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The key decisions for Orchestrator setup are:
  1. Setup Type - On-chain or off-chain
  2. Setup Path - What software is installed
  3. Operational Mode - Whether you control and handle all operational requirements or delegate them
  4. Workload Mode - What compute job workloads the node processes

Setup Type

On-chainOff-chainProtocol connection, discovery, and reward eligibility. Applies to Solo O-T Split Siphon

Software Path

go-livepeerOrchestratorSiphonWhat runs on each machine. Solo and O-T Split use go-livepeer only. Siphon adds OrchestratorSiphon for keystore isolation.

Operational Mode

SoloPool NodeO-T SplitWho handles protocol operations, who provides GPU compute. Determines LPT requirement, machine count, and operational responsibility.

Workload Mode

VideoAIDualWhat compute jobs the node processes. Any operational mode supports any workload mode.

Setup Type

Software Path

go-livepeer is the Livepeer protocol implementation. It runs as a single process or in split orchestrator/transcoder mode. Handles protocol operations, GPU compute, and job routing. All setup paths use go-livepeer for the compute side. OrchestratorSiphon is a Python companion tool that handles keystore operations, reward calling, and governance on a separate secure machine. The GPU machine still runs go-livepeer in transcoder mode. Siphon exists because GPU machines restart - and a missed reward round is permanent LPT loss.

Operational Mode

Running a pool (accepting external GPU operators) is an extension of the O-T split pattern. See in Advanced Operations.

Workload Mode

The Livepeer protocol routes video and AI as separate job types through different mechanisms. Video jobs flow through the segment-based transcoding pipeline. AI jobs flow through the capability-based inference pipeline. Dual mode runs both from one orchestrator process - the most common production configuration. NVENC/NVDEC (video) and CUDA (AI) use separate execution paths on the GPU. A 24 GB card runs both workloads with one warm AI model loaded.

Next Steps

Last modified on March 16, 2026