FAQs

This will be a living document that we'll add to as questions come up. Join the discord!

Eligibility Criteria

  • What hardware changes or fees are required to run Jito-Solana?

Jito-Solana runs on your existing hardware and requires no separate agreement or arrangement with Jito. Just install the appropriate version and get started earning MEV rewards.

  • Are there any fees for running Jito-Solana?

The client is open-source and free to use. Jito Labs operates proprietary Block Engines for simulating and processing certain trades. The Block Engine charges a 5% fee on all MEV rewards so this amount is deducted from the amount available to validators and stakers.

However, these MEV rewards are 100% incremental to base staking and block rewards. Validators on Jito-Solana will be earning at least the same revenue as the default client plus upside from MEV rewards.

  • Can participants in the Solana Foundation Delegation Program run Jito-Solana?

Yes, the Solana Foundation is encouraging delegates to run Jito-Solana for additional MEV rewards.

  • What are the location requirements?

Geographic proximity to one of the Jito Block Engines is a consideration (sites). For Jito bundles to be added to blocks during leader slots, the Block Engine must be able to forward them within the appropriate slot. Optimal round-trip latency between the Block Engine and a validator is <50ms.

If you aren't in a location with low latency access, you can still run Jito-Solana. We are seeing validators with <100ms latency (round trip) operate well given current network and bundle throughput. Note, this latency only impacts Jito bundle inclusion. Votes and non-leader slots are unaffected. Even during leader slots, blocks will still be produced as normal given the relayer's architecture.

We are rapidly expanding our geographic footprint to ensure convenient access for the vast majority of validators. If you don't have a good access point, please communicate your preferences to Brian in Jito's Discord. This enables the team to prioritize new location additions.

  • Should RPC servers or other non-voting validators run Jito-Solana?

RPC servers can run Jito-Solana if they want to use Jito-specific calls like SimulateBundle. However, only nodes on the Solana leader schedule can connect to the Jito Block Engine.

Setup Process

  • Can Jito-Solana download snapshots from regular Solana nodes?

Yes. Jito hosts snapshots for non-Jito and Jito nodes. Jito downloads snapshots from non-Jito nodes into Jito-Solana. The entire process works the same as normal.

  • Are Solana tools like the CLI and other operational tools compatible with Jito-Solana?

You should be able to compile all the same binaries as normal Solana and they are all cross compatible with each other. The normal Solana CLI tools will work for Jito-Solana and vice-versa.

  • I just installed Jito-Solana and am getting the error below. What is the problem?

error: Found argument '--tip-payment-program-pubkey' which wasn't expected, or isn't valid in this context

You may still be running the default Solana Labs client. The Cargo install doesn't swap out the binary locations so you need to change that in your systemd file.

Version Release Schedule

Jito follows the version release schedule of Solana Labs. Jito versions are typically available within a week or two of Solana release depending on the urgency from Solana Labs and internal priorities. Mainnet releases will always be available in advance of any upgrade deadlines from the Solana Foundation delegation program.

Metrics

The Jito validator client tracks these Jito-specific metrics:

block_engine_stage-stats
relayer_stage-stats
auth_tokens_update_loop-*
bundle_stage-stats

Currently those must be manually reviewed as logs. We are working with Solana to display these on their validator Grafana dashboard (for those who report metrics to Solana). If Solana cannot display, Jito will make a dashboard public for users to monitor.

In the meantime, as long as the standard Solana validator metrics look good, validators should be confident things are working. We monitor Jito-specific performance for all validators and check-in with users if anything became abnormal. That is very rare and almost always caused by a configuration issue upon startup.

Relayer

For questions about the relayer, see it's dedicated section

MEV Rewards

For questions about MEV reward distribution and monitoring, see our MEV rewards FAQs

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