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Version: v1.2.0

How to Run an Aztec Prover

Background​

This guide covers the steps required to run a prover on the Aztec network. Before you begin, you should understand that operating a prover is a resource-intensive role typically undertaken by experienced engineers due to its technical complexity and hardware requirements.

Aztec provers are critical infrastructure components that generate cryptographic proofs attesting to transaction correctness, ultimately producing a single rollup proof submitted to Ethereum.

The prover consists of three main components:

  1. Prover node: Polls L1 for unproven epochs, creates proving jobs, distributes them to the broker, and submits the final rollup proof to the rollup contract.

  2. Prover broker: Manages the job queue, distributing work to agents and collecting results.

  3. Prover agent(s): Executes proof generation jobs in a stateless manner.

Prerequisites​

The minimum hardware specifications for each of the components is listed below.

Prover Node​

Minimum specifications:

  • 2 core / 4 vCPU
  • 16 GB RAM
  • 1 TB NVMe SSD
  • 25 Mbps network connection

Proving Broker​

Minimum specifications:

  • 2 core / 4 vCPU
  • 16 GB RAM
  • 10 GB SSD

Proving Agents​

Minimum specifications:

  • 32 core / 64 vCPU
  • 128 GB RAM
  • 10 GB SSD

This guide outlines a basic, non-distributed setup with all components on a single machine. Your hardware must meet or exceed the proving agent requirements listed above.

This guide assumes you are using a standard Linux distribution (Debian or Ubuntu).

Required Software​

Configure the Prover​

Setting up a prover involves configuring three components through environment variables and Docker Compose.

Setup Steps​

  1. Configure components via environment variables
  2. Enable auto-update and auto-restart functionality
  3. Deploy with Docker Compose

First, create the directory structure for prover data storage:

mkdir -p aztec-prover/prover-node-data aztec-prover/prover-broker-data
cd aztec-prover
touch .env

Component Configuration​

Each prover component requires specific environment variables. Configure them as follows:

Prover Node​

Required environment variables:

  • DATA_DIRECTORY: the folder where the data of the prover node is stored
  • P2P_IP: the IP address of this prover node
  • P2P_PORT: the port that P2P communication happens on
  • ETHEREUM_HOSTS: the execution RPC endpoints
  • L1_CONSENSUS_HOST_URLS: the consensus RPC endpoints
  • LOG_LEVEL: the desired level of logging for the prover node. It defaults to INFO
  • PROVER_BROKER_HOST: the endpoint of the prover broker that this node sends prover jobs to
  • PROVER_PUBLISHER_PRIVATE_KEY: the private key of the Ethereum EOA used for publishing the proofs to L1
  • AZTEC_PORT: the port that the prover node API is exposed on

Add the following to your .env file (assuming default ports of 8080 for the prover node, and 40400 for p2p connectivity):

DATA_DIRECTORY=./prover-node-data
P2P_IP=<your external IP address>
P2P_PORT=40400
ETHEREUM_HOSTS=<your L1 execution endpoint, or a comma separated list if you have multiple>
L1_CONSENSUS_HOST_URLS=<your L1 consensus endpoint, or a comma separated list if you have multiple>
LOG_LEVEL=info
PROVER_BROKER_HOST=http://prover-broker:8080
PROVER_PUBLISHER_PRIVATE_KEY=<the private key of the L1 EOA your prover will publish proofs from>
AZTEC_PORT=8080

Note: The broker URL http://prover-broker:8080 references the Docker Compose service name defined later.

tip

You MUST forward ports for P2P connectivity. Configure your router to forward both UDP and TCP traffic on the port specified by P2P_PORT to your local IP address.

To find your public IP address, run: curl ipv4.icanhazip.com

Prover Broker​

Required environment variables:

  • DATA_DIRECTORY: the folder where the data of the prover broker is stored
  • LOG_LEVEL: the desired level of logging for the prover broker. It defaults to INFO
  • ETHEREUM_HOSTS: the execution RPC endpoints
  • P2P_IP: the IP address of this prover broker
  • P2P_PORT: the port that P2P communication happens on

Note: Some variables overlap with the prover node configuration. If running components on separate machines, adjust accordingly. Since DATA_DIRECTORY is used by both components, define a separate variable for the broker:

Add to your .env file:

PROVER_BROKER_DATA_DIRECTORY=./prover-broker-data

Prover Agent​

Required environment variables:

  • PROVER_AGENT_COUNT: Number of agents to run (each requires ~10GB RAM)
  • PROVER_AGENT_POLL_INTERVAL_MS: Polling interval for job requests (milliseconds)
  • PROVER_BROKER_HOST: Broker endpoint for job submission
  • PROVER_ID: Ethereum address corresponding to PROVER_PUBLISHER_PRIVATE_KEY

Add to your .env file:

PROVER_AGENT_COUNT=10
PROVER_AGENT_POLL_INTERVAL_MS=10000
PROVER_BROKER_HOST=http://prover-broker:8080
PROVER_ID=<the address corresponding to the PROVER_PUBLISHER_PRIVATE_KEY you set on the node>

Enable Auto-Update and Auto-Restart​

The prover's auto-update functionality is critical for network coordination. This background module enables:

  • Configuration updates across all nodes
  • Automated image updates via controlled shutdowns
  • Rapid hot-fix deployment
  • Coordinated resets after governance upgrades

Important: Do NOT set AUTO_UPDATE_URL or AUTO_UPDATE environment variables. These must use their default values for proper operation.

Since Docker Compose doesn't respect pull policies on container restarts, install Watchtower for automatic updates:

docker run -d \
  --name watchtower \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  containrrr/watchtower

Deploy with Docker Compose​

Create a docker-compose.yml file in your aztec-prover directory with the following content:

name: aztec-prover
services:
  prover-node:
    image: aztecprotocol/aztec:latest
    command:
      - node
      - --no-warnings
      - /usr/src/yarn-project/aztec/dest/bin/index.js
      - start
      - --prover-node
      - --archiver
      - --network
      - alpha-testnet
    depends_on:
      prover-broker:
        condition: service_started
        required: true
    environment:
      DATA_DIRECTORY: /var/lib/data
      ETHEREUM_HOSTS: ${ETHEREUM_HOSTS}
      L1_CONSENSUS_HOST_URLS: ${L1_CONSENSUS_HOST_URLS}
      LOG_LEVEL: ${LOG_LEVEL}
      PROVER_BROKER_HOST: ${PROVER_BROKER_HOST}
      PROVER_PUBLISHER_PRIVATE_KEY: ${PROVER_PUBLISHER_PRIVATE_KEY}
      P2P_PORT: ${P2P_PORT}
      AZTEC_PORT: ${AZTEC_PORT}
    ports:
      - ${AZTEC_PORT}:${AZTEC_PORT}
      - ${P2P_PORT}:${P2P_PORT}
      - ${P2P_PORT}:${P2P_PORT}/udp
    volumes:
      - ${DATA_DIRECTORY}:/var/lib/data

  prover-broker:
    image: aztecprotocol/aztec:latest
    command:
      - node
      - --no-warnings
      - /usr/src/yarn-project/aztec/dest/bin/index.js
      - start
      - --prover-broker
      - --network
      - alpha-testnet
    environment:
      DATA_DIRECTORY: /var/lib/data
      ETHEREUM_HOSTS: ${ETHEREUM_HOSTS}
      P2P_IP: ${P2P_IP}
      LOG_LEVEL: ${LOG_LEVEL}
    volumes:
      - ${PROVER_BROKER_DATA_DIRECTORY}:/var/lib/data

  prover-agent:
    image: aztecprotocol/aztec:latest
    command:
      - node
      - --no-warnings
      - /usr/src/yarn-project/aztec/dest/bin/index.js
      - start
      - --prover-agent
      - --network
      - alpha-testnet
    environment:
      PROVER_AGENT_COUNT: ${PROVER_AGENT_COUNT}
      PROVER_AGENT_POLL_INTERVAL_MS: ${PROVER_AGENT_POLL_INTERVAL_MS}
      PROVER_BROKER_HOST: ${PROVER_BROKER_HOST}
      PROVER_ID: ${PROVER_ID}
    pull_policy: always
    restart: unless-stopped

Note: This configuration includes only essential settings. The --network alpha-testnet flag applies network-specific defaults. See the CLI reference for all available options.

Start the prover:

docker compose up -d

Verification​

To verify your prover is running correctly:

  1. Check that all services are running:
docker compose ps
  1. View logs for each component:
# Prover node logs
docker compose logs -f prover-node

# Broker logs
docker compose logs -f prover-broker

# Agent logs
docker compose logs -f prover-agent