Peer Discovery

RougeChain nodes automatically discover other nodes on the network through a gossip-based peer exchange protocol.

How Discovery Works

1. Node A starts with seed peer(s) via --peers
2. Node A queries GET /api/peers on each known peer
3. Each peer returns its own list of known peers
4. Node A adds any new peers to its local list
5. If --public-url is set, Node A registers itself on peers
6. Repeat every 30 seconds

Over time, all nodes in the network discover each other, forming a mesh.

Discovery Interval

Peer discovery runs automatically every 30 seconds. No configuration is needed.

Seed Peers

The first peer(s) you connect to act as seeds for discovery. From them, your node learns about the rest of the network.

# Single seed
./quantum-vault-daemon --peers "https://testnet.rougechain.io"

# Multiple seeds for redundancy
./quantum-vault-daemon --peers "https://testnet.rougechain.io,https://backup.example.com"

Self-Registration

To make your node discoverable by others, set --public-url:

./quantum-vault-daemon \
  --api-port 5100 \
  --peers "https://testnet.rougechain.io" \
  --public-url "https://mynode.example.com"

Your node will call POST /api/peers/register on all known peers, announcing its presence. Other nodes will then include your URL in their peer lists.

Discovery API

Get Known Peers

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

{
  "peers": [
    "https://testnet.rougechain.io/api",
    "https://node2.example.com/api",
    "https://node3.example.com/api"
  ],
  "count": 3
}

Register as a Peer

curl -X POST https://testnet.rougechain.io/api/peers/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"peerUrl": "https://mynode.example.com"}'

Discovery Diagram

         Seed Node
        ┌─────────┐
        │  Node A  │ ◄── your --peers target
        └────┬────┘
             │
     GET /api/peers
             │
    ┌────────┼────────┐
    ▼        ▼        ▼
┌───────┐┌───────┐┌───────┐
│Node B ││Node C ││Node D │  ◄── discovered automatically
└───────┘└───────┘└───────┘
    │         │        │
    └─────────┼────────┘
              │
    More peers discovered
       from B, C, D...

Privacy Considerations

Your node's IP/URL is shared with all peers when using --public-url
Without --public-url, your node connects outward but is not discoverable by others
Consider using a reverse proxy or domain name instead of exposing raw IP addresses

RougeChain Documentation