Aztec Operator Reality Check: Hardware Profiles, Role Topology, and Sequencer Participation Rules
Overview
Aztec’s operator documentation is increasingly explicit about who can participate and what they must run. The clearest gate is sequencer participation: to operate as a sequencer, you must stake a minimum of 200,000 AZTEC before proceeding with setup and registration. (docs.aztec.network) This is not “optional collateral”—it’s the entry requirement that defines committee participation and eligibility. On the infrastructure side, the docs establish a baseline hardware floor starting with the full node. The “Running a Full Node” guide publishes minimum hardware requirements of 8 cores / 16 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe SSD, and 25 Mbps connectivity. (docs.aztec.network) That full node is the foundation layer you build on before taking on heavier roles like sequencer operations or proving.
Proving is where the architecture becomes non-trivial. Aztec describes the prover as a three-component system: a prover node that polls L1 and submits final rollup proofs, a prover broker that manages the job queue, and one or more prover agents that execute proof-generation jobs statelessly. (docs.aztec.network) The minimum spec for each prover agent is already “data-center grade”: 32 core / 64 vCPU, 128 GB RAM, and storage overhead—even before you scale horizontally. (docs.aztec.network) The guide also makes the operational dependency concrete: agents must reach the broker over the network, with broker port 8080 accessible, and scaling is controlled directly through PROVER_AGENT_COUNT (with practical sizing examples tied to core/RAM capacity). (docs.aztec.network)
Context
Finally, syncing strategy is positioned as an ops lever, not an afterthought. Aztec’s snapshot guide explains that snapshot URLs can be auto-configured when you run with --network [NETWORK_NAME], and frames snapshot sync as the practical path to faster synchronization compared to pure L1 sync.
Sources
- Aztec docs: Running a Sequencer
- Aztec docs: Running a Full Node minimum hardware
- Aztec docs: Running a Prover architecture, port 8080, PROVER_AGENT_COUNT, agent requirements
- Aztec docs: Using and uploading snapshots sync modes, auto snapshot config
- Sequencer participation is gated: operating as a sequencer requires 200,000 AZTEC minimum stake before registration. (docs.aztec.network)
- Full node baseline is published: 8c/16 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe, 25 Mbps is the documented minimum. (docs.aztec.network)
- Proving is a 3-part topology: prover node + broker + agents, with agents at 32c/64 vCPU + 128 GB RAM minimum and scaling via PROVER_AGENT_COUNT. (docs.aztec.network)
- Snapshot-first ops are encouraged: snapshot URLs can be auto-configured via --network, and snapshot sync is the fast path for node readiness. (docs.aztec.network)