Getting Started

Tips

Please be prepared to set aside approximately one hour to get everything running properly and make sure to read through the guide carefully. You don't want to miss any important steps that might cause issues down the line.

This tutorial is designed for developers who want to learn about the OP Stack by spinning up an OP Stack testnet chain. We'll walk through the full deployment process and teach you all of the components that make up the OP Stack, and you'll end up with your very own OP Stack testnet.

You can use this testnet to experiment and perform tests, or you can choose to modify the chain to adapt it to your own needs. The OP Stack is free (as in freedom) and open source software licensed entirely under the MIT license. You don't need permission from anyone to modify or deploy the stack in any configuration you want.

Tips

Modifications to the OP Stack may prevent a chain from being able to benefit from aspects of the Optimism Superchain. Make sure to check out the Superchain Explainer to learn more.

What We're Going to Deploy

When deploying an OP Stack chain, you'll be setting up four different components. It's useful to understand what each of these components does before you start deploying your chain.

Smart Contracts

The OP Stack gives you the ability to deploy your own Rollup chains that use a Layer 1 blockchain to host and order transaction data. OP Stack chains use several smart contracts on the L1 blockchain to manage aspects of the Rollup. Each OP Stack chain has its own set of L1 smart contracts that are deployed when the chain is created. We'll be using the L1 smart contracts found in the contracts-bedrock package (opens new window) within the Optimism Monorepo (opens new window).

Sequencer Node

OP Stack chains use Sequencer nodes to gather transactions from users and publish them to the L1 blockchain. Vanilla (unmodified) OP Stack chains rely on at least one of these Sequencer nodes, so we'll have to run one. You can also run additional non-Sequencer nodes if you'd like (not included in this tutorial).

Consensus Client

OP Stack nodes, like Ethereum nodes, have a consensus client. The consensus client is responsible for determining the list and ordering of blocks and transactions that are part of your blockchain. Several implementations of the OP Stack consensus client exist, including op-node (maintained by OP Labs) and magi (opens new window) (maintained by a16z). In this tutorial we'll be using the op-node implementation (opens new window) found within the Optimism Monorepo (opens new window).

Execution Client

OP Stack nodes, like Ethereum nodes, also have an execution client. The execution client is responsible to executing transactions and storing/updating the state of the blockchain. Various implementations of the OP Stack execution client exist, including op-geth (maintained by OP Labs), op-erigon (opens new window) (maintained by Test in Prod), and op-nethermind (coming soon). In this tutorial we'll be using the op-geth implementation (opens new window) found within the op-geth repository (opens new window).

Batcher

The Batcher is an entity for publishing transactions from the Sequencer to the L1 blockchain. The Batcher runs continuously alongside the Sequencer and publishes transactions in batches (hence the name) on a regular basis. We'll be using the op-batcher implementation (opens new window) of the Batcher component found within the Optimism Monorepo (opens new window).

Proposer

The Proposer is an entity responsible for publishing transactions results (in the form of L2 state roots) to the L1 blockchain. This allows smart contracts on L1 to read the state of the L2, which is necessary for cross-chain communication and user withdrawals. It's likely that the Proposer will be removed in the future, but for now it's a necessary component of the OP Stack. We'll be using the op-proposer implementation (opens new window) of the Proposer component found within the Optimism Monorepo (opens new window).

Software Dependencies

Dependency	Version	Version Check Command
git (opens new window)	^2	git --version
go (opens new window)	^1.21	go version
node (opens new window)	^20	node --version
pnpm (opens new window)	^8	pnpm --version
foundry (opens new window)	^0.2.0	forge --version
make (opens new window)	^4	make --version
jq (opens new window)	^1.6	jq --version
direnv (opens new window)	^2	direnv --version

Notes on Specific Dependencies

node

We recommend using the latest LTS version of Node.js (currently v20). nvm (opens new window) is a useful tool that can help you manage multiple versions of Node.js on your machine. You may experience unexpected errors on older versions of Node.js.

direnv

Parts of this tutorial use direnv (opens new window) as a way of loading environment variables from .envrc files into your shell. This means you won't have to manually export environment variables every time you want to use them. direnv only ever has access to files that you explicitly allow it to see.

After installing direnv (opens new window), you will need to make sure that direnv is hooked into your shell (opens new window). Make sure you've followed the guide on the direnv website (opens new window), then close your terminal and reopen it so that the changes take effect (or source your config file if you know how to do that).

Note

Make sure that you have correctly hooked direnv into your shell by modifying your shell configuration file (like ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc). If you haven't edited a config file thens you probably haven't configured direnv properly (and things might not work later).

Get Access to a Sepolia Node

We'll be deploying a OP Stack Rollup chain that uses a Layer 1 blockchain to host and order transaction data. The OP Stack Rollups were designed to use EVM Equivalent blockchains like Ethereum, OP Mainnet, or standard Ethereum testnets as their L1 chains.

This guide uses the Sepolia testnet as an L1 chain. We recommend that you also use Sepolia. You can also use use other EVM-compatible blockchains, but you may run into unexpected errors. If you want to use an alternative network, make sure to carefully review each command and replace any Sepolia-specific values with the values for your network.

Since we're deploying our OP Stack chain to Sepolia, you'll need to have access to a Sepolia node. You can either use a node provider like Alchemy (opens new window) (easier) or run your own Sepolia node (harder).

Build the Source Code

We're going to be spinning up our OP Stack chain directly from source code instead of using a container system like Docker (opens new window). Although this adds a few extra steps, it means you'll have an easier time modifying the behavior of the stack if you'd like to do so. If you want a summary of the various components we'll be using, take another look at the What We're Going to Deploy section above.

Note

We're using the home directory ~/ as the work directory for this tutorial for simplicity. You can use any directory you'd like but using the home directory will allow you to copy/paste the commands in this guide. If you choose to use a different directory, make sure you're using the correct directory in the commands throughout this tutorial.

Build the Optimism Monorepo

1. Clone the Optimism Monorepo

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism.git

2. Enter the Optimism Monorepo

cd optimism

3. Check your dependencies

Note

Don't skip this step! Make sure you have all of the required dependencies installed before continuing.

Run the following script and double check that you have all of the required versions installed. If you don't have the correct versions installed, you may run into unexpected errors.

./packages/contracts-bedrock/scripts/getting-started/versions.sh

4. Install dependencies

pnpm install

5. Build the various packages inside of the Optimism Monorepo

make op-node op-batcher op-proposer
pnpm build

Build op-geth

1. Clone op-geth

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/op-geth.git

2. Enter op-geth

cd op-geth

3. Build op-geth

make geth

Fill Out Environment Variables

You'll need to fill out a few environment variables before we can start deploying our chain.

1. Enter the Optimism Monorepo

cd ~/optimism

2. Duplicate the sample environment variable file

cp .envrc.example .envrc

3. Fill out the environment variable file

Open up the environment variable file and fill out the following variables:

Variable Name	Description
L1_RPC_URL	URL for your L1 node (a Sepolia node in this case).
L1_RPC_KIND	Kind of L1 RPC you're connecting to, used to inform optimal transactions receipts fetching. Valid options: alchemy, quicknode, infura, parity, nethermind, debug_geth, erigon, basic, any.

Generate Accounts

You'll need four accounts and their private keys when setting up the chain:

• The Admin account has the ability to upgrade contracts.
• The Batcher account publishes Sequencer transaction data to L1.
• The Proposer account publishes L2 transaction results (state roots) to L1.
• The Sequencer account signs blocks on the p2p network.

1. Enter the Optimism Monorepo

cd ~/optimism

2. Generate new accounts

Warning

You should not use the wallets.sh tool for production deployments. If you are deploying an OP Stack based chain into production, you should likely be using a combination of hardware security modules and hardware wallets.

./packages/contracts-bedrock/scripts/getting-started/wallets.sh

3. Check the output

Make sure that you see output that looks something like the following:

Copy the following into your .envrc file:
 
# Admin account
export GS_ADMIN_ADDRESS=0x9625B9aF7C42b4Ab7f2C437dbc4ee749d52E19FC
export GS_ADMIN_PRIVATE_KEY=0xbb93a75f64c57c6f464fd259ea37c2d4694110df57b2e293db8226a502b30a34
 
# Batcher account
export GS_BATCHER_ADDRESS=0xa1AEF4C07AB21E39c37F05466b872094edcf9cB1
export GS_BATCHER_PRIVATE_KEY=0xe4d9cd91a3e53853b7ea0dad275efdb5173666720b1100866fb2d89757ca9c5a
 
# Proposer account
export GS_PROPOSER_ADDRESS=0x40E805e252D0Ee3D587b68736544dEfB419F351b
export GS_PROPOSER_PRIVATE_KEY=0x2d1f265683ebe37d960c67df03a378f79a7859038c6d634a61e40776d561f8a2
 
# Sequencer account
export GS_SEQUENCER_ADDRESS=0xC06566E8Ec6cF81B4B26376880dB620d83d50Dfb
export GS_SEQUENCER_PRIVATE_KEY=0x2a0290473f3838dbd083a5e17783e3cc33c905539c0121f9c76614dda8a38dca

4. Save the accounts

Copy the output from the previous step and paste it into your .envrc file as directed.

5. Fund the accounts

You will need to send ETH to the Admin, Proposer, and Batcher accounts. The exact amount of ETH required depends on the L1 network being used. You do not need to send any ETH to the Sequencer account as it does not send transactions.

We recommend funding the accounts with the following amounts when using Sepolia:

• Admin — 0.2 ETH
• Proposer — 0.2 ETH
• Batcher — 0.1 ETH

Load Environment variables

Now that we've filled out the environment variable file, we need to load those variables into our terminal.

1. Enter the Optimism Monorepo

cd ~/optimism

2. Load the variables with direnv

Note

We're about to use direnv to load environment variables from the .envrc file into our terminal. Make sure that you've installed direnv (opens new window) and that you've properly hooked direnv into your shell.

Next you'll need to allow direnv to read this file and load the variables into your terminal using the following command.

direnv allow

Note

WARNING: direnv will unload itself whenever your .envrc file changes. You must rerun the following command every time you change the .envrc file.

3. Confirm that the variables were loaded

After running direnv allow you should see output that looks something like the following (the exact output will vary depending on the variables you've set, don't worry if it doesn't look exactly like this):

direnv: loading ~/optimism/.envrc                                                            
direnv: export +DEPLOYMENT_CONTEXT +ETHERSCAN_API_KEY +GS_ADMIN_ADDRESS +GS_ADMIN_PRIVATE_KEY +GS_BATCHER_ADDRESS +GS_BATCHER_PRIVATE_KEY +GS_PROPOSER_ADDRESS +GS_PROPOSER_PRIVATE_KEY +GS_SEQUENCER_ADDRESS +GS_SEQUENCER_PRIVATE_KEY +IMPL_SALT +L1_RPC_KIND +L1_RPC_URL +PRIVATE_KEY +TENDERLY_PROJECT +TENDERLY_USERNAME

If you don't see this output, you likely haven't properly configured direnv. Make sure you've configured direnv properly and run direnv allow again so that you see the desired output.

Configure your network

Once you've built both repositories, you'll need head back to the Optimism Monorepo to set up the configuration file for your chain. Currently, chain configuration lives inside of the contracts-bedrock (opens new window) package in the form of a JSON file.

1. Enter the Optimism Monorepo

cd ~/optimism

2. Move into the contracts-bedrock package

cd packages/contracts-bedrock

3. Generate the configuration file

Run the following script to generate the getting-started.json configuration file inside of the deploy-config directory.

./scripts/getting-started/config.sh

4. Review the configuration file (Optional)

If you'd like, you can review the configuration file that was just generated by opening up deploy-config/getting-started.json in your favorite text editor. We recommend keeping this file as-is for now so you don't run into any unexpected errors.

Deploy the L1 contracts

Once you've configured your network, it's time to deploy the L1 contracts necessary for the functionality of the chain.

1. Deploy the L1 contracts

forge script scripts/Deploy.s.sol:Deploy --private-key $GS_ADMIN_PRIVATE_KEY --broadcast --rpc-url $L1_RPC_URL

Note

If you see a nondescript error that includes EvmError: Revert and Script failed then you likely need to change the IMPL_SALT environment variable. This variable determines the addresses of various smart contracts that are deployed via CREATE2 (opens new window). If the same IMPL_SALT is used to deploy the same contracts twice, the second deployment will fail. You can generate a new IMPL_SALT by running direnv allow anywhere in the Optimism Monorepo.

2. Generate contract artifacts

forge script scripts/Deploy.s.sol:Deploy --sig 'sync()' --rpc-url $L1_RPC_URL

Generate the L2 config files

Now that we've set up the L1 smart contracts we can automatically generate several configuration files that are used within the Consensus Client and the Execution Client.

We need to generate three important files:

1. genesis.json includes the genesis state of the chain for the Execution Client.
2. rollup.json includes configuration information for the Consensus Client.
3. jwt.txt is a JSON Web Token (opens new window) that allows the Consensus Client and the Execution Client to communicate securely (the same mechanism is used in Ethereum clients).

1. Navigate to the op-node package

cd ~/optimism/op-node

2. Create genesis files

Now we'll generate the genesis.json and rollup.json files within the op-node folder:

go run cmd/main.go genesis l2 \
    --deploy-config ../packages/contracts-bedrock/deploy-config/getting-started.json \
    --deployment-dir ../packages/contracts-bedrock/deployments/getting-started/ \
    --outfile.l2 genesis.json \
    --outfile.rollup rollup.json \
    --l1-rpc $L1_RPC_URL

3. Create an authentication key

Next you'll create a JSON Web Token (opens new window) that will be used to authenticate the Consensus Client and the Execution Client. This token is used to ensure that only the Consensus Client and the Execution Client can communicate with each other. You can generate a JWT with the following command:

openssl rand -hex 32 > jwt.txt

4. Copy genesis files into the op-geth directory

Finally, we'll need to copy the genesis.json file and jwt.txt file into op-geth so we can use it to initialize and run op-geth:

cp genesis.json ~/op-geth
cp jwt.txt ~/op-geth

Initialize op-geth

We're almost ready to run our chain! Now we just need to run a few commands to initialize op-geth. We're going to be running a Sequencer node, so we'll need to import the Sequencer private key that we generated earlier. This private key is what our Sequencer will use to sign new blocks.

1. Navigate to the op-geth directory

cd ~/op-geth

2. Create a data directory folder

mkdir datadir

3. Initialize op-geth

build/bin/geth init --datadir=datadir genesis.json

Start op-geth

Now we'll start op-geth, our Execution Client. Note that you won't start seeing any transactions until you start the Consensus Client in the next step.

1. Open up a new terminal

We'll need a terminal window to run op-geth in.

2. Navigate to the op-geth directory

cd ~/op-geth

3. Run op-geth

Tips

We're using --gcmode=archive to run op-geth here because this node will act as our Sequencer. It's useful to run the Sequencer in archive mode because the op-proposer requires access to the full state. Feel free to run other (non-Sequencer) nodes in full mode if you'd like to save disk space.

./build/bin/geth \
    --datadir ./datadir \
    --http \
    --http.corsdomain="*" \
    --http.vhosts="*" \
    --http.addr=0.0.0.0 \
    --http.api=web3,debug,eth,txpool,net,engine \
    --ws \
    --ws.addr=0.0.0.0 \
    --ws.port=8546 \
    --ws.origins="*" \
    --ws.api=debug,eth,txpool,net,engine \
    --syncmode=full \
    --gcmode=archive \
    --nodiscover \
    --maxpeers=0 \
    --networkid=42069 \
    --authrpc.vhosts="*" \
    --authrpc.addr=0.0.0.0 \
    --authrpc.port=8551 \
    --authrpc.jwtsecret=./jwt.txt \
    --rollup.disabletxpoolgossip=true

Start op-node

Once we've got op-geth running we'll need to run op-node. Like Ethereum, the OP Stack has a Consensus Client (op-node) and an Execution Client (op-geth). The Consensus Client "drives" the Execution Client over the Engine API.

1. Open up a new terminal

We'll need a terminal window to run the op-node in.

2. Navigate to the op-node directory

cd ~/optimism/op-node

3. Run op-node

./bin/op-node \
	--l2=http://localhost:8551 \
	--l2.jwt-secret=./jwt.txt \
	--sequencer.enabled \
	--sequencer.l1-confs=5 \
	--verifier.l1-confs=4 \
	--rollup.config=./rollup.json \
	--rpc.addr=0.0.0.0 \
	--rpc.port=8547 \
	--p2p.disable \
	--rpc.enable-admin \
	--p2p.sequencer.key=$GS_SEQUENCER_PRIVATE_KEY \
	--l1=$L1_RPC_URL \
	--l1.rpckind=$L1_RPC_KIND

Once you run this command, you should start seeing the op-node begin to sync L2 blocks from the L1 chain. Once the op-node has caught up to the tip of the L1 chain, it'll begin to send blocks to op-geth for execution. At that point, you'll start to see blocks being created inside of op-geth.

Tips

By default, your op-node will try to use a peer-to-peer to speed up the synchronization process. If you're using a chain ID that is also being used by others, like the default chain ID for this tutorial (42069), your op-node will receive blocks signed by other sequencers. These requests will fail and waste time and network resources. To avoid this, we start with peer-to-peer synchronization disabled (--p2p.disable).

Once you have multiple nodes, you may want to enable peer-to-peer synchronization. You can add the following options to the op-node command to enable peer-to-peer synchronization with specific nodes:

	--p2p.static=<nodes> \
	--p2p.listen.ip=0.0.0.0 \
	--p2p.listen.tcp=9003 \
	--p2p.listen.udp=9003 \

You can alternatively also remove the --p2p.static option but you may see failed requests from other chains using the same chain ID.

Start op-batcher

The op-batcher takes transactions from the Sequencer and publishes those transactions to L1. Once these Sequencer transactions are included in a finalized L1 block, they're officially part of the canonical chain. The op-batcher is critical!

It's best to give the Batcher account at least 1 Sepolia ETH to ensure that it can continue operating without running out of ETH for gas. Keep an eye on the balance of the Batcher account because it can expend ETH quickly if there are a lot of transactions to publish.

1. Open up a new terminal

We'll need a terminal window to run the op-batcher in.

2. Navigate to the op-batcher directory

cd ~/optimism/op-batcher

3. Run op-batcher

./bin/op-batcher \
    --l2-eth-rpc=http://localhost:8545 \
    --rollup-rpc=http://localhost:8547 \
    --poll-interval=1s \
    --sub-safety-margin=6 \
    --num-confirmations=1 \
    --safe-abort-nonce-too-low-count=3 \
    --resubmission-timeout=30s \
    --rpc.addr=0.0.0.0 \
    --rpc.port=8548 \
    --rpc.enable-admin \
    --max-channel-duration=1 \
    --l1-eth-rpc=$L1_RPC_URL \
    --private-key=$GS_BATCHER_PRIVATE_KEY

Tips

The --max-channel-duration=n setting tells the batcher to write all the data to L1 every n L1 blocks. When it is low, transactions are written to L1 frequently and other nodes can synchronize from L1 quickly. When it is high, transactions are written to L1 less frequently and the batcher spends less ETH. If you want to reduce costs, either set this value to 0 to disable it or increase it to a higher value.

Start op-proposer

Now start op-proposer, which proposes new state roots.

1. Open up a new terminal

We'll need a terminal window to run the op-proposer in.

2. Navigate to the op-proposer directory

cd ~/optimism/op-proposer

3. Run op-proposer

./bin/op-proposer \
    --poll-interval=12s \
    --rpc.port=8560 \
    --rollup-rpc=http://localhost:8547 \
    --l2oo-address=$(cat ../packages/contracts-bedrock/deployments/getting-started/L2OutputOracleProxy.json | jq -r .address) \
    --private-key=$GS_PROPOSER_PRIVATE_KEY \
    --l1-eth-rpc=$L1_RPC_URL

Connect Your Wallet to Your Chain

You now have a fully functioning OP Stack Rollup with a Sequencer node running on http://localhost:8545. You can connect your wallet to this chain the same way you'd connect your wallet to any other EVM chain. If you need an easy way to connect to your chain, just click here (opens new window).

Get ETH On Your Chain

Once you've connected your wallet, you'll probably notice that you don't have any ETH to pay for gas on your chain. The easiest way to deposit Sepolia ETH into your chain is to send funds directly to the L1StandardBridge contract.

1. Navigate to the contracts-bedrock directory

cd ~/optimism/packages/contracts-bedrock

2. Get the address of the L1StandardBridgeProxy contract

cat deployments/getting-started/L1StandardBridgeProxy.json | jq -r .address

3. Send some Sepolia ETH to the L1StandardBridgeProxy contract

Grab the L1 bridge proxy contract address and, using the wallet that you want to have ETH on your Rollup, send that address a small amount of ETH on Sepolia (0.1 or less is fine). This will trigger a deposit that will mint ETH into your wallet on L2. It may take up to 5 minutes for that ETH to appear in your wallet on L2.

See Your Rollup in Action

You can interact with your Rollup the same way you'd interact with any other EVM chain. Send some transactions, deploy some contracts, and see what happens!

Next Steps

• You can use this Rollup the same way you'd use any other test blockchain.
• You can modify the blockchain in various ways.
• If you run into any problems, please visit the Chain Operators Troubleshooting Guide for help.