Start Operator

Setup Checklist

Before starting the Operator Service, confirm that everything is in place:

I've created my Vault I've fully synced my execution client I've fully synced my consensus client I've configured MEV-Boost I've installed the Operator Service I've generated validator keys and uploaded them into my validator client I've set the fee recipient address in my validator client I've set up the Validators Manager

Start Operator Service

Run the Operator Service using the start command with your Vault address and node endpoints. Choose the format matching your installation method:

Binary

./operator start \
--vault= \
--consensus-endpoints= \
--execution-endpoints=

Docker

For Docker, you first need to mount the folder containing validator keystores and include the --data-dir flag alongside the start command:

docker run --restart on-failure:10 \
-u $(id -u):$(id -g) \
-v ~/.stakewise/:/data \
europe-west4-docker.pkg.dev/stakewiselabs/public/v3-operator:v4.2.3 \
src/main.py start \
--vault= \
--data-dir=/data \
--consensus-endpoints= \
--execution-endpoints=

Source Files

PYTHONPATH=. poetry run python src/main.py start \
--vault= \
--consensus-endpoints= \
--execution-endpoints=

Optional Flags

Flag	Description
--data-dir	Path where keystores and config data are placed. Required for Docker (--data-dir=/data). Default: ~/.stakewise
--database-dir	Directory where the database is created or read from. Must already exist; map it to a host directory or Docker volume. Default: the Vault's data directory
--graph-endpoint	API endpoint for the StakeWise subgraph node
--execution-jwt-secret	JWT secret used to authenticate against the execution node
--keystores-dir	Directory with validator keys in EIP-2335 ↗ format. Must contain a single password.txt or per-keystore password files (e.g., keystore1.json, keystore1.txt)
--keystores-password-file	Path to the password file for decrypting keystores
--wallet-file	Path to the wallet file. Default: file generated by create-wallet
--wallet-password-file	Path to the wallet password file. Default: file generated by create-wallet
--harvest-vault	Keeps your Vault synced by calling updateState every 12 hours, reducing gas costs for users. The Vault state is also updated whenever users interact with it (deposits, withdrawals, etc.)
--claim-fee-splitter	Periodically claims fees to shareholder addresses. See Fee Claiming
--run-nodes	Starts and manages local Reth (execution), Lighthouse (consensus), and validator nodes alongside the Operator Service. Requires node-install first. See Automated Node Setup
--validator-type	Register 0x01 instead of default 0x02 validators
--min-deposit-amount-gwei	Minimum Vault balance to trigger registration or top-up. Minimum allowed: 1 ETH/GNO. Default: 10 ETH/GNO
--vault-min-balance-gwei	ETH to keep in the Vault and not stake. Default: 0
--max-validator-balance-gwei	Maximum validator balance for top-ups. Default: 300 ETH (Ethereum), 1800 GNO (Gnosis). The protocol ceiling is higher (2048 ETH), but the service stops topping up at this value
--min-deposit-delay	Minimum delay between registration or top-up transactions. Default: 3600 seconds (1 hour)
--max-withdrawal-request-fee-gwei	Maximum fee per withdrawal request. Default: 1000 Gwei
--disable-withdrawals	Disables submitting partial and full withdrawals. This reduces gas costs but increases withdrawal times for users. Oracles will instead handle exits using signatures from registration
--max-fee-per-gas-gwei	Maximum gas fee per transaction. Default: 10 Gwei (Ethereum), 2 Gwei (Gnosis)
--concurrency	Number of processes in a pool. For optimal performance, set to half your CPU cores (e.g., --concurrency=4 for 8-core systems) to prevent overloading during keystore operations
--disable-validators-registration	Disables registering new validators
--disable-validators-funding	Disables topping up existing 0x02 validators
-v, --verbose	Enable debug mode, prints full output on error
--log-level	Set logging level: ERROR, WARNING, INFO, DEBUG. Default: INFO
--log-format	Log record format: plain or json. Default: plain

Every flag above can also be supplied as an environment variable — --max-fee-per-gas-gwei as MAX_FEE_PER_GAS_GWEI, and so on.

Advanced Environment Variables

Beyond the flags above, the Operator Service reads a set of advanced environment variables for fine tuning — IPFS gateways, event-fetching batch sizes, Sentry reporting, and more. They have no CLI equivalent. Run ./operator env-vars for the current list, or ./operator env-vars --format=markdown to get it as a table.