fix(sequencer): skip proposing when node has no connected peers - #25180
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fix(sequencer): skip proposing when node has no connected peers#25180spalladino wants to merge 1 commit into
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A validator running with a dead p2p stack (zero connected peers) still took its turn as proposer. Two failure modes follow: the checkpoint proposal is broadcast into the void, so committee attestations can never be collected and the slot is burned; and an HA node holding enough committee seats to reach quorum with its own attestations publishes a checkpoint whose tx data was never gossiped to anyone, which is indistinguishable from data withholding and gets it slashed. The proposer now checks p2p connectivity before entering the build path and skips building when peerless, while still performing its L1 duties: governance and slashing votes, prune, and invalidation all run via the existing vote-and-prune fallback. The skipped slot is marked as attempted so the gate is not re-evaluated on every work-loop tick, and the skip is recorded on the checkpoint precheck metric with a `no_peers` reason. The threshold is the new `minPeersToPropose` sequencer option (`SEQ_MIN_PEERS_TO_PROPOSE`), defaulting to 1; setting it to 0 disables the gate. Setups that disable p2p by config (sandbox, single node, automine) report `enabled: false` and are unaffected, so they keep proposing with no peers. Part of A-1701.
This was referenced Aug 11, 2026
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A validator running with a dead p2p stack (zero connected peers) still took its
turn as proposer. Two failure modes follow: the checkpoint proposal is broadcast
into the void, so committee attestations can never be collected and the slot is
burned; and an HA node holding enough committee seats to reach quorum with its
own attestations publishes a checkpoint whose tx data was never gossiped to
anyone, which is indistinguishable from data withholding and gets it slashed.
The proposer now checks p2p connectivity before entering the build path and
skips building when peerless, while still performing its L1 duties: governance
and slashing votes, prune, and invalidation all run via the existing
vote-and-prune fallback. The skipped slot is marked as attempted so the gate is
not re-evaluated on every work-loop tick, and the skip is recorded on the
checkpoint precheck metric with a
no_peersreason.The threshold is the new
minPeersToProposesequencer option(
SEQ_MIN_PEERS_TO_PROPOSE), defaulting to 1; setting it to 0 disables the gate.Setups that disable p2p by config (sandbox, single node, automine) report
enabled: falseand are unaffected, so they keep proposing with no peers.Part of A-1701.
Part of a stacked-PR chain (bottom → top) hardening the node against running with a dead p2p stack; each PR targets the branch below it and the bottom targets
merge-train/spartan-v5:GET /statussendTxwhen the node has no peers to propagate the tx