💻Baremetal

Authors: [man4ela | catapulta.eth]

System Requirements

CPU	OS	RAM	DISK
8+ cores CPU	Debian 12/Ubuntu 22.04	=> 16 GB RAM	1,5TB+ (SSD or NVMe)

Unichain Mainnet archive node has a size of 1,3TB on August 20th, 2025

Unichain

Unichain operates within Optimism Superchain ecosystem. It is powered by the OP Stack, in collaboration with Optimism, leveraging the scalability and security of Optimism's Layer 2 infrastructure.

In this guide, we are walking through the process of setting up a Unichain Mainnet archive node using Optimism's op-geth and op-node.

Before you start, make sure that you have your own synced Ethereum L1 RPC URL (e.g. Erigon) and L1 Consensus Layer Beacon endpoint with all historical blobs data (e.g. Lighthouse) ready. A beacon endpoint meeting this criteria is essential for syncing to start.

Pre-Requisites

sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo apt autoremove -y

sudo apt install -y git make wget aria2 gcc pkg-config libusb-1.0-0-dev libudev-dev jq gcc g++ curl libssl-dev screen apache2-utils build-essential pkg-configv

Setting up Firewall

Set explicit default UFW rules

sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing

Allow SSH

sudo ufw allow 22/tcp

Allow remote RPC connections with Mode Node

sudo ufw allow from ${REMOTE.HOST.IP} to any port 3545

Allow remote P2P connections with Mode Node

sudo ufw allow 9222
sudo ufw allow 30303

Not advised to allow all or unknown IP address to RPC port

Enable Firewall

sudo ufw enable

To check the status of UFW and see the current rules

sudo ufw status verbose

Install dependencies

Required Software Dependencies

Dependency	Version	Version Check Command
go	^1.23	go version
docker	^28	docker version

Install GO

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go

wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.23.9.linux-amd64.tar.gz

sudo tar -xzf go1.23.9.linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /usr/local/

rm -f go1.23.9.linux-amd64.tar.gz

#Setup Go language export paths:

sudo tee /etc/profile.d/golang.sh > /dev/null <<EOT
export GOROOT=/usr/local/go
export GOPATH=\$HOME/go
export PATH=\$PATH:\$GOROOT/bin:\$GOPATH/bin

EOT

#Load Go environment variables into the current shell session:

source /etc/profile.d/golang.sh

Install Docker

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings

sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Check if Go and all dependencies are installed

go version
docker version

Build the Rollup Node (op-node)

Create working directory

mkdir unichain && cd unichain

Install Op-node

docker pull us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-node:v1.13.5

CONTAINER_ID=$(docker create us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-node:v1.13.5)

docker cp $CONTAINER_ID:/usr/local/bin/op-node ./op-node

docker rm $CONTAINER_ID

chmod +x ./op-node

Build the Execution Engine (op-geth)

Build op-geth

git clone https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/op-geth.git

cd op-geth

git checkout v1.101511.1

make geth

Download genesis.json and create jwt.hex into database directory:

mkdir -p  /root/data/unichain/unichain-op-geth/ && cd /root/data/unichain/unichain-op-geth/

openssl rand -hex 32 | tr -d "\n" > /root/data/unichain/unichain-op-geth/jwt.hex

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Uniswap/unichain-node/refs/heads/main/chaincon

Create systemd service for op-node

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/unichain-op-node.service

Paste the following configs replacing {L1 RPC},{L1 BEACON RPC},{SERVER IP} with own values

Save by entering ctrl+X and Y+ENTER

[Unit]
Description=Unichain OP Node Service
After=network.target
StartLimitIntervalSec=60
StartLimitBurst=3

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
TimeoutSec=900
User=root
Nice=0
LimitNOFILE=200000
WorkingDirectory=/root/unichain/
Environment=OP_NODE_L2_ENGINE_AUTH=/root/data/unichain/unichain-op-geth/jwt.hex
Environment=OP_NODE_L2_ENGINE_RPC=http://0.0.0.0:8551
Environment=OP_NODE_NETWORK=unichain-mainnet
Environment=OP_NODE_LOG_LEVEL=info
Environment=OP_NODE_LOG_FORMAT=logfmt
Environment=OP_NODE_METRICS_ADDR=0.0.0.0
Environment=OP_NODE_METRICS_ENABLED=true
Environment=OP_NODE_METRICS_PORT=7007
Environment=OP_NODE_P2P_LISTEN_IP=0.0.0.0
Environment=OP_NODE_P2P_LISTEN_TCP_PORT=9222
Environment=OP_NODE_P2P_LISTEN_UDP_PORT=9222
Environment=OP_NODE_RPC_ADDR=0.0.0.0
Environment=OP_NODE_RPC_PORT=6545
Environment=OP_NODE_P2P_ADVERTISE_IP={SERVER IP}
Environment=OP_NODE_SNAPSHOT_LOG=/tmp/op-node-snapshot-log
Environment=OP_NODE_VERIFIER_L1_CONFS=4

ExecStart=/root/unichain/op-node \
                --network=unichain-mainnet \
                --l1={L1 RPC} \
                --l1.beacon={L1 BEACON RPC} \
                --l2=http://0.0.0.0:8551 \
                --l1.trustrpc=true \
                --syncmode=execution-layer
KillSignal=SIGTERM
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Create systemd service for op-geth

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/unichain-op-geth.service

Paste the following configs:

[Unit]
Description=Unichain OP GETH Service
After=network.target
StartLimitIntervalSec=60
StartLimitBurst=3

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
TimeoutSec=900
User=root
Nice=0
LimitNOFILE=200000

WorkingDirectory=/root/unichain/op-geth/
Environment=GETH_OP_NETWORK=unichain-mainnet
Environment=GETH_ROLLUP_SEQUENCERHTTP=https://mainnet-sequencer.unichain.org
Environment=GETH_LOG_FORMAT=logfmt
Environment=GETH_ROLLUP_DISABLETXPOOLGOSSIP=true
Environment=GETH_TXPOOL_NOLOCALS=true
Environment=GETH_GCMODE=archive
Environment=OP_NODE_L2_ENGINE_AUTH=/root/data/unichain/unichain-op-geth/jwt.hex

ExecStart=/root/unichain/op-geth/build/bin/geth \
        --datadir=/root/data/unichain/unichain-op-geth/ \
        --verbosity=3 \
        --op-network=unichain-mainnet \
        --state.scheme=hash \
        --http \
        --http.corsdomain="*" \
        --http.vhosts="*" \
        --http.addr=0.0.0.0 \
        --http.port=3545 \
        --http.api=eth,net,web3,debug,txpool,engine,admin,rpc \
        --authrpc.addr=0.0.0.0 \
        --authrpc.port=8551 \
        --authrpc.vhosts="*" \
        --authrpc.jwtsecret=/root/data/unichain/unichain-op-geth/jwt.hex \
        --ws \
        --ws.addr=0.0.0.0 \
        --ws.port=3546 \
        --ws.origins="*" \
        --ws.api=eth,net,web3,debug,txpool,engine,admin,rpc \
        --metrics \
        --metrics.addr=0.0.0.0 \
        --metrics.port=7900 \
        --syncmode=full \
        --gcmode=archive \
        --maxpeers=100 \
        --port=33303
KillSignal=SIGTERM

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Initialize the node:

/root/unichain/op-geth/build/bin/geth init --datadir=/root/data/unichain/unichain-op-geth --state.scheme hash /root/data/unichain/unichain-op-geth/genesis-l2.json

Launch Unichain

Start op-geth

It's usually simpler to begin with startingop-geth before you start op-node. You can start op-geth even if op-node isn't running yet, but op-geth won't get any blocks until op-node starts.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload #refresh systemd configuration when changes made

sudo systemctl enable unichain-op-geth.service #enable unichain-op-geth service at system startup

sudo systemctl start unichain-op-geth.service #start unichain-op-geth

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/unichain-op-geth.service #make changes in unichain-op-geth.service file

Start op-node

Once you've started op-geth, you can start op-node. op-node will connect to op-geth and begin synchronizing the Mode network. op-node will begin sending block payloads to op-geth when it derives enough blocks from Ethereum

sudo systemctl daemon-reload #refresh systemd configuration when changes made

sudo systemctl enable unichain-op-node.service #enable unichain-op-node service at system startup

sudo systemctl start unichain-op-node.service #start unichain-op-node

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/unichain-op-node.service #make changes in unichain-op-node.service file

Monitor the logs for errors

sudo journalctl -fu unichain-op-node.service #follow logs of unichain-op-node.service

sudo journalctl -fu unichain-op-geth.service #follow logs of unichain-op-geth.service

You are expected to get following log messages from op-node

Aug 15 13:05:58 Dawon op-node[3778198]: t=2025-08-15T13:05:58+0200 lvl=info msg="Optimistically queueing unsafe L2 execution payload" id=0x23309a24f044324a8af64eaaa823c04c9c8bc3e17826073adc62639aa7f03e8c:24507584
Aug 15 13:05:58 Dawon op-node[3778198]: t=2025-08-15T13:05:58+0200 lvl=info msg="Inserted new L2 unsafe block (synchronous)" hash=0x23309a24f044324a8af64eaaa823c04c9c8bc3e17826073adc62639aa7f03e8c number=24507584 newpayload_time=12.952ms fcu2_time=1.140ms total_time=14.093ms mgas=6.736009 mgasps=477.94030990442695
Aug 15 13:05:58 Dawon op-node[3778198]: t=2025-08-15T13:05:58+0200 lvl=info msg="Sync progress" reason="new chain head block" l2_finalized=0x7595a2fe9f3f2bb1ed9dc51ac704acff353f190b38ebf9ec3c5a1a3d037c6ba7:24465143 l2_safe=0x7595a2fe9f3f2bb1ed9dc51ac704acff353f190b38ebf9ec3c5a1a3d037c6ba7:24465143 l2_pending_safe=0x7595a2fe9f3f2bb1ed9dc51ac704acff353f190b38ebf9ec3c5a1a3d037c6ba7:24465143 l2_unsafe=0x23309a24f044324a8af64eaaa823c04c9c8bc3e17826073adc62639aa7f03e8c:24507584 l2_backup_unsafe=0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000:0 l2_time=1755255943
Aug 15 13:05:58 Dawon op-node[3778198]: t=2025-08-15T13:05:58+0200 lvl=info msg="successfully processed payload" ref=0x23309a24f044324a8af64eaaa823c04c9c8bc3e17826073adc62639aa7f03e8c:24507584 txs=12

The expected log messages from op-geth:

Aug 15 14:49:52 Dawon geth[3778023]: t=2025-08-15T14:49:52+0200 lvl=info msg="Imported new potential chain segment" number=24513817 hash=0x09a4bb509b2dec55d9d836f898c97e0231df024af5ebaf261ef6a309ced179d4 blocks=1 txs=9 mgas=1.306784 elapsed=9.150ms mgasps=142.81143064971036 snapdiffs="1.62 MiB" triedirty="0.00 B"
Aug 15 14:49:52 Dawon geth[3778023]: t=2025-08-15T14:49:52+0200 lvl=info msg="Chain head was updated" number=24513817 hash=0x09a4bb509b2dec55d9d836f898c97e0231df024af5ebaf261ef6a309ced179d4 root=0x1189a2de7dc35f1e11d7e9e95b5fd202d36406bd49fa2e685b965ec0e1aec12c elapsed=331.435µs
Aug 15 14:49:52 Dawon geth[3778023]: t=2025-08-15T14:49:52+0200 lvl=info msg="Imported new potential chain segment" number=24513818 hash=0x236968614141c40e8983b3513fdf00c3cc1c948fa98d778ea01e15836a47a7ea blocks=1 txs=9 mgas=1.1686 elapsed=6.441ms mgasps=181.41939954929248 snapdiffs="1.62 MiB" triedirty="0.00 B"

Run curl command in the terminal to check the status of your node

curl -H "Content-type: application/json" -X POST --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_syncing","params":[],"id":1}' http://localhost:3545

If it returns false then your node is fully synchronized with the network

Sync speed depends on your L1 node, as the majority of the chain is derived from data submitted to the L1.

You can check your syncing status using the optimism_syncStatus RPC on the op-node

command -v jq  &> /dev/null || { echo "jq is not installed" 1>&2 ; }
echo Latest synced block behind by: \
$((($( date +%s )-\
$( curl -s -d '{"id":0,"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"optimism_syncStatus"}' -H "Content-Type: application/json" http://localhost:6545 |
   jq -r .result.unsafe_l2.timestamp))/60)) minutes

^References

Set Up A Node | Unichain Docsdocs.unichain.org

GitHub - Uniswap/unichain-node: Everything required to run your own Unichain nodeGitHub

Optimism DocumentationOptimism Documentation