GenLayer Validator Quick‑Start

Overview

Deploy a validator node for GenLayer in just a few commands, using Docker Compose.
These steps follow the official Validator Setup Guide.

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Requirements

Hardware

Check the official system requirements.

API Key

You need a Heurist AI key.
Obtain one for free via the GenVM configuration guide.

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Getting Started

1 · Clone the repository (click to copy)

git clone https://github.com/Sensei-Node/genlayer.git
cd genlayer

2 · Show available versions

./scripts/show-versions.sh

3 · Create & edit .env

cp default.env .env

Open .env and fill in:

Variable	Description
PASSWORD	For creating an account
HEURISTKEY	Heurist AI API key
TEST_VERSION	Latest version printed in step 2
ZKSYNC_URL	ZKZync rpc url
ZKSYNC_URL_WS	ZKSync rpc url websocket
GENVM_PRECOPMILE	If you want precompile genvm
VALIDATOR_ADDRESS	Validator address for backup key
BACKUP_ENCRYPTION_PASSPHRASE	Passphrase for backup key

4 · Start the validator

docker compose up -d

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Useful Links

• GenLayer website
• Validator Setup Guide
• Heurist AI

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Monitoring

The goal is that a local prometheus app, running in the same host as the Genlayer node, colects status data from it and sends it to a global prometheus server. Once it's there, data is exposed to the world through a dashboard. If you only want to keep you node status in your local network you can select the prometheus config file in the .env file. Simply point the PROM_CONFIG_FILE to prometheus/prometheus.local.yml

What info is collected?

• Your node address (supplied by the .env file)
• Node status. This includes:
  • global status
  • zksync status
  • zksync-websocket status
• Node timestamps. This includes:
  • zksync timestamp
  • zksync-websocket timestamp

Grafana Dashboards

You can access the Grafana dashboard on port 3000. It includes three time-series panels:

• Global Status
• zkSync Status
• zkSync-WebSocket Status