remove-operators

name	remove-operators
description	Remove operators from an existing Charon distributed validator cluster
user-invokable	true

Remove Operators

Warning: This is an alpha feature and is not yet recommended for production use.

Remove one or more operators from a Charon cluster. Whether removed operators need to participate depends on fault tolerance.

Prerequisites

Read scripts/edit/remove-operators/README.md for full details if needed.

Common prerequisites:

1. .env file exists with NETWORK and VC variables set
2. .charon directory with cluster-lock.json and validator_keys
3. Docker is running
4. jq installed

Fault Tolerance Context

Explain to the user:

• Fault tolerance f = operators - threshold
• If removing <= f operators: removed operators do NOT need to participate (they just stop their nodes)
• If removing > f operators: removed operators MUST also participate using removed-operator.sh

Role Selection

Ask the user: "Are you a remaining operator (staying in the cluster) or a removed operator (leaving the cluster)?"

If Remaining Operator

Script: scripts/edit/remove-operators/remaining-operator.sh

Additional prerequisites:

• .charon/validator_keys/ must exist
• The script will automatically stop the VC container for ASDB export

Arguments to gather:

• --operator-enrs-to-remove: Comma-separated ENRs of operators being removed
• --participating-operator-enrs (only if removal exceeds fault tolerance): Comma-separated ENRs of ALL participating operators
• --new-threshold (optional): Override the default threshold (defaults to ceil(n * 2/3))
• Whether to use --dry-run first

Run:

./scripts/edit/remove-operators/remaining-operator.sh \
    --operator-enrs-to-remove "enr:-...,enr:-..." \
    [--participating-operator-enrs "enr:-...,enr:-..."] \
    [--new-threshold N] \
    [--dry-run]

Set WORK_DIR env var to override the repository root directory if running from a custom location.

After completion, the script will print commands to start containers manually. Remind the user to wait ~2 epochs before starting containers.

If Removed Operator

Script: scripts/edit/remove-operators/removed-operator.sh

This is only needed when the removal exceeds fault tolerance. If within fault tolerance, the removed operator simply stops their node.

Additional prerequisites:

• .charon/charon-enr-private-key must exist
• .charon/validator_keys/ must exist

Arguments to gather:

• --operator-enrs-to-remove: Comma-separated ENRs of operators being removed
• --participating-operator-enrs: Comma-separated ENRs of ALL participating operators (must include your own ENR)
• --new-threshold (optional): Override the default threshold
• Whether to use --dry-run first

Run:

./scripts/edit/remove-operators/removed-operator.sh \
    --operator-enrs-to-remove "enr:-...,enr:-..." \
    --participating-operator-enrs "enr:-...,enr:-..." \
    [--new-threshold N] \
    [--dry-run]

Set WORK_DIR env var to override the repository root directory if running from a custom location.

The script will participate in the ceremony and then stop your charon and VC containers. No ASDB operations are needed since you're leaving the cluster.