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:

Download all blocks from the peer
Verify each block's PQC signatures
Build the local chain state
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:
./quantum-vault-daemon \
  --api-port 5100 \
  --node-name "MyNode" \
  --public-url "https://your-server.com:5100" \
  --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/health ──────────────►│
    │◄─── { height: 12345 } ──────────│
    │                                  │
    │── GET /api/blocks?from=0 ───────►│
    │◄─── [ block0, block1, ... ] ────│
    │                                  │
    │   (verify signatures, apply)     │
    │                                  │
    │── GET /api/peers ───────────────►│
    │◄─── { peers: [...] } ───────────│
    │                                  │
    │   (discover new peers)           │

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.

Port	Bind	Exposure
443 (nginx/TLS)	public	✅ the only port open to the internet
5100 (daemon REST API)	`127.0.0.1`	❌ never open to the public
4100 (P2P)	as needed	reachable by peers only; restrict where possible

# 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

RougeChain Documentation