monero-docs/docs/interacting/monerod/reference.md

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monerod - Reference | Monero Documentation

monerod - reference

Syntax

./monerod [options] [command]

Options define how daemon should be working. Their names follow the --option-name pattern.

Commands give access to specific services provided by the daemon. Commands are executed against the running daemon. Their names follow the command_name pattern.

Options

Following option groups are only to make this reference easier to follow. The daemon itself does not group options in any way.

Pick network

Option	Description
(missing)	By default monerod assumes mainnet.
--stagenet	Run on stagenet. Remember to run your wallet with --stagenet as well.
--testnet	Run on testnet. Remember to run your wallet with --testnet as well.

Logging

Option	Description
--log-file	Full path to the log file. Example (mind file permissions): ./monerod --log-file=/var/log/monero/mainnet/monerod.log
--log-level	0-4 with 0 being minimal logging and 4 being full tracing. Defaults to 0. These are general presets and do not directly map to severity levels. For example, even with minimal 0, you may see some most important INFO entries. Temporarily changing to 1 allows for much better understanding of how the full node operates. Example: ./monerod --log-level=1
--max-log-file-size	Soft limit in bytes for the log file (=104850000 by default, which is just under 100MB). Once log file grows past that limit, monerod creates next log file with a -YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS UTC timestamp postfix. In production deployments, you would probably prefer to use established solutions like logrotate instead.

Server

monerod defaults are adjusted for running it occasionally on the same computer as your Monero wallet.

The following options will be helpful if you intend to have an always running node — most likely on a remote server or your own separate PC.

Option	Description
--config-file	Full path to the configuration file. By default monerod looks for bitmonero.conf in Monero data directory. TODO: describe configuration file syntax.
--data-dir	Full path to data directory. This is where the blockchain, log files, and p2p network memory are stored. For defaults and details see data directory.
--pidfile	Full path to the PID file. Works only with --detach. Example: ./monerod --detach --pidfile=/run/monero/monerod.pid
--detach	Go to background (decouple from the terminal). This is useful for long-running / server scenarios. Typically, you will also want to manage monerod daemon with systemd or similar. By default monerod runs in a foreground.
--non-interactive	Do not require tty in a foreground mode. Helpful when running in a container. By default monerod runs in a foreground and opens stdin for reading. This breaks containerization because no tty getss assigned and monerod process crashes. You can make it run in a background with --detach but this is inconvenient in a containerized environment because the canonical usage is that the container waits on the main process to exist (forking makes things more complicated).
--no-igd	Disable UPnP port mapping on the router ("Internet Gateway Device"). Add this option to improve security if you are not behind a NAT (you can bind directly to public IP or you run through Tor).
--max-txpool-size arg	Set maximum transactions pool size in bytes. By default 648000000 (~618MB). These are transactions pending for confirmations (not included in any block).
--enforce-dns-checkpointing	The emergency checkpoints set by MoneroPulse operators will be enforced. It is probably a good idea to set enforcing for unattended nodes. If encountered block hash does not match corresponding checkpoint, the local blockchain will be rolled back a few blocks, effectively blocking following what MoneroPulse operators consider invalid fork. The log entry will be produced: ERROR Local blockchain failed to pass a checkpoint, rolling back! Eventually, the alternative ("fixed") fork will get heavier and the node will follow it, leaving the "invalid" fork behind. By default checkpointing only notifies about discrepancy by producing the following log entry: ERROR WARNING: local blockchain failed to pass a MoneroPulse checkpoint, and you could be on a fork. You should either sync up from scratch, OR download a fresh blockchain bootstrap, OR enable checkpoint enforcing with the --enforce-dns-checkpointing command-line option. Reference: source code.
--disable-dns-checkpoints	The MoneroPulse checkpoints set by core developers will be discarded. The checkpoints are apparently still fetched though.

P2P network

The following options define how your node participates in Monero peer-to-peer network. This is for node-to-node communication. The following options do not affect wallet-to-node interface.

The node and peer words are used interchangeably.

Option	Description
--p2p-bind-ip	Network interface to bind to for p2p network protocol. Default value 0.0.0.0 binds to all network interfaces. This is typically what you want. You must change this if you want to constrain binding, for example to configure connection through Tor via torsocks: DNS_PUBLIC=tcp://1.1.1.1 TORSOCKS_ALLOW_INBOUND=1 torsocks ./monerod --p2p-bind-ip 127.0.0.1 --no-igd --hide-my-port
--p2p-bind-port	TCP port to listen for p2p network connections. Defaults to 18080 for mainnet, 28080 for testnet, and 38080 for stagenet. You normally wouldn't change that. This is helpful to run several nodes on your machine to simulate private Monero p2p network (likely using private Testnet). Example: ./monerod --p2p-bind-port=48080
--p2p-external-port	TCP port to listen for p2p network connections on your router. Relevant if you are behind a NAT and still want to accept incoming connections. You must then set this to relevant port on your router. This is to let monerod know what to advertise on the network. Default is 0.
--hide-my-port	monerod will still open and listen on the p2p port. However, it will not announce itself as a peer list candidate. Technically, it will return port 0 in a response to p2p handshake (node_data.my_port = 0 in get_local_node_data function). In effect nodes you connect to won't spread your IP to other nodes. To sum up, it is not really hiding, it is more like "do not advertise".
--seed-node	Connect to a node to retrieve other nodes' addresses, and disconnect. If not specified, monerod will use hardcoded seed nodes on the first run, and peers cached on disk on subsequent runs.
--add-peer	Manually add node to local peer list.
--add-priority-node	Specify list of nodes to connect to and then attempt to keep the connection open. To add multiple nodes use the option several times. Example: ./monerod --add-priority-node=178.128.192.138:18081 --add-priority-node=144.76.202.167:18081
--add-exclusive-node	Specify list of nodes to connect to only. If this option is given the options --add-priority-node and --seed-node are ignored. To add multiple nodes use the option several times. Example: ./monerod --add-exclusive-node=178.128.192.138:18081 --add-exclusive-node=144.76.202.167:18081
--out-peers	Set max number of outgoing connections to other nodes. By default 8. Value -1 represents the code default.
--in-peers	Set max number of incoming connections (nodes actively connecting to you). By default unlimited. Value -1 represents the code default.
--limit-rate-up	Set outgoing data transfer limit [kB/s]. By default 2048 kB/s. Value -1 represents the code default.
--limit-rate-down	Set incoming data transfer limit [kB/s]. By default 8192 kB/s. Value -1 represents the code default.
--limit-rate	Set the same limit value for incoming and outgoing data transfer. By default (-1) the individual up/down default limits will be used. It is better to use --limit-rate-up and --limit-rate-down instead to avoid confusion.
--offline	Do not listen for peers, nor connect to any. Useful for working with a local, archival blockchain.
--allow-local-ip	Allow adding local IP to peer list. Useful mostly for debug purposes when you may want to have multiple nodes on a single machine.

Speed nad Reliability

Option	Description
--max-concurrency	Max number of threads to use for a parallel jobs. The default value 0 uses the number of CPU threads.
--prep-blocks-threads	Max number of threads to use when computing block hashes (PoW) in groups. Defaults to 4. Decrease this if you don't want monerod hog your computer when syncing.
--fast-block-sync	Sync up most of the way by using embedded, "known" block hashes. Pass 1 to turn on and 0 to turn off. This is on (1) by default. Normally, for every block the full node must calculate the block hash to verify miner's proof of work. Because the CryptoNight PoW used in Monero is very expensive (even for verification), monerod offers skipping these calculations for old blocks. In other words, it's a mechanism to trust monerod binary regarding old blocks' PoW validity, to sync up faster.
--block-sync-size	How many blocks are processed in a single batch during chaing synchronization. By default this is 20 blocks for newer history and 100 blocks for older history ("pre v4"). Default behavior is represented by value 0. Intuitively, the more resources you have, the bigger batch size you may want to try out. Example: ./monerod --block-sync-size=500
--bootstrap-daemon-address	The host:port of a "bootstrap" remote open node that the connected wallets can use while this node is still not fully synced. Example: ./monerod --bootstrap-daemon-address=opennode.xmr-tw.org:18089. The node will forward selected RPC calls to the bootstrap node. The wallet will handle this automatically and transparently. Obviously, such bootstraping phase has privacy implications similar to directly using a remote node.
--bootstrap-daemon-login	Specify username:password for the bootstrap daemon login (if required). This considers the RPC interface used by the wallet. Normally, open nodes do not require any credentials.

Mining

The following options configure solo mining using CPU with the standard software stack monerod. This is mostly useful for:

• generating your stagenet or testnet coins
• experimentation and learning
• if you have super cheap access to vast CPU resources

Be advised though that real mining happens in pools and with high-end GPU-s instead of CPU-s.

Option	Description
--start-mining	Specify wallet address to mining for. This must be a main address! It can be neither a subaddres nor integrated address.
--mining-threads	Specify mining threads count. By default ony one thread will be used. For best results, set it to number of your physical cores.
--extra-messages-file	Specify file for extra messages to include into coinbase transactions.
--bg-mining-enable	Enable unobtrusive mining. In this mode mininig will use a small percentage of your system resources to never noticeably slow down your computer. This is intended to encourage people to mine to improve decentralization. That being said chances of finding a block are diminishingly small with solo CPU mining, and even lesser with its unobtrusive version. You can tweak the unobtrusivness / power trade-offs with the further --bg-* options below.
--bg-mining-ignore-battery	If true, assumes plugged in when unable to query system power status.
--bg-mining-min-idle-interval	Specify min lookback interval in seconds for determining idle state.
--bg-mining-idle-threshold	Specify minimum avg idle percentage over lookback interval.
--bg-mining-miner-target	Specify maximum percentage cpu use by miner(s).

Legacy or irrelevant

These options should no longer be necessary. They are still present in monerod for backwards compatibility.

Option	Description
--fluffy-blocks	Relay compact blocks. Default. Compact block is just a header and a list of transaction IDs.
--no-fluffy-blocks	Relay classic full blocks. Classic block contains all transactions.
--show-time-stats	Official docs say "Show time-stats when processing blocks/txs and disk synchronization." but it does not seem to produce any output during usual blockchain synchronization.
--zmq-rpc-bind-ip	IP for ZMQ RPC server to listen on. This is not widely used as ZMQ interface currently does not provide meaningful advantage over classic JSON-RPC interface.
--zmq-rpc-bind-port	Port for ZMQ RPC server to listen on. Defaults to 18082, or 28082 for testnet, or 38082 for stagenet.
--db-type	Specify database type. The default and only available: lmdb.

Help and Version

Option	Description
--help	Enlists available options.
--version	Shows monerod version to stdout. Example: Monero 'Lithium Luna' (v0.12.3.0-release)
--os-version	Shows build timestamp and target operating system. Example output: OS: Linux #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Aug 24 12:48:58 UTC 2018 4.18.5-arch1-1-ARCH.

Reference

• Reddit answer
• SE 1
• SE 2