Operating on Tangle
Operators run Blueprint services and earn fees for reliable execution. This section covers everything you need to deploy and maintain operator infrastructure.
Quick Start
- Set up the Blueprint Manager: Manager Setup
- Configure your keystore: Key Management
- Register on-chain: Join as Operator
- Monitor your services: Quality of Service
What Operators Do
- Run the Blueprint Manager to execute service instances.
- Submit heartbeats to prove liveness.
- Respond to job calls and submit results on-chain.
- Maintain uptime to avoid QoS degradation and potential slashing.
Choosing Isolation
Operators select how to isolate workloads:
| Method | Security | Performance | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native (no sandbox) | Low | Highest | Trusted blueprints only |
| Cloud-hypervisor VM | High | Good | Production default |
| Kata Containers | High | Good | Kubernetes deployments |
See Requirements for setup details.
Earning and Risks
Operators earn from:
- Service fees: Paid by customers, split with developers and stakers.
- Optional TNT incentives: When governance funds incentive pools.
Operators risk slashing for:
- Missing heartbeats beyond the grace period.
- Submitting invalid or late results.
- Violating isolation guarantees.
Sandbox Runtime Hosting (Early Access)
Operators can also host the sandbox runtime that powers autonomous work. It is designed with capacity-aware scheduling, optional host pooling and autoscaling, and Prometheus-style metrics for fleet visibility.
Learn more in Runtime Architecture.
Next Steps
- Operator Runbook: Daily operations checklist.
- Pricing: How to set competitive rates.
- Benchmarking: Test blueprint performance.