Switchboard Crossbar Ops Skill

Purpose

Operate and use Crossbar for:

• Simulating feeds (QA before deployment)

• Storing/pinning feed definitions and obtaining a feedId

• Fetching chain-specific update payloads (instructions/bytes)

• Running reliable high-throughput bot and UI backends

Defaults

• Default crossbarUrl: https://crossbar.switchboard.xyz (public instance for quick testing)

• Recommend self-hosting Crossbar for frequent simulations/updates to avoid disruptions.

Preconditions

• OperatorPolicy exists.

• If storing jobs/self-hosting: confirm secret handling policy for IPFS credentials.

Inputs to Collect

Always collect:

• crossbarUrl (default public instance unless user requests self-host)

• chain RPC endpoints (allowlisted)

Only collect if needed:

• IPFS config (Pinata JWT or Kubo URL) if storing definitions

• expected throughput (simulation volume, update frequency)

Playbook

1) Public vs self-hosted

• Public Crossbar: dev/testing, low volume.

• Self-host: production, higher volume, strict endpoint policies, frequent simulation.

2) Self-host (Docker Compose) — high-level steps

1. create docker-compose.yml

2. create .env with RPC + IPFS credentials (never print secrets)

3. run docker-compose up -d

4. verify health on configured ports

Common defaults:

• HTTP port: 8080

• WebSocket port: 8081

3) Core operations

• Store definitions → return a 32-byte feed identifier (feedId)

• Simulate feeds → obtain sample values/errors for QA

• Fetch update payloads:

  • Solana: instruction bundles

  • EVM: bytes[] updates

  • Randomness: encoded settlement payloads (chain-specific)

4) Operational guardrails

• Do not log full .env.

• Treat Crossbar as sensitive infra (rate limits, credentials, API keys).

• Use caching appropriately; monitor error rates and response latency.

Troubleshooting Checklist

• IPFS store fails → verify IPFS credentials and outbound access

• simulation intermittent errors → endpoints unstable; add source diversity/fallbacks

• update fetch fails → network mismatch, RPC unreachable, queue mismatch

• rate limits → self-host + caching + reduce polling

References

• https://docs.switchboard.xyz/tooling/crossbar

• https://docs.switchboard.xyz/tooling/crossbar/run-crossbar-with-docker-compose