For Validators

BAM (Blockspace Assembly Market) extends the Jito-Solana client to interface with external schedulers via gRPC, receiving pre-sequenced transaction bundles and executing them in FIFO order with respect to account locks. This design maintains network security while enabling sophisticated transaction ordering strategies.

Access to BAM is fully permissionless, and any validator can join mainnet or testnet by following the instructions below.

Quick Start Guide

Step 1: Understanding the Architecture

BAM Architecture Overview

The BAM system operates within a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), providing secure transaction scheduling while maintaining validator sovereignty over block production.

Step 2: Download the Source Code

The BAM client is open source and available on GitHub:

• BAM Client Repository - Full source code, build instructions, and development documentation

Step 3: Choose Your Region

Connect to the BAM cluster closest to your validator:

Step 4: Configure Your Validator

Running the BAM validator client is similar to running Jito-Solana, but requires one mandatory configuration addition:

# Required BAM configuration flag
--bam-url <BAM_NODE_URL>                    # Connect to BAM scheduler

Testnet Example:

solana-validator \
  --identity /path/to/validator-keypair.json \
  --vote-account /path/to/vote-account-keypair.json \
  --ledger /path/to/ledger \
  --bam-url http://ny.testnet.bam.jito.wtf \
  --rpc-port 8899 \
  # ... your other testnet configuration

Mainnet Example:

solana-validator \
  --identity /path/to/validator-keypair.json \
  --vote-account /path/to/vote-account-keypair.json \
  --ledger /path/to/ledger \
  --bam-url http://ny.mainnet.bam.jito.wtf \
  --rpc-port 8899 \
  # ... your other mainnet configuration

Enabling Metrics Collection (Optional)

To enable metrics collection for your BAM validator, export the following environment variable:

Testnet:

export SOLANA_METRICS_CONFIG="host=http://bam-public-metrics.jito.wtf:8086,db=testnet-bam-validators,u=testnet-bam-validator,p=wambamdamn"

Mainnet:

export SOLANA_METRICS_CONFIG="host=http://bam-public-metrics.jito.wtf:8086,db=mainnet-bam-validators,u=mainnet-bam-validator,p=wambamdamn"

Step 5: Runtime Configuration (Optional)

You can update the BAM configuration during runtime using the Admin RPC without restarting your validator.

Enable or Update BAM URL

# Update BAM URL without restarting
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"setBamUrl","params":["http://ny.mainnet.bam.jito.wtf"]}' | \
socat - UNIX-CONNECT:admin.rpc

Disable BAM

# Disable BAM (returns to normal Agave mode)
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"setBamUrl","params":[null]}' | \
socat - UNIX-CONNECT:admin.rpc

Operational Modes

Your validator operates in one of these modes depending on your configuration:

🔒 Security & Audits

Current Audit Status:

• Ottersec - Validator code audit (View Report)
• Anza - Validator code review (completion mid-August 2025)
• Asymmetric Research - Node code audit (in progress)

Support

• Technical Questions: Discord Community
• BAM Technical Forum: BAM Forum