Reminder: 🎺 The Flow Forte Network Upgrade on October 22nd at 13:00 UTC

Node Operations
1

Hello Flow Node operators,

This is a reminder that Flow Mainnet will be undergoing an upgrade on Wednesday, October 22nd 2025, from 13:00 to 15:00 UTC (6AM to 8AM PDT).

ACTIONS needed from Access, Collection, Consensus, Verification and Execution node operators on October 22nd, 2025:

  1. If you are running an Access node, please shut down the node(s) by 12:45 UTC on October 22nd.

  2. For all other node types (Consensus, Collection, Verification, Execution), please shut down your node at 13:00 UTC on October 22nd.

  3. At around 15:00 UTC on October 22nd, a message will be posted on the message forum and on Discord requesting you to start your nodes. Please be on the lookout for the message. Ensure that you have subscribed for updates on the forum page or have joined the Discord `#flow-validators` or the `#node-operations` channel.

  4. Perform Step 1 and Step 2 when you see the announcement “Mainnet Spork Complete” on the forum or Discord.

Reduced Hardware Requirements for Node Roles

As part of the Forte network upgrade, you can now run all node roles except Execution on smaller hardware configurations. The recommended CPU and memory requirements for Access, Verification, Collection, and Consensus nodes have been lowered, making it possible to operate these roles more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Please see the revised hardware recommendations here.

If you are running one of these node types, you may reduce your allocated vCPUs and memory during the upgrade process (no change to disk size). To take advantage of this, simply adjust your hardware allocation after shutting down your node for the upgrade and before restarting it once the “Mainnet Spork Complete” message is announced.

This update gives operators the flexibility to lower infrastructure costs while maintaining high performance and reliability.

ACTIONS needed from EVM Gateway operators on October 22nd, 2025:

  1. If you are running an EVM GW, please shut down the EVM GW by 12:45 UTC on October 22nd.

  2. At around 15:00 UTC on October 22nd, a message will be posted on the message forum and on Discord requesting you to start your nodes. Please be on the lookout for the message. Ensure that you have subscribed for updates on the forum page or have joined the Discord #flow-validators or the Node Operations channel.

  3. Update EVM Gateway to docker tag v1.3.3

  4. Update the following flags:

–-access-node-spork-hosts=access-001.mainnet26.nodes.onflow.org:9000

--access-node-spork-hosts=access.mainnet.nodes.onflow.org:9000 or point it to the gRPC endpoint of your own access node if you are running one.

Do NOT delete the data folder of the EVM Gateway.

Note: Flow Port will be inaccessible during the duration of this network upgrade, and staking features will be disabled until the completion of the network upgrade.

Please plan accordingly for this Flow network upgrade and ensure that you upgrade the node immediately after the announcement.

Thank you for your continued support,

The Flow Foundation