> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.celo.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Running a Public RPC Node

A public RPC node serves JSON-RPC requests to external clients. This page covers the settings specific to operating one; to get a node running first, see [Run a node with Docker](/infra-partners/operators/run-node).

## Serve transaction lookups by hash

A public RPC endpoint should return any transaction by its hash. op-reth exposes the standard `eth` namespace, so transactions are retrievable by hash within the node's retained history, and the [celo-l2-node-docker-compose](https://github.com/celo-org/celo-l2-node-docker-compose) setup needs no extra configuration for this. (On the legacy op-geth setup this instead requires `--history.transactions=0`, which the compose setup sets for you.)

## Forward transactions to the sequencer

op-reth forwards transactions submitted to your endpoint to the sequencer so they are executed, via the `--rollup.sequencer` flag. The sequencer endpoint is set for you by the compose setup (from `OP_RETH__SEQUENCER_URL`):

* Mainnet: `--rollup.sequencer=https://cel2-sequencer.celo.org`
* Celo Sepolia: `--rollup.sequencer=https://sequencer.celo-sepolia.celo-testnet.org`

If it is missing or wrong, transactions submitted to your node are accepted but never executed.

## Exposing the endpoint

op-reth serves JSON-RPC over HTTP on port `9993` and WebSocket on `9994` by default (configurable via `PORT__OP_RETH_HTTP` and `PORT__OP_RETH_WS` — see the [Configuration reference](/infra-partners/operators/configuration#ports)). The compose setup enables the `web3,debug,eth,txpool,net` namespaces on these endpoints.

When exposing this publicly, put a reverse proxy or load balancer with rate limiting in front of it, and be deliberate about which RPC namespaces you expose to untrusted clients.

## Earning rewards

If you want to earn protocol rewards for operating a public RPC endpoint, register it with the Community RPC program:

* [How it works](/contribute-to-celo/community-rpc-nodes/how-it-works)
* [Registering as an RPC node](/contribute-to-celo/community-rpc-nodes/registering-as-rpc-node)
* [Operating a Community RPC Node](/contribute-to-celo/community-rpc-nodes/community-rpc-node) (rewards and claiming)