Running a Node

Run your own RougeChain node to sync the chain, validate transactions, serve an API to others, and — if you stake — produce blocks and earn rewards.

The node software is open source on GitHub.

Node Types

A single node can be all three at once.

Minimum System Requirements

RougeChain's node is deliberately lightweight — the Rust daemon is a single ~23 MB binary and the live mainnet validator holds a steady ~40 MB of RAM. The heaviest part is building it, not running it.

To run a node

The daemon itself uses tens of MB of RAM; the extra headroom is for the OS, chain-data growth, and serving concurrent API traffic.

To build from source

A clean release build takes roughly 2–5 minutes depending on cores. If you only want to run a node and not build it, you can also use the Docker image.

Quick Start

# Clone and enter the workspace
git clone https://github.com/cyberdreadx/rougechain-node
cd rougechain-node/core

# Build the daemon (release)
cargo build --release -p quantum-vault-daemon

Join Mainnet

Mainnet requires the mainnet genesis file (shipped in the repo) and the mainnet chain-id:

./target/release/quantum-vault-daemon \
  --genesis daemon/genesis-mainnet.json \
  --chain-id rougechain-mainnet-1 \
  --api-port 5100 \
  --data-dir ~/.quantum-vault/mainnet \
  --peers "https://api.rougechain.io/api" \
  --node-name my-node

Add --mine if you intend to validate (you'll only be selected once you've staked ≥ 10,000 XRGE — see Staking).

Join Testnet

Testnet uses default parameters (no genesis file needed):

./target/release/quantum-vault-daemon \
  --chain-id rougechain-devnet-1 \
  --api-port 5101 \
  --data-dir ~/.quantum-vault/testnet \
  --peers "https://testnet.rougechain.io/api" \
  --node-name my-testnet-node

Running a Public Node (for other people)

If you want your node to serve an API/RPC to users, wallets, or apps, run it as a public node. Do not expose the daemon port directly — put a TLS reverse proxy (nginx) in front and keep the daemon bound to localhost or firewalled.

Recommended operator setup:

1. Bind and advertise — run with --host 0.0.0.0 --api-port 5100 (firewalled) and set --public-url https://your-domain/api so peers can reach you.
2. Terminate TLS at nginx — proxy https://your-domain/api → http://127.0.0.1:5100. A full nginx example is in Running a Public Node.
3. Protect writes — set --api-keys "<key1>,<key2>" so only holders of a key can hit write endpoints. (Signed /api/v2/* and public /api/faucet, /api/bridge/* handle their own auth.)
4. Rate-limit — e.g. --rate-limit-per-minute 120 (plus --rate-limit-read/write-per-minute for finer control) to keep a single client from overwhelming the node.
5. Run under systemd — so it restarts on crash/reboot. Example unit and hardening in Public Node and Configuration.
6. Monitor — poll /api/health (liveness) and /api/stats (height, peers, mining) from your uptime checker.

Security note: legacy v1 write endpoints that accept a raw private key are development-only (enabled with --dev) and return 410 Gone in a normal build — never run a public node with --dev.

Verify It's Working

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

Expected response (mainnet):

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

Check sync progress and peers:

curl http://127.0.0.1:5100/api/stats

Next Steps

• Installation — detailed setup, per-OS
• Configuration — every CLI flag and environment variable
• Running a Public Node — full nginx + systemd operator guide
• Mining — block production and validator selection
• Staking — the 10,000 XRGE minimum and rewards