🧩Boundless Prover Guide - The Most Detailed One

The Boundless Prover Node is a computational proving system that participates in the Boundless decentralized proving market. Provers stake USDC bid on computational tasks generate zero-knowledge proofs using GPU acceleration and earn rewards for successful proof generation.

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First understand how provers work - to know what you are doing : don't skip any line

• Requester posts ZKP request on Boundless (say 10M cycle proof in $5-$10 and 30 min is deadline)

• All provers (say Prover 1-5) see request simultaneously

• Prover 1 locks order at $5 he has to fulfill in 10 mins (LockAndFulfill order)

• Provers 2-5 skip locked order awaiting higher price

  • If Prover 1 attempts proof Success Submits in 10 mins, gets paid, no slashing
  • If Failure: Lock expires, Prover 1 slashed

• Post-lock expiry: Order becomes FulfillAfterLockExpire; secondary provers (2-5) attempt proof in remaining 20 mins.

• First secondary prover to submit wins payment; others earn nothing, no slashing.

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• In all this chaos Boundless has mentioned rewards for primary provers - but i did not come across a single post which says Secondary Provers will be rewarded too - maybe in future they may announce
• Almost all one click nodes (mintair, easy nodes etc) are not able to lock orders even if they do are max secondary orders

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Requirements

Hardware

• CPU - 16 threads, reasonable single core boost performance (>3Ghz)
• Memory - 32 GB
• Disk - 100 GB NVME/SSD
• GPU
  • Minimum: one 8GB vRAM GPU
  • Recommended to be competetive: 10x GPU with min 8GB vRAM
  • Recomended GPU models are 4090, 5090 and L4

Software

• Supported: Ubuntu 20.04/22.04
• Not supports : Ubuntu 24.04

Funds

• Have minimum: $2-5 ETH on Base
• Have minimum: $5 USDC on Base
  • note: use burner wallet

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Base Mainnet RPC From : BlockPI , Alchemy

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Docker Desktop & Docker compose

• For Local Pc Users: DockerDesktop

• Install Docker & Docker Compose : Skip If You Don't have Cloud GPU

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg

echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y docker-ce && sudo systemctl enable --now docker

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER && newgrp docker

sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/docker/compose/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name)/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

• Verify installation

docker --version && docker-compose --version

Install Required Dependecies : For All From Here - let docker run in background

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo apt install curl iptables build-essential git wget lz4 jq make gcc postgresql-client nano automake autoconf tmux htop nvme-cli libgbm1 pkg-config libssl-dev tar clang bsdmainutils ncdu unzip libleveldb-dev libclang-dev ninja-build -y

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clone Boundless Repo :

git clone https://github.com/boundless-xyz/boundless

cd boundless && git checkout v0.13.0 && git submodule update --init

install few more dependecies & Tools

Boundless packages, GPU drivers for provers, Docker with NVIDIA support, Rust, CUDA Toolkit

setup Boundless dependencies :

sudo ./scripts/setup.sh

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Install Rustup, Cargo, rzup, Rust, cargorisczero : By One click

sudo -v

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/morsyxbt/rzup-setup/main/setup.sh | bash

Install :

Bento-cli

cargo install --locked --git https://github.com/risc0/risc0 bento-client --branch release-2.3 --bin bento_cli

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

source ~/.bashrc

Boundless CLI :

cargo install --locked boundless-cli 

export PATH=$PATH:/root/.cargo/bin

source ~/.bashrc

check version :

bento_cli --version 
boundless -h

just

cargo install just
just --version

setup Environment Variables - Wallet & API

cd boundless

sudo curl -o $HOME/boundless/.env https://raw.githubusercontent.com/morsyxbt/boundless-env/main/.env

sudo nano $HOME/boundless/.env

Replace Your_ENV_Wallet_PVT_Key_Without_0x with your wallet Pvt key without 0x

Replace Your_RPC_URL with your Base Mainnet RPC Endpoint don't remove " "

Inject .env

source .env

• To apply changes You will need to run this command every time you start the prover

configuring Your Prover & Broker

For single GPU Only :

sudo nano compose.yml

IMP Chnages Needed

• Scroll down to : x-exec-agent-common: &exec-agent-common section

  • mem_limit: : write how much ram you can allocate - tip allocate half of what your pc has

  • cpus: : write number of CPU cores you can allocate - tip allocate 50-70% of what you have

• Scroll down to : gpu_prove_agent0:

  • change mem_limit: & cpus: same as above

configure Segment Size

• change Segment Size in x-exec-agent-common: &exec-agent-common according to your VRAM - check below table :

  VRAM : Segment Size MAX

  8GB   :  19
  
  16GB  :  20
  
  20GB  :  21
  
  40GB  :  22
  

  • ctrl + o > Y > enter

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Now Add Segment Size in the .env.broker

• First copy .env.broker-template into .env.broker

sudo cp .env.broker-template .env.broker

• Open and set Segment Size same as above step :

sudo nano .env.broker

• Inject into broker make changes:

source .env.broker

note everytime you run prover/broker you will need to inject

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Stake In Marketplace:

deposit some $USDC on Base main net in Boundless marketplcae for staking and for locking orders - tip do around $5

• Inject .env first:

source .env

• Add boundless CLI into Path

source ~/.bashrc

• Deposit Usdc

boundless account deposit-stake STAKE_AMOUNT

remove STAKE_AMOUNT from above command and enter how much USDC you want to stake note: just write : 2 , 3 or 5 don't put any $ sign

• Verify Stake

boundless account stake-balance

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Run Bento and Benchmarking Bento

sudo just bento

• Your Docker should be running in background

• may take upto 10 minutes

• check logs

just bento logs

Benchmark Bento

Benchmark our bento to know about peak_prove_khz , which we will use in the broker configuration: This corresponds to the maximum number of cycles per second (in kHz) that your proving backend can operate

• Inject .env first:

source .env

• Benchmark
• visit : Order_Id
• Grab a fullfilled order id - but conditions :

order id should have : 10M-50M cycles order id should be : atleast 30minutes-1.5hours old if there's none availabe then you can grab : 100M cycles - check ss

Now run :

boundless proving benchmark --request-ids {Order_ID}

Replace {Order_ID) from the actual previous order id you got above

• You will see peak_prove_khz = xxx , the prover is estimated to handle ~xxx,xxx cycles per second (~xxx khz)

  write the number xxx or whatever you get somewhere repeat this benchmark test atleast 3 times with different order id's to get the average number

• peak_prove_khz will look like this :

This was a test to get our average peak prove khz which we will use in Broker Configuration

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Now Broker Configuration :

• Download my updated Broker.toml file : But configure it manually according to your specs and resources

  all the configurations from here will decide whether you can lock orders and be competitive or not so read every detail properly from here - i have added tips accordingly, you can use them or modify them if you want

• First Install Broker.toml

cd boundless
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/morsyxbt/boundless-env/main/broker.toml -O broker.toml

2. Open Broker.toml

sudo nano broker.toml

Now make changes according to your specs and resources :

1. mcycle_price :

• defines the price you're bidding per million cycles (mcycle) when proving. This value helps determine the minimum price you're willing to accept for a job

• Tip : Lowering this value allows your broker to bid more competitively

• You can set it to something like "0.000000000000001" or even lower

2. mcycle_price_stake_token :

• specifies the token (e.g., usdc) used to calculate pricing for orders paid in staking tokens

• Tip : Adjust this up or down depending on your strategy

• Example : You can keep it like: 0.000001

3. priority_requestor_addresses :

• A list of requestor addresses that bypass the mcycle and input size limits
• I have already included four official priority_requestor_addresses in this config

4. peak_prove_khz :

• Represents your GPU's maximum proving speed measured in thousands of cycles per second (kHz)

• How to set :

You alraedy tested it and got your peak_prove_khz average above : Benchmarking Bento

• Now edit your peak_prove_khz in broker.toml as per the average you got above

5. max_mcycle_limit :

• Controls the maximum maximum job size (in mcycles) you’ll accept (1 mcycle= 1 million cycles) this helps avoid assigning jobs too large for your hardware

• Tip:

  • If you're on a single GPU, keep it around 1000–2000 *If you have multiple GPUs, set it higher, like 4000–500

change this according to your system - prover with limited resources should reduce this number otherwise you won't complete big orders

6. min_deadline :

• Minimum number of blocks before a job expires, below which the broker won’t attempt to lock the job

• Example : min_deadline = 300 means your broker will only accept jobs that expire in more than 5 minutes

• Tip : If your setup is fast and reliable, consider lowering this to 200 to grab more jobs

7. max_concurrent_proofs :

• Controls how many jobs your broker can prove simultaneously

• If the number of running proofs reaches this cap the broker will pause before locking new ones

• Tip : On single-GPU systems keep this at 2 or less

• For multi-GPU setups, you can raise it

8. lockin_priority_gas :

• Minimum gas fee (in wei) used for priority lock-in transactions. Higher values help you outbid others and get your lock-in confirmed faster

• Example : lockin_priority_gas = 3000000000000 means 3000 Gwei (≈ 0.000003 ETH)

• Tip : Keep it between 2000–4000 Gwei for better on-chain competition

• Here's a web to calculate it : GWEI_Calculator

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Stop bento :

stop bento to run the broker & applying config changes :

sudo just bento down

Install foundry before running the broker :

This prevents from an error which comes at building broker

sudo curl -L https://foundry.paradigm.xyz | bash -s -- --skip-confirm

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.foundry/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

foundryup
forge --version

forge install Arachnid/solidity-stringutils

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Now start Broker :

• Inject .env

source .env

• Run Prover

sudo just broker

Running a broker with just can also start the Bento through docker compose

3. Check logs

If Local Pc then check your Docker Desktop that all 11 containers are running

Check the Broker containers Logs

• If cloud GPU :

docker ps

• Broker Logs

just broker logs

• Boom congrats : you completed Boundless Prover setup

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some important points and solutions of errors :

3. understand to identify primary/secondary transactions :

• Fullfilled Transaction Primary Prover : 0x8e3b6945

• Lock Order Successfully : 0xb4206dd2

• Complete Order As Secondry Prover : 0x2f13a90a

everything about primary/secondary provers is discussed in the beginning of guide make sure to read that also :

and reminding again : Boundless has mentioned rewards for primary provers - but i did not come across a single post which says Secondary Provers will be rewarded too - they may or may not announce in future

• Explorer: https://basescan.org/address/

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2. solution of : error the following required arguments were not provided --rpc-url <RPC_URL>

This error pops due to env file not etting injected into broker/bento or docker compose file sets to use env in place of env.base

Follow the commands :

• Down broker/bento :

sudo just bento down

sudo just broker down

move .env.base into .env

mv .env.base .env

Reload bash

source .env

start bento/broker

sudo just bento 

sudo just broker 

• This should fix the error

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3. If your local pc shuts down/next day start :

• Move to boundless Directory :

cd boundless

• start your docker desktop

• Inject .env and .env.broker into broker :

source .env.broker

source .env

Start broker :

sudo just broker

• check your containers and logs
• done

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Made with ❤️ by Morsyxbt

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A note in the end :

This took a lot of hardwork analysing docs not only that - i had to checek almost 10+ other guides to see what's going wrong why aren't people being able to lock primary orders max guides were not even understandable for non-coding background people

shoutout to all those people that had put in the work even before me - they were a huge help with some time i will be adding more accurate configurations don't worry boundless is truly one of the tough nodes out there - you are competing against devs who have maybe 5-10x of resources so be glad if you will be able to lock orders against them you will learn a lot in this journey peace out