monerod-reference.md

title
monerod - Reference | Monero Documentation

monerod - Reference

Overview

Connects you to Monero network

The Monero daemon monerod keeps your computer synced up with the Monero network.

It downloads and validates the blockchain from the p2p network.

Not aware of your private keys

monerod is entirely decoupled from your wallet.

monerod does not access your private keys - it is not aware of your transactions and balance.

This allows you to run monerod on a separate computer or in the cloud.

In fact, you can connect to a remote monerod instance provided by a semi-trusted 3rd party. Such 3rd party will not be able to steal your funds. This is very handy for learning and experimentation.

However, there are privacy and reliability implications to using a remote, untrusted node. For any real business you should be running your own full node.

Syntax

./monerod [options] [command]

Options define how the 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.

Running

Go to directory where you unpacked Monero.

The stagenet is what your should be using for learning and experimentation.

./monerod --stagenet --detach                # run as a daemon in background
tail -f ~/.bitmonero/stagenet/bitmonero.log  # watch the logs
./monerod --stagenet exit                    # ask daemon to exit gracefully

The mainnnet is when you want to deal with the real XMR.

./monerod --detach                           # run as a daemon in background
tail -f ~/.bitmonero/bitmonero.log           # watch the logs
./monerod exit                               # ask daemon to exit gracefully

Options

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

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

Help and version

Option	Description
--help	Enlist available options.
--version	Show monerod version to stdout. Example: Monero 'Lithium Luna' (v0.12.3.0-release)
--os-version	Show 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.

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 the next log file with a UTC timestamp postfix -YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS. In production deployments, you would probably prefer to use established solutions like logrotate instead. In that case, set --max-log-file-size=0 to prevent monerod from managing the log files.
--max-log-files	Limit on the number of log files (=50 by default). The oldest log files are removed. 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.
--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 gets 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-weight	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.

Node RPC API

monerod node offers powerful API. It serves 3 purposes:

• provides network data (stats, blocks, transactions, ...)
• provides local node information (peer list, hash rate if mining, ...)
• provides interface for wallets (send transactions, ...)

This API is typically referred to as "RPC" because it is mostly based on JSON/RPC standard.

The following options define how the API behaves.

Option	Description
--rpc-bind-ip	IP to listen on. By default 127.0.0.1 because API gives full administrative capabilities over the node. Set it to 0.0.0.0 to listen on all interfaces - but only in connection with one of *-restricted-* options and --confirm-external-bind.
--rpc-bind-port	TCP port to listen on. By default 18081 (mainnet), 28081 (testnet), 38081 (stagenet).
--rpc-restricted-bind-port	TCP port to listen on with the limited version of API. The limited API can be made public to create an Open Node. At the same time, you may firewall the full API port to still enjoy local querying and administration.
--confirm-external-bind	Confirm you consciously set --rpc-bind-ip to non-localhost IP and you understand the consequences.
--restricted-rpc	Restrict API to view only commands and do not return privacy sensitive data. Note this does not make sense with --rpc-restricted-bind-port because you would end up with two restricted APIs.
--rpc-login	Specify username[:password] required to connect to API. Practical usage seems limited because API communication is in plain text over HTTP.
--rpc-access-control-origins	Specify a comma separated list of origins to allow cross origin resource sharing. This is useful if you want to use monerod API directly from a web browser via JavaScript (say in a pure-fronted web appp scenario). With this option monerod will put proper HTTP CORS headers to its responses. You will also need to set --rpc-login if you use this option. Normally though, the API is used by backend app and this option isn't necessary.

Accepting Monero

Option

Description

--block-notify

Run a program for each new block. The argument must be a full path. If the argument contains %s it will be replaced by the block hash. Example: ./monerod --block-notify="/usr/bin/echo %s" Couple of notes: 1) Block notifications are good for immediate reaction. However, you should always assume you will miss some block notifications and you should independently poll the API to cover this up. 2) Mind blockchain reorganizations. Block notifications can revert to same and past heights. This actually happens pretty often. 3) See also --tx-notify option of monero-wallet-rpc daemon here.

Performance

These are advanced options that allow you to optimize performance of your monerod node, sometimes at the expense of reliability.

Option	Description
--db-sync-mode	Specify sync option, using format: `[safe
--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).

Testing Monero itself

These options are useful for Monero project developers and testers. Normal users shouldn't be concerned with these.

Option	Description
--test-drop-download	For net tests: in download, discard ALL blocks instead checking/saving them (very fast).
--test-drop-download-height	Like test-drop-download but discards only after around certain height. By default 0.
--regtest	Run in a regression testing mode.
--fixed-difficulty	Fixed difficulty used for testing. By default 0.
--test-dbg-lock-sleep	Sleep time in ms, defaults to 0 (off), used to debug before/after locking mutex. Values 100 to 1000 are good for tests.
--save-graph	Save data for dr monero.

Legacy

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. By default 127.0.0.1. This is not yet widely used as ZMQ interface currently does not provide meaningful advantage over classic JSON-RPC interface. Unfortunately, currently there is no way to disable the ZMQ server.
--zmq-rpc-bind-port	Port for ZMQ RPC server to listen on. By default 18082 for mainnet, 38082 for stagenet, and 28082 for testnet.
--db-type	Specify database type. The default and only available: lmdb.

Commands

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

The following groups are only to make reference easier to follow. The daemon itself does not group commands in any way.

See running for example usage. You can also type commands directly in the console of the running monerod (if not detached).

Help, version, status

Option	Description
help [<command>]	Show help for <command>.
version	Show version information. Example output: Monero 'Beryllium Bullet' (v0.13.0.2-release)
status	Show status. Example output: Height: 186754/186754 (100.0%) on stagenet, not mining, net hash 317 H/s, v9, up to date, 8(out)+0(in) connections, uptime 0d 3h 48m 47s

P2P network

Option	Description
print_pl	Show the full peer list.
print_pl_stats	Show the full peer list statistics (white vs gray peers). White peers are online and reachable. Grey peers are offline but your monerod remembers them from past sessions.
print_cn	Show connected peers with connection initiative (incoming/outgoing) and other stats.
ban <IP> [<seconds>]	Ban a given <IP> for a given amount of <seconds>. By default the ban is for 24h. Example: ./monerod ban 187.63.135.161.
unban <IP>	Unban a given <IP>.
bans	Show the currently banned IPs. Example output: 187.63.135.161 banned for 86397 seconds.
in_peers <max_number>	Set the <max_number> of incoming connections from other peers.
out_peers <max_number>	Set the <max_number> of outgoing connections to other peers.
limit [<kB/s>]	Get or set the download and upload limit.
limit_down [<kB/s>]	Get or set the download limit.
limit_up [<kB/s>]	Get or set the upload limit.

Transaction pool

Option	Description
flush_txpool [<txid>]	Flush specified transaction from transactions pool, or flush the whole transactions pool if was not provided.
print_pool	Print the transaction pool using a verbose format.
print_pool_sh	Print the transaction pool using a short format.
print_pool_stats	Print the transaction pool's statistics (number of transactions, memory size, fees, double spend attempts etc).

Transactions

Option	Description
print_coinbase_tx_sum <start_height> [<block_count>]	Show a sum of all emitted coins and paid fees within specified range. Example: ./monerod print_coinbase_tx_sum 0 1000000000000
print_tx <transaction_hash> [+hex] [+json]	Show specified transaction as JSON and/or HEX.
relay_tx <txid>	Force relaying the transaction. Useful if you want to rebroadcast the transaction for any reason or if transaction was previously created with "do_not_relay":true.

Blockchain

Option	Description
print_height	Show local blockchain height.
sync_info	Show blockchain sync progress and connected peers along with download / upload stats.
print_bc <begin_height> [<end_height>]	Show blocks in range <begin_height>..<end_height>. The information will include block id, height, timestamp, version, size, weight, number of non-coinbase transactions, difficulty, nonce, and reward.
`print_block <block_hash>	<block_height>`
hard_fork_info	Show current consensus version and future hard fork block height, if any.
is_key_image_spent <key_image>	Check if specified key image is spent. Key image is a hash.

Manage daemon

Option	Description
exit, stop_daemon	Ask daemon to exit gracefully. The exit and stop_daemon are identical (one is alias of the other).
`set_log	<{+,-,}categories>`
print_status	Show if daemon is running.
`update (check	download)`

Mining

Option	Description
show_hr	Ask monerod daemon to stop printing current hash rate. Relevant only if monerod is mining.
hide_hr	Ask monerod daemon to print current hash rate. Relevant only if monerod is mining.
start_mining <addr> [<threads>] [do_background_mining] [ignore_battery]	Ask moneroddaemon to start mining. Block reward will go to <addr>.
stop_mining	Ask monerod daemon to stop mining.

Testing Monero itself

Option	Description
start_save_graph	Start saving data for dr Monero.
stop_save_graph	Stop saving data for dr Monero.

Legacy

Option	Description
save	Flush blockchain data to disk. This is normally no longer necessary as monerod saves the blockchain automatically on exit.
output_histogram [@<amount>] <min_count> [<max_count>]	Show number of outputs for each amount denomination. This was only relevant in the pre-RingCT era. The old wallet used this to determine which outputs can be used for the requested mixin. With RingCT denominations are irrelevant as amounts are hidden. More info in these SA answers.