@hydraterminal/node

A standalone intelligence collection node for the Hydra Network. Pull data from 10+ real-time sources, store it locally, and serve it directly to clients over WebSocket and REST — no middleman.

fully functional web UI to manage node. selfhosted or managed, browser connects directly to your node.

Run in public mode to submit signals to the network and earn (soon). Run in private mode for personal use with no network dependencies.

 Sources          Node              Clients
─────────      ──────────────      ──────────
 ADS-B   ──→  │              │──→  WebSocket
 AIS     ──→  │  normalize   │──→  REST API
 Oref    ──→  │  store       │
 OTX     ──→  │  broadcast   │──→  (optional)
 USGS    ──→  │              │──→  Hydra Network
 ...     ──→  │              │     (public mode)
              └──────────────┘

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Don't want to run your own hardware? Host a managed node on Hydra — it's free to get started →

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Install

Pre-built binary (recommended)

# Linux amd64
curl -sSLO https://github.com/hydraterminal/node/releases/latest/download/hydra-node-linux-amd64
chmod +x hydra-node-linux-amd64 && sudo mv hydra-node-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/hydra-node

Other platforms: github.com/hydraterminal/node/releases

Docker

docker pull ghcr.io/hydraterminal/node:latest
docker run -v ~/.hydra:/data ghcr.io/hydraterminal/node:latest start --config /data/node.yaml

From source

git clone https://github.com/hydra/hydra-node
cd hydra-node
make build
./bin/hydra-node --version

Requirements: Go 1.21+, SQLite (bundled via CGO-free driver — no system install needed)

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Quick Start

# Generate a config file
hydra-node init

# Start the node
hydra-node start

# Check status
hydra-node status

The node binds to 0.0.0.0:4001 (API) and 127.0.0.1:4002 (control plane) by default. Your data directory is ~/.hydra/data.

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Configuration

Config lives at ~/.hydra/node.yaml (or pass --config /path/to/node.yaml). See configs/node.example.yaml for the full reference.

Minimal config:

mode: private  # or "public" to earn rewards

server:
  port: 4001

storage:
  dataDir: ~/.hydra/data
  retentionHours: 24

sources:
  adsb:
    enabled: true
    interval: 60s
    credentials:
      apiKey: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY

  usgs:
    enabled: true
    interval: 5m

Public mode additionally requires registering your node on the Hydra Platform to get a node ID and shared secret:

mode: public

node:
  id: node_xxxxxxxxxxxx

network:
  backendUrl: https://api.hydra.fast
  submissionInterval: 1m
  heartbeatInterval: 30s
  batchSize: 100

Set your node secret via env var: HYDRA_NODE_SECRET=your_secret

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Data Sources

10 sources are available. Enable the ones you have credentials for:

Source	What it collects	Auth needed
adsb	Military aircraft positions	RapidAPI key
ais	Global vessel tracking	AIS Stream key
oref	Israel missile/rocket alerts	None
cyber	OTX cyber threat pulses	OTX API key (free)
usgs	Earthquakes M2.5+	None
airspace	SIGMETs, NOTAMs, restricted zones	None (OpenAIP optional)
telegram	Public channel OSINT	None
xtracker	OSINT account monitoring	Cookies optional
polymarket	Geopolitical prediction markets	None
maritime	MARAD security advisories	None

For full source configuration options, see the docs →

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Building

make build          # current platform
make build-all      # all platforms (linux, darwin, windows)
make docker         # Docker image
make test           # run tests with race detector
make lint           # golangci-lint

Binaries output to ./bin/.

Cross-compile targets: linux-amd64, linux-arm64, darwin-amd64, darwin-arm64, windows-amd64

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API & WebSocket

The node exposes a public and authenticated API on port 4001. Clients connect directly — no Hydra backend involved.

Full API reference in the docs →

API keys are issued from your Hydra Platform dashboard and validated by the node on startup (cached 5 min). (keys are stored on your node, you can optionally query the node api to create api keys directly.)

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Control Plane

The node runs a separate control server on 127.0.0.1:4002 (localhost only):

# Check live status
curl http://localhost:4002/control/status

# Stream logs
curl http://localhost:4002/control/logs

# Restart a specific source without stopping the node
curl -X POST http://localhost:4002/control/restart-source/adsb

# Prometheus metrics
curl http://localhost:4002/control/metrics

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Docker Compose

services:
  hydra-node:
    image: ghcr.io/hydraterminal/node:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "4001:4001"
    volumes:
      - ./node.yaml:/etc/hydra/node.yaml
      - hydra-data:/data
    environment:
      - HYDRA_NODE_SECRET=${HYDRA_NODE_SECRET}
    command: start --config /etc/hydra/node.yaml

volumes:
  hydra-data:

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Docs

• Full configuration reference
• Source setup & credentials
• API reference
• Registering with the network
• Rewards & public mode
• Troubleshooting

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Don't want to manage your own node?

Get a managed Hydra node — free to start →

We handle the infrastructure. You get a fully operational node in under a minute, with the same API surface, same data sources, and the same reward eligibility as self-hosted. Upgrade when you need more capacity.