diff --git a/yarn-project/prover-client/src/config.ts b/yarn-project/prover-client/src/config.ts
index 0b8f7cce6ea1..1d4cbce6bf3f 100644
--- a/yarn-project/prover-client/src/config.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/prover-client/src/config.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ export function getProverEnvVars(): ProverConfig {
     ACVM_BINARY_PATH = '',
     BB_WORKING_DIRECTORY = tmpdir(),
     BB_BINARY_PATH = '',
-    PROVER_AGENTS = '1',
+    PROVER_AGENTS = '8',
     PROVER_REAL_PROOFS = '',
   } = process.env;
 
diff --git a/yarn-project/prover-client/src/prover-pool/prover-pool.ts b/yarn-project/prover-client/src/prover-pool/prover-pool.ts
index 0750b41520e1..4916e3e98a49 100644
--- a/yarn-project/prover-client/src/prover-pool/prover-pool.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/prover-client/src/prover-pool/prover-pool.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { type ProvingJobSource } from '@aztec/circuit-types';
+import { sleep } from '@aztec/foundation/sleep';
 import { type SimulationProvider } from '@aztec/simulator';
 
 import { mkdtemp } from 'fs/promises';
@@ -33,6 +34,8 @@ export class ProverPool {
 
     for (const agent of this.agents) {
       agent.start(source);
+      // stagger that start of each agent to avoid contention
+      await sleep(10);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/yarn-project/prover-client/src/tx-prover/tx-prover.ts b/yarn-project/prover-client/src/tx-prover/tx-prover.ts
index e5b08a74560d..88f987e81240 100644
--- a/yarn-project/prover-client/src/tx-prover/tx-prover.ts
+++ b/yarn-project/prover-client/src/tx-prover/tx-prover.ts
@@ -68,9 +68,9 @@ export class TxProver implements ProverClient {
         throw new Error();
       }
 
-      pool = ProverPool.nativePool(config, config.proverAgents, 10);
+      pool = ProverPool.nativePool(config, config.proverAgents, 50);
     } else {
-      pool = ProverPool.testPool(simulationProvider, config.proverAgents, 10);
+      pool = ProverPool.testPool(simulationProvider, config.proverAgents, 50);
     }
 
     const prover = new TxProver(worldStateSynchronizer, getVerificationKeys(), pool);