Configuration Reference

CLI Options

The Base Reth Node inherits Reth’s comprehensive CLI. View all options:

./target/release/base-reth-node --help

Key option categories:

Network — Chain selection, bootnodes, P2P port
RPC — HTTP/WS endpoints, CORS, API namespaces
Database — Data directory, state pruning
Metrics — Prometheus endpoint
Engine API — JWT secret, engine API endpoint
Logging — Log level, log format

Environment Variables

Configuration can also be set via environment variables. The devnet uses etc/docker/devnet-env for its environment.

Build Profiles

The workspace defines several Cargo build profiles:

Profile	Use Case	Key Settings
`dev`	Development	`debug = "line-tables-only"`
`release`	Production	`opt-level = 3`, `lto = "thin"`, `codegen-units = 16`, `strip = "symbols"`, `panic = "unwind"`
`maxperf`	Published release artifacts	Inherits `release`, then `lto = "fat"`, `codegen-units = 1`
`release-symbols`	Production build you need to profile	Inherits `release`, then `debug = "line-tables-only"`, `strip = "none"`
`bench`	Callgrind-driven benchmarks	Inherits `release`, then `debug = true`, `strip = false`
`profiling`	Performance analysis	Inherits `release`, then `lto = false`, `debug = "line-tables-only"`, `strip = "none"`
`ci`	CI builds	Inherits `dev`, then `debug = false`, `incremental = false`

Two profiles share the production role, and which one you get depends on who is building. release is the default everywhere you build yourself: docker-bake.hcl declares PROFILE with a default of release, so a local --build and an ordinary Cargo build both land there. maxperf is reserved for what Base actually publishes. The release workflow compiles the native binary archives with it and passes PROFILE: maxperf when it bakes the image pushed to ghcr.io/base/node. It inherits everything from release and then trades build time for speed, using fat LTO across the whole graph and a single codegen unit. So a binary you build locally is not bit-identical to the published one, even at the same tag.

Two of these exist because release strips symbols. release-symbols restores them without changing any codegen setting, so a profiled binary matches what you ship. bench goes further and keeps full debug info, which iai-callgrind needs to find the function it measures; without symbols every counter reads zero.

Dependencies drop their debug info in dev builds through a [profile.dev.package."*"] override. Workspace crates keep theirs. This mostly targets the C and C++ build scripts behind rocksdb, mdbx, and jemalloc, which otherwise dominate the size of target.

basectl

The basectl utility provides configuration management for different network targets:

# Mainnet configuration
cargo run -p basectl --release -- -c mainnet

# Sepolia testnet
cargo run -p basectl --release -- -c sepolia

# Local devnet
cargo run -p basectl --release -- -c devnet