Validator Responsibilities

Validators are not just infrastructure operators. They are part of the replicated state machine and must preserve deterministic execution across the network.

Core Responsibilities

• run the supported software version and Python version
• keep the node online and healthy
• protect validator key material
• monitor block height, peer connectivity, and RPC health
• stay aligned with approved network configuration

Determinism Requirements

Validators must avoid:

• drifting to a different CPython minor version
• patching contract-runtime code independently
• running ad hoc forks of xian-abci or xian-contracting

Any of those can change bytecode metering or execution semantics and cause state divergence.

Operational Practice

• validate new runtime changes before rollout
• use localnet or smoke coverage for pre-upgrade checks
• keep snapshots and state handling disciplined
• expose only the ports that your deployment model actually requires