Livepeer FAQ

Comprehensive Livepeer FAQ – every question from every audience, in one place. Covers Livepeer protocol fundamentals, gateway and orchestrator operations, community, and ecosystem questions. Aggregated from the audience-specific FAQs in the About, Community, Gateways, and Orchestrators tabs.

Livepeer FAQ

This page aggregates every Livepeer FAQ across the documentation – 33 questions drawn from the About, Community, Gateways, and Orchestrators tabs. Sources remain available in their original audience tabs for context.

Sources

Section	Source	Audience
About Livepeer (6 Qs)	/v2/about/resources/faq	general
Community (12 Qs)	/v2/community/resources/faq	community
Gateways (15 Qs)	/v2/Gateways/resources/reference/faq	Gateway
Orchestrators (0 Qs)	/v2/Orchestrators/resources/reference/faq	Orchestrator

About Livepeer (6 questions)

What is Livepeer in one sentence?

Livepeer is a protocol and open network for real-time video and AI compute, coordinated through on-chain incentives and off-chain execution.

Start with Livepeer Overview for the full explanation.

What is the difference between the protocol and the network?

The protocol is the on-chain coordination layer. It handles staking, rewards, payments, and governance.

The network is the off-chain execution layer. It handles routing, compute, verification, and marketplace behaviour.

Read Protocol Overview and Network Overview together for the clearest split.

What is LPT used for?

LPT is used for staking, delegation, and governance. It is not the token used to pay for ordinary video or AI jobs.

See Livepeer Token and Protocol Economics.

Where do I find contract addresses?

Use the dedicated reference page at Contract Addresses.

For contract relationships and protocol context, see Blockchain Contracts.

Where should I start if I am evaluating Livepeer?

Use the About navigator first, then follow the evaluation reading path.

Start with Navigator, then continue to Evaluating Livepeer.

Where can I look up terms used in this section?

Use Glossary for About-specific terminology and Livepeer Glossary for broader term coverage.

Community (12 questions)

What is the Livepeer Foundation?

The Livepeer Foundation (LF) is a Cayman Islands non-profit, announced in April 2025 and formally launched in June 2025. Its mission is to steward the long-term vision, ecosystem growth, and core development of the Livepeer Network.

The Foundation is distinct from Livepeer Inc (which created the original protocol and continues core R&D). It acts as coordinating infrastructure: aligning contributors, launching Advisory Boards, coordinating SPE work, and setting the long-term roadmap.

For full detail, see Governance & the Foundation.

What is a Special Purpose Entity (SPE)?

An SPE is a community-approved working group funded by the Livepeer on-chain treasury. Anyone can propose one - an SPE can cover infrastructure, tooling, research, community initiatives, or platform development. Proposals are submitted to the Livepeer Explorer and voted on by all staked LPT holders.

Notable 2025 SPEs include: GovWorks (governance coordination), LiveInfra (Community Arbitrum Node), GWID (Gateway tooling), LISAR (fiat delegation), and the Transformation SPE (ecosystem strategy).

See the SPE proposal guide for step-by-step instructions.

How do I vote on a treasury or governance proposal?

Any Orchestrator or Delegator with staked LPT can vote. Votes are cast at explorer.livepeer.org/treasury.

Key mechanics:

• Orchestrators vote with their own stake plus delegated stake by default
• Delegators can detach their vote and vote independently via the Explorer
• A proposal passes with 33% quorum and more than 50% For votes
• The voting window is approximately 9 days (10 rounds), after a ~21-hour delay

You need at least 100 LPT staked to submit a proposal, but any staked holder can vote.

What are Workstreams?

Workstreams are nine focused execution areas introduced by the Livepeer Foundation in August 2025, following the Advisory Board strategy phase. They translate ecosystem strategy into concrete work that contributors can participate in.

The nine workstreams are: Brand & Communication, Livepeer Builders, Core Contributor Coordination, Ecosystem Data & Tooling, LPT Participation, Core R&D, Real-Time Video AI, Compute Marketplace, and Active Capital Management.

See the Workstreams forum post for roadmaps and how to participate.

How do I get support as a gateway operator?

Join the Livepeer Discord and look for the #gateway or #support channels. The Help: Getting Started forum category is also monitored by community contributors.

For protocol-level questions or SPE proposals relevant to Gateways, GovWorks (StableLab) can direct you appropriately - reach them via the GovWorks Notion Hub.

For technical node questions, see the Gateway and Orchestrators sections of the docs.

How do I propose a change that affects gateway operations?

Gateway operators can propose improvements via the SPE process. A concrete example: the GWID SPE (May 2025, 6,600 LPT) was proposed and funded to simplify Gateway operation tooling.

Start by posting a pre-proposal in the Treasury Forum, or contact GovWorks via the GovWorks Notion Hub for mentorship before you post.

What is Live Pioneers?

Live Pioneers is an independent community initiative focused on growing Livepeer’s Delegator community, producing educational content, and providing multilingual support. Funded through two previous treasury waves, their third proposal was submitted in June 2025.

They operate a community app at livepioneers.app and run Telegram groups in 8+ languages - including Chinese, German, Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese. They also produce Know Your Orchestrator interviews and regular ecosystem recaps.

What is GovWorks?

GovWorks is the meta-governance SPE for Livepeer, chaired by StableLab since November 2024. It supports proposal authors through the SPE process, standardises proposal formats, publishes governance digests, and maintains the Livepeer Governance Hub on Notion.

GovWorks does not control the treasury - it facilitates the process. Contact them at the GovWorks Notion Hub.

What is LPT and how do I get it?

LPT (Livepeer Token) is the network’s work token and governance token. Orchestrators and Delegators stake LPT to participate in the network and earn ETH fees and LPT rewards. Staked holders can also vote on governance proposals.

See the Delegators section for exchanges, staking mechanics, and delegation instructions.

Is LPT inflation changing?

This is under active discussion as of early 2026. A pre-proposal to adjust inflation parameters (LIP-100 follow-up) was published in January 2026 and is being discussed in the Governance Forum. No vote had been confirmed at time of writing.

Monitor the forum’s Governance category for the current status before making delegation decisions based on inflation assumptions.

How do I contribute to the Livepeer documentation?

The docs are open source at github.com/Livepeer/docs. Raise a GitHub Issue to flag a problem, or submit a Pull Request with your changes. The contribution workflow is in contribute/CONTRIBUTING/ in that repository.

Where can I find community calls and events?

Upcoming calls are announced in the Livepeer Discord and on the Forum. Recurring calls include:

• Dev Call - bi-weekly, open to developers and SPE teams
• Water Cooler - weekly, open community discussion
• Treasury Talk - bi-weekly, focused on governance and SPE proposals

Past recordings may be on the Livepeer YouTube channel.

Gateways (15 questions)

I see commands using -broadcaster but my docs say -gateway. Which is correct?

Use -gateway. The Livepeer Gateway was previously called the Livepeer Broadcaster, and the old flag name appears throughout community guides, forum threads, and Docker Compose examples written before the rename.

# Legacy - may still be accepted but not canonical
./livepeer -broadcaster -network arbitrum-one-mainnet ...

# Current - use this in all new configs
./livepeer -gateway -network arbitrum-one-mainnet ...

The livepeer_cli tool and some log output still display “Broadcaster” in places that have not been updated. This is cosmetic - the underlying behaviour is unchanged.

Do I need ETH or LPT to run a gateway?

It depends on your Gateway type:

Gateway type	ETH needed	LPT needed
Video Gateway (on-chain)	Yes	No
AI Gateway (off-chain)	No	No
Dual Gateway	Yes	No
Clearinghouse-backed	No	No

ETH is required on Arbitrum One (not Ethereum mainnet) for on-chain Gateways. LPT is not part of the payment flow for any Gateway type - it is a staking token for Orchestrators.

If you want to run an AI Gateway without managing ETH, see Payment Paths.

How do I keep a record of my node's logs?

By default, livepeer sends logs only to stdout. Pipe to both stdout and a file using tee:

./livepeer -gateway [flags] 2>&1 | tee livepeer.log

For Docker deployments, logs are captured automatically by Docker:

docker logs <container_name> --tail 200 --follow

For persistent log retention, configure Docker’s logging driver or use a log aggregation tool (Loki, Datadog, etc.).

Can I run a gateway from home?

Possible for an AI Gateway (off-chain, no inbound port requirements beyond your Orchestrator addresses). For a video Gateway, public accessibility depends on your workload:

• If you are accepting inbound RTMP streams, port 1935 must be publicly accessible.
• If you are only pushing streams outward (e.g. Re-encoding your own content), NAT is less of a concern.
• For Orchestrator discovery via the Livepeer Network, your Gateway needs to be publicly reachable at the address it registers.

Home networks with NAT (standard home router) require port forwarding rules for ports 8935 and 1935 to the machine running the Gateway. Running a public-facing node at home carries general server security risks - only do so if you are comfortable managing those.

Is there a marketplace showing all gateway offerings?

No canonical marketplace exists. Visibility is currently fragmented across Livepeer Explorer, Livepeer Tools, Livepeer Studio, and community forums.

This is a documented gap. Discussion on Gateway marketplace aggregation is ongoing in the community.

What is -maxPricePerUnit and why doesn't it match what I'm paying?

-maxPricePerUnit sets the maximum price your Gateway pays Orchestrators per pixel processed - it is not a price you charge your customers.

The unit is wei per pixel (not ETH). Common starting values:

Flag	Value	Meaning
-maxPricePerUnit	300	Maximum 300 wei per pixel
-pixelsPerUnit	1	Per 1 pixel

If you set this too high, you overpay Orchestrators. If you set it too low, no Orchestrators accept your jobs. The community standard starting point is 300 with -pixelsPerUnit 1.

The price you charge your customers (if running a commercial Gateway service) is entirely separate and managed by your own application layer. See Pricing Strategy.

What ports does the video gateway use?

Port	Purpose	Configurable with
8935	HTTP Gateway API and transcoding jobs	-httpAddr
1935	RTMP stream ingest	-rtmpAddr
5935	CLI management API	-cliAddr

All three can be changed with the corresponding flags if the defaults conflict with other services on your machine.

How do I check my ETH deposit and reserve balance?

# Binary
livepeer_cli -host 127.0.0.1 -http 5935

# Docker
docker exec -it <container_name> livepeer_cli -host <container_hostname> -http 5935

Select “Get node status” and look for BROADCASTER STATS. You need both Deposit and Reserve to be non-zero for job routing to work.

Community-recommended minimum for testing: 0.1 ETH total (approximately 0.07 ETH deposit + 0.03 ETH reserve).

I bridged ETH to Arbitrum but my balance shows zero.

Bridging ETH to Arbitrum One transfers it to your wallet address on Arbitrum - but it does not automatically allocate it as a Gateway deposit. You must explicitly deposit and reserve via livepeer_cli after the bridge confirms.

livepeer_cli -host 127.0.0.1 -http 5935
# Select: "Deposit broadcasting funds"
# Enter deposit amount and reserve amount

See Fund Your Gateway for the full step-by-step.

How does transcoding pricing work? Who sets it?

Orchestrators set their price per pixel (in wei) and advertise it to Gateways. Your Gateway’s -maxPricePerUnit is the ceiling you are willing to pay - any Orchestrator advertising below your cap is eligible to receive your jobs.

Orchestrators may adjust their prices automatically based on gas costs on Arbitrum (the autoAdjustPrice behaviour). During high-gas periods, Orchestrator prices rise - you may need to raise -maxPricePerUnit temporarily to keep jobs routing.

There is no protocol-fixed price. The market price emerges from supply (Orchestrators) and demand (Gateways) with the Gateway’s maxPrice acting as the ceiling.

The AI gateway binary doesn't work on Windows. Why?

The Livepeer AI Gateway binary is not currently available for Windows or macOS (Intel). The AI inference stack requires a Linux environment - the GPU/CUDA toolchain used for AI inference has only been tested and compiled for Linux.

Workaround: Use Docker on Linux (or WSL2 on Windows).

docker run \
  --name livepeer_ai_gateway \
  -v ~/.lpData2/:/root/.lpData2 \
  -p 8935:8935 \
  --network host \
  livepeer/go-livepeer:master \
  -datadir /root/.lpData2 \
  -gateway \
  -orchAddr <orchestrator-list> \
  -httpAddr 0.0.0.0:8935 \
  -v 6 \
  -httpIngest

The standard video Gateway binary for Windows remains available and unchanged.

Do I need ETH or LPT to run an AI gateway?

No. The off-chain AI Gateway requires neither ETH nor LPT. You do not need an Arbitrum connection, a wallet, or any on-chain setup.

Off-chain means:

• No ticket-based payment system
• No Arbitrum RPC required
• No -network flag needed
• Orchestrator payment is managed separately (your arrangement with the Orchestrator)

This is the fastest path to running a Gateway. If you later want to add on-chain video transcoding alongside AI, that becomes a dual Gateway and does require ETH.

What ports does the AI gateway use?

Port	Purpose	Configurable with
8935	HTTP API (video and AI share the same port)	-httpAddr
5935	CLI management API	-cliAddr

Both video and AI endpoints share the same -httpAddr port (default 8935). The -httpIngest flag enables AI pipeline endpoints (/text-to-image, /llm, etc.) on this port. To run separate video and AI Gateway processes on the same machine, set different -httpAddr values for each.

How do I find which AI models and pipelines are available?

There is currently no unified registry or discovery endpoint listing all AI capabilities across the network.

Per-Orchestrator query:

curl https://<orchestrator-address>:<port>/getOrchestratorInfo

For finding AI-capable Orchestrators to query: ask in Discord #local-Gateways - community operators share their endpoints there. Community discussion on a unified discovery mechanism is ongoing.

Can gateway operators add custom AI inference endpoints or pipelines?

Gateway operators run AI Gateways and expose the inference APIs - the Gateway itself is the inference endpoint. Orchestrators running AI inference advertise their AI service URI and capability set.

There is currently no formal documented flow for registering a custom pipeline type beyond what go-livepeer supports natively. Running a Gateway connected to Orchestrators running your custom pipeline is the current approach.

This is a documented gap. Check the Livepeer Forum for community discussion on extending pipeline support.