Cost Estimation Tools

This guide covers the scripts for estimating proving costs and testing execution: multi and cost-estimator.

Setup

Before running these scripts, set up a .env file in the project root:

L1_RPC=<YOUR_L1_RPC_ENDPOINT>
L2_RPC=<YOUR_L2_RPC_ENDPOINT>
L2_NODE_RPC=<YOUR_L2_NODE_RPC_ENDPOINT>

Multi Script

The multi script executes the OP Succinct range proof program for a block range. Use it to test proof generation or generate actual proofs.

Usage

# Execute without proving (generates execution report)
cargo run --bin multi -- --start 1000 --end 1020

# Generate compressed proofs
cargo run --bin multi -- --start 1000 --end 1020 --prove

Output

• Execution mode: Prints execution stats and saves to execution-reports/multi/{chain_id}/{start}-{end}.csv
• Prove mode: Saves proof to data/{chain_id}/proofs/{start}-{end}.bin

Cost Estimator

The cost-estimator estimates proving costs without generating proofs. It splits large ranges into batches and runs them in parallel.

Usage

cargo run --bin cost-estimator -- \
    --start 2000000 \
    --end 2001800 \
    --batch-size 300

For best estimation, use a range bigger than the batcher interval with batch size equal to the range.

Output

Execution report saved to execution-reports/{chain_id}/{start}-{end}-report.csv with metrics:

• Total instruction count
• Oracle verification / derivation / block execution costs
• SP1 gas usage
• Transaction counts and EVM gas
• Precompile cycles (BN pair, add, mul, KZG eval, etc.)

Witness Caching

Both scripts support witness caching to skip the time-consuming witness generation step on subsequent runs.

Why Cache?

The proving pipeline has two stages:

host.run() → WitnessData → get_sp1_stdin() → SP1Stdin
   [hours]                    [milliseconds]

Witness generation (host.run()) fetches L1/L2 data and executes blocks, which can take hours for large ranges. Caching saves this data to disk.

We cache SP1Stdin because:

1. It skips the hours-long host.run() bottleneck
2. SP1Stdin implements serde serialization via bincode
3. The cache is compatible across Ethereum and Celestia DA (both use the same witness format)

Note: The get_sp1_stdin() conversion is milliseconds, so caching after this step has negligible overhead.

Cache Flag

Use --cache to enable caching. If a cache file exists for the block range, it will be loaded. Otherwise, witness generation runs and the result is saved to cache.

Examples

# First run: generates witness and saves to cache
cargo run --bin multi -- --start 1000 --end 1020 --cache

# Second run: loads from cache (instant), then proves
cargo run --bin multi -- --start 1000 --end 1020 --cache --prove

# Force regenerate by deleting cache first
rm data/{chain_id}/witness-cache/1000-1020-stdin.bin
cargo run --bin multi -- --start 1000 --end 1020 --cache

# Cost estimator with caching
cargo run --bin cost-estimator -- --start 1000 --end 1100 --batch-size 10 --cache

Cache Location

data/{chain_id}/witness-cache/{start_block}-{end_block}-stdin.bin

Example: data/8453/witness-cache/1000-1020-stdin.bin for Base.

DA Compatibility

Cache files are compatible between Ethereum and Celestia (both use DefaultWitnessData), but not with EigenDA (uses EigenDAWitnessData). Don't mix cache files across incompatible DA types.

Cache Management

# Clear all cache for a chain
rm -rf data/{chain_id}/witness-cache/

# Clear specific range
rm data/{chain_id}/witness-cache/{start}-{end}-stdin.bin

Cache files are typically 100MB-1GB per range.