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Deploying an ethrex L2

As outlined in the introduction, ethrex L2 offers a wide range of features to its users. The most common is a classic centralized L2 managed by an operator, which can be an individual or a DAO. ethrex L2 can also function as a Validium, which is similarly centralized and operator-managed, with the key difference that network data is not posted to L1 during settlement.

In addition to these classic functionalities, ethrex L2 provides a novel and continually evolving feature in the industry: ethrex L2 as a based rollup. Unlike the previous options, this is a permissionless and decentralized L2 sequencer—anyone can run a node and participate in the network.

In this section, we will cover how to deploy any of these options.

note

This section focuses solely on the step-by-step process for deploying ethrex L2 in any of its forms. For a deeper understanding of how each mode works under the hood, refer to the Fundamentals section. To learn more about the architecture of each mode, see the Architecture section.

Before proceeding, note that this guide assumes you have ethrex installed. If you haven't installed it yet, follow one of the methods in the Installation Guide. If you're looking to build from source, don't skip this section—we'll cover that method here, as it is independent of the deployment approach you choose later.

Building from source (skip if ethrex is already installed)

Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following installed on your system:

  • Rust and Cargo (install via rustup)
  • Solidity compiler v0.8.31 (refer to Solidity documentation)
  • SP1 Toolchain (if you plan to use SP1 proving, refer to SP1 documentation)
  • RISC0 Toolchain (if you plan to use RISC0 proving, refer to RISC0 documentation)
  • CUDA Toolkit 12.9 (if you plan to use GPU acceleration for SP1 or RISC0 proving)

  1. Clone the official ethrex repository:

    git clone https://github.com/lambdaclass/ethrex
cd ethrex

  2. Install the binary to your $PATH:

    # For dummy proving
COMPILE_CONTRACTS=true cargo install --locked --path cmd/ethrex --bin ethrex --features l2,l2-sql

# For SP1 CPU proving (very slow, not recommended)
COMPILE_CONTRACTS=true cargo install --locked --path cmd/ethrex --bin ethrex --features l2,l2-sql,sp1

# For RISC0 CPU proving (very slow, not recommended)
COMPILE_CONTRACTS=true cargo install --locked --path cmd/ethrex --bin ethrex --features l2,l2-sql,risc0

# For SP1 and RISC0 CPU proving (very slow, not recommended)
COMPILE_CONTRACTS=true cargo install --locked --path cmd/ethrex --bin ethrex --features l2,l2-sql,sp1,risc0

# For SP1 GPU proving
COMPILE_CONTRACTS=true cargo install --locked --path cmd/ethrex --bin ethrex --features l2,l2-sql,sp1,gpu

# For RISC0 GPU proving
COMPILE_CONTRACTS=true cargo install --locked --path cmd/ethrex --bin ethrex --features l2,l2-sql,risc0,gpu

# For SP1 and RISC0 GPU proving
COMPILE_CONTRACTS=true cargo install --locked --path cmd/ethrex --bin ethrex --features l2,l2-sql,sp1,risc0,gpu

    By default cargo install places the binary at ~/.cargo/bin/ethrex (make sure that directory is on your $PATH). Add --force to the commands above if you need to overwrite a previous installation.

warning

If you want your verifying keys generation to be reproducible, prepend PROVER_REPRODUCIBLE_BUILD=true to the above command:

PROVER_REPRODUCIBLE_BUILD=true COMPILE_CONTRACTS=true cargo install --locked --path cmd/ethrex --bin ethrex --features l2,l2-sql,sp1,risc0,gpu

important

Compiling with both sp1 and risc0 features only makes the binary capable of both. Settlement requires every proof you mark as required at deploy time (e.g., passing both --sp1 true and --risc0 true in ethrex l2 deploy will require both proofs).