---
title: "consensus"
description: "The Base consensus node binary implementing the OP Stack consensus protocol via Kona."
source: https://basehub.org/binaries/consensus/
---
import { LinkCard } from '@astrojs/starlight/components';

`base-consensus` runs the Base consensus layer, implementing the OP Stack consensus protocol on top of the [Kona](https://github.com/op-rs/kona) derivation framework.

## Package

- **Crate name:** `base-consensus`
- **Source:** [`bin/consensus`](https://github.com/base/base/tree/main/bin/consensus)

## Architecture

The consensus binary:

1. **L1 derivation** — Connects to L1 Ethereum to read rollup data and derives L2 blocks from L1 batches using the derivation pipeline
2. **P2P networking** — Manages peer-to-peer networking for block gossip and state sync
3. **Engine API** — Communicates with the execution layer (base-reth-node) via the Engine API to deliver derived payloads
4. **Kona integration** — Uses `kona-node-service` for the core consensus loop and `kona-genesis` for chain configuration

## Key Dependencies

- `base-cli-utils` — CLI utilities (logging, metrics)
- `base-client-cli` — Client CLI extensions
- `kona-genesis` — Genesis configuration
- `kona-cli` — Consensus CLI framework
- `kona-node-service` — Node service orchestration

## Build

```bash
cargo build --bin base-consensus --release
```

## Usage

```bash
./target/release/base-consensus [OPTIONS]
```

The consensus node must be configured with:
- An L1 Ethereum RPC endpoint for reading rollup data
- An Engine API endpoint for communicating with the execution layer
- A P2P configuration for block gossip

## Source

<LinkCard title="View source on GitHub" href="https://github.com/base/base/tree/main/bin/consensus" />