Running a challenger in kubernetes
You can run a Chronicle Challenger Bot to help secure the price messages our validators emit. A Challenger searches for opPoked events for ScribeOptimistic contract. It Verifies poke schnorr signature and challenges it, if it's invalid.
Repos:​
Challenger Implementations:
Challenger helm chart:
Requirements​
- A Kubernetes cluster (Managed cluster like EKS, GKE, AKS, or something like K3s, K0s, kind, etc.)
- kubectl
- helm
- Foundry cast
- 5 minutes of your time
Create a new EOA/Wallet​
First, create an Ethereum key. Using Foundry's cast can be done like this:
cast wallet new -p .
Enter secret:
Created new encrypted keystore file: /path/to/dir/59b09efc-752f-48a3-a2e3-01e172936ef7
Address: 0x985CFfB504fCDcBe3676a0f5E7E9B52F27be3989
Prep the kubernetes secret​
Take note of the encryption password you used when creating the keystore, as it will be needed for this next step:
kubectl create secret generic my-eth-keys \
--from-file=ethKeyStore=/path/to/dir/59b09efc-752f-48a3-a2e3-01e172936ef7 \
--from-literal=ethFrom=0x985CFfB504fCDcBe3676a0f5E7E9B52F27be3989 \
--from-literal=ethPass=<PASSWORD>
You will now have a kuberenetes secret called my-eth-keys. this secret will have ethKeyStore, ethFrom and ethPass that will be referenced when installing the challenger helm chart.
Installing the Challenger​
The challenger has two different implemantations that can be run, in Go and Rust. Challengers all need a valid ethereum rpc node, and optionally a flashbots/mev protected rpc for submitting transactions to a private mempool.
You can view the default values to see what the helm chart expects.
Examples of minimal values needed can be viewed here
You will want to create a values file containg your challenger bot's config like this:
file: values.yaml​
# -- [REQUIRED] can be `go` ro `rs`, default `go`
implementation: rs
# -- [REQUIRED]: you need a valid ethereum rpc node
ethRpcUrl: "https://my-eth-rpc-node:8551"
# -- [OPTIONAL]: provide an MEV rpc endpoint for private txs
flashbotsRpcUrl: "https://rpc.flashbots.net/fast"
# -- Provide a list of oracle contract addresses to monitor.
# Chronicle_ETH_USD_3
- 0x46ef0071b1E2fF6B42d36e5A177EA43Ae5917f4E
# Chronicle_FOO_BAR_1
- 0x1234.......
# -- Reference the k8s secret/s containing your eoa keystore, and passphrase
ethConfig:
ethKeys:
existingSecret: "my-eth-keys"
key: "ethKeyStore"
ethPass:
existingSecret: "my-eth-keys"
key: "ethPass"
# -- OR you can supply only ETH private key:
# ethPrivateKey:
# existingSecret: "eth-private-key"
# key: "ethPrivateKey"
We can now install the challenger bot:
Add the chronicle helm chart repo:
helm repo add chronicle https://chronicleprotocol.github.io/charts/
update the help repos:
helm repo update
Finally, install the challenger:
helm install my-challenger -f path/to/values.yaml chronicle/challenger --version 0.1.0
Verify that the challenger is running without errors:
kubectl get pods
Then get the logs for the challenger pod:
kubectl logs rs-challenger-6645776c5-c4mpg
[2025-05-20T11:14:27Z INFO challenger] Using RPC URL: "http://my-eth:8554"
[2025-05-20T11:14:27Z DEBUG challenger::wallet] Using Keystore file from `"/keystore/keystore.json"` and password from file
[2025-05-20T11:14:27Z INFO challenger] Using 0x0833fc5f5944a307fa210535fbd355763b8cad47 for signing transactions.
[2025-05-20T11:14:27Z INFO challenger] Starting Prometheus metrics collector on port: 9090
[2025-05-20T11:14:27Z DEBUG scribe::event_processor] ScribeEventsProcessor[0x46ef0071b1e2ff6b42d36e5a177ea43ae5917f4e] Starting new contract handler
[2025-05-20T11:14:27Z INFO challenger] Starting events poller
[2025-05-20T11:14:27Z INFO scribe::events_poller] Poller: Starting polling events from RPC...
[2025-05-20T11:14:27Z INFO challenger] Starting metrics collector
[2025-05-20T11:14:28Z DEBUG scribe::event_processor] ScribeEventsProcessor[0x46ef0071b1e2ff6b42d36e5a177ea43ae5917f4e] Challenge period fetched: 600