Connecting to Peers

Connect your RougeChain node to the network to sync blocks and broadcast transactions.

Connect to Testnet

The simplest way to join the network:

./quantum-vault-daemon \
  --api-port 5100 \
  --peers "https://testnet.rougechain.io/api"

Your node will:

1. Download all blocks from the peer
2. Verify each block's PQC signatures
3. Build the local chain state
4. Start receiving new blocks in real-time

⚠️ Important: Your node is syncing but INVISIBLE to the network.

Without --public-url, your node pulls blocks from peers but never registers itself. Other nodes won't know it exists, and it won't appear on the network globe.

To be discoverable, add --public-url with your node's reachable address — the HTTPS URL of the reverse proxy in front of it (see Firewall & Exposure):

./quantum-vault-daemon \
  --api-port 5100 \
  --node-name "MyNode" \
  --public-url "https://your-server.com/api" \
  --peers "https://testnet.rougechain.io/api"

If running locally without a public IP, your node works fine for personal use — it just won't be visible to the rest of the network.

Connect to Multiple Peers

For better reliability, connect to multiple peers:

./quantum-vault-daemon \
  --api-port 5100 \
  --peers "https://api.rougechain.io/api,https://node2.example.com,https://node3.example.com"

Or via environment variable:

export QV_PEERS="https://api.rougechain.io/api,https://node2.example.com"
./quantum-vault-daemon --api-port 5100

Verify Connection

Check that your node has peers:

curl http://127.0.0.1:5100/api/peers

Expected response:

{
  "peers": [
    "https://testnet.rougechain.io/api"
  ],
  "count": 1
}

Sync Status

Check if your node is synced:

curl http://127.0.0.1:5100/api/health

{
  "status": "ok",
  "chain_id": "rougechain-devnet-1",
  "height": 12345
}

Compare the height with the testnet to confirm you're in sync:

curl https://testnet.rougechain.io/api/health

Connection Flow

Your Node                                         Peer Node
    │                                                 │
    │── GET /api/blocks?from_height=0&limit=1000 ────►│  (fresh node; later polls
    │◄─── { blocks: [ block0, block1, ... ] } ───────│   use ?limit=1000)
    │                                                 │
    │   (verify signatures, apply)                    │
    │                                                 │
    │── GET /api/finality/:height ───────────────────►│
    │◄─── finality proof ────────────────────────────│
    │                                                 │
    │── GET /api/peers ──────────────────────────────►│
    │◄─── { peers: [...] } ──────────────────────────│
    │                                                 │
    │── POST /api/peers/register ────────────────────►│  (only with --public-url)
    │── GET /api/stats ──────────────────────────────►│  (peer name)

All peer traffic uses the same HTTP REST API that wallets use; there is no separate P2P protocol or port. New blocks and transactions are pushed with POST /api/blocks/import and POST /api/tx/broadcast.

Firewall & Exposure

Do not expose the daemon's REST API port (5100) to the public internet — it serves state-changing endpoints. Bind the daemon to 127.0.0.1 and put a reverse proxy (nginx + TLS) in front of it; open only the proxy's port 443. See Public Node Security.

# Expose ONLY the reverse proxy; keep the daemon API private:
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw deny 5100/tcp

Troubleshooting

"Connection refused"

• Check that the peer URL is correct and reachable
• Verify the peer node is running
• Check for firewall restrictions

Node stuck syncing

• The initial sync may take time on long chains
• Monitor progress by watching the height increase via /api/health
• Try connecting to a different peer

"Chain ID mismatch"

• Ensure your --chain-id matches the network you're connecting to
• Testnet uses rougechain-devnet-1