path-to-safe-head-db> with the desired path for storing SafeDB data.

Show --private-key

Chain operators must specify a private key or use something else (like op-signer).
This uses the same transaction manager arguments as op-node , batcher, and proposer, so chain operators can choose one of the following options:
- a mnemonic
- a private key
- op-signer endpoints

Show --network

This identifies the L2 network op-challenger is running for, e.g., op-sepolia or op-mainnet.
When using the --network flag, the --game-factory-address will be automatically pulled from the superchain-registry.
When cannon is executed, challenger needs the roll-up config and the L2 Genesis, which is op-geth’s Genesis file. Both files are automatically loaded when Cannon Network is used, but custom networks will need to specify both Cannon L2 Genesis and Cannon rollup config.

For custom networks not in the superchain-registry, the --game-factory-address and rollup must be specified, as follows:

--cannon-rollup-config rollup.json  \
--cannon-l2-genesis genesis-l2.json \
# use this if running challenger outside of the docker image
--cannon-server ./op-program/bin/op-program \
# json or url, version of op-program deployed on chain
# if you use the wrong one, you will lose the game
# if you deploy your own contracts, you specify the hash, the root of the json file
# op mainnet are tagged versions of op-program
# make reproducible prestate
# challenger verifies that onchain
 --cannon-prestate ./op-program/bin/prestate.json \
# load the game factory address from system config or superchain registry
# point the game factory address at the dispute game factory proxy
 --game-factory-address

These options vary based on which --network is specified. Chain operators always need to specify a way to load prestates and must also specify the cannon-server whenever the docker image isn’t being used.

Show --datadir

This is a directory that op-challenger can write to and store whatever data it needs. It will manage this directory to add or remove data as needed under that directory.
If running in docker, it should point to a docker volume or mount point, so the data isn’t lost on every restart. The data can be recreated if needed but particularly if challenger has executed cannon as part of responding to a game it may mean a lot of extra processing.

Show --cannon-prestates-url

The pre-state is effectively the version of op-program that is deployed on chain. And chain operators must use the right version. op-challenger will refuse to interact with games that have a different absolute prestate hash to avoid making invalid claims. If deploying your own contracts, chain operators must specify an absolute prestate hash taken from the make reproducible-prestate command during contract deployment, which will also build the required prestate json file.All governance approved releases use a tagged version of op-program. These can be rebuilt by checking out the version tag and running make reproducible-prestate.

There are two ways to specify the prestate to use:
- --cannon-prestate: specifies a path to a single Cannon pre-state Json file
- --cannon-prestates-url: specifies a URL to load pre-states from. This enables participating in games that use different prestates, for example due to a network upgrade. The prestates are stored in this directory named by their hash.
Example final URL for a prestate:
- https://example.com/prestates/0x031e3b504740d0b1264e8cf72b6dde0d497184cfb3f98e451c6be8b33bd3f808.json
- This file contains the cannon memory state.

Challenger will refuse to interact with any games if it doesn’t have the matching prestate. Check this guide on how to generate a absolute prestate.

Create challenger startup script

Create scripts/start-challenger.sh:

#!/bin/bash
source .env

# Path to the challenger binary
../optimism/op-challenger/bin/op-challenger \
  --trace-type permissioned,cannon \
  --l1-eth-rpc=$L1_RPC_URL \
  --l2-eth-rpc=$L2_RPC_URL \
  --l1-beacon=$L1_BEACON \
  --rollup-rpc=$ROLLUP_RPC_URL \
  --game-factory-address $GAME_FACTORY_ADDRESS \
  --datadir=$DATADIR \
  --cannon-bin=$CANNON_BIN \
  --cannon-rollup-config=$CANNON_ROLLUP_CONFIG \
  --cannon-l2-genesis=$CANNON_L2_GENESIS \
  --cannon-server=$CANNON_SERVER \
  --cannon-prestate=$CANNON_PRESTATE \
  --mnemonic "$MNEMONIC" \
  --hd-path "$HD_PATH"

Initializing and starting the challenger

Start the challenger

# Make sure you're in the challenger-node directory
cd challenger-node

# Make script executable
chmod +x scripts/start-challenger.sh

# Start challenger
./scripts/start-challenger.sh

Verify challenger is running

Monitor challenger logs to ensure it’s operating correctly:

# Check challenger logs
tail -f challenger-data/challenger.log

# Or if running in foreground, monitor the output

The challenger should show logs indicating:

Successful connection to L1 and L2 nodes
Loading of prestates and configuration
Monitoring of dispute games

Monitoring with op-dispute-mon

Consider running op-dispute-mon for enhanced security monitoring:

Provides visibility into all game statuses for the last 28 days
Essential for production challenger deployments
Create Grafana dashboards using: Download the Dispute Monitor JSON

Next steps

Read the OP-Challenger Explainer for additional context and FAQ
Review the detailed challenger specifications for implementation details
If you experience any problems, reach out to developer support

Chain Operators

Node Operators

How to configure challenger for your chain

Prerequisites

Essential requirements

Software requirements

Finding the current stable releases

Software installation

Build and Configure

Verify installation

Configuration setup

Create challenger startup script

Initializing and starting the challenger

Start the challenger

Verify challenger is running

Monitoring with op-dispute-mon

Next steps

Chain Operators

Node Operators

​Prerequisites

​Essential requirements

​Software requirements

​Finding the current stable releases

​Software installation

​Build and Configure

​Verify installation

​Configuration setup

​Create challenger startup script

​Initializing and starting the challenger

​Start the challenger

​Verify challenger is running

​Monitoring with op-dispute-mon

​Next steps

Prerequisites

Essential requirements

Software requirements

Finding the current stable releases

Software installation

Build and Configure

Verify installation

Configuration setup

Create challenger startup script

Initializing and starting the challenger

Start the challenger

Verify challenger is running

Monitoring with op-dispute-mon

Next steps