darkfi/bin/explorer/explorerd

Explorerd

The explorerd is a Rust-based daemon responsible for running a DarkFi Explorer node to synchronize blockchain data with DarkFi nodes across multiple networks. During startup, it syncs missing or outdated blocks and then listens for live updates to ensure the Explorer provides accurate and up-to-date information about blockchain activity, including blocks, transactions, and key metrics such as gas consumption.

The explorerd is designed to handle real-world blockchain events, such as reorganizations ("reorgs"), missing blocks, and divergences between networks. Its primary purpose is to ensure a consistent view of DarkFi blockchain data across different networks. For its storage layer, it leverages sled to take advantage of its performance, scalability, and reliability.

---

Key Features

• Full Blockchain Synchronization: Ensures the Explorer's database reflects the current state of the DarkFi blockchain by syncing missing or outdated block data.
• Reorg Mitigation: Detects and resolves chain reorganizations to maintain alignment with the respective networks.
• Real-Time Updates: Leverages DarkFi's subscription interface to receive live block and transaction data.
• On-The-Fly Metric Calculations: Computes analytics and blockchain metrics for use in the Explorer's UI. This includes maintaining data such as running totals, min/max values, and transaction counts when processing blocks, allowing for efficient gas metric calculations without iterating through previous transactions.

---

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed and configured:

• Rust 1.86.0 or later: For building and running the explorer daemon (explorerd).
• Darkfid: Installed and configurable using Darkfid Config.
• Minerd: Installed and configurable using Minerd Config.

---

Configuration

The explorerd uses a TOML configuration file to manage different environment settings, located at Explorerd Config. If no configuration file is provided, a default configuration file is automatically generated at ~/.config/darkfi/explorerd_config.toml the first time the explorerd daemon is run. This pre-configured explorerd configuration is set up to connect to the DarkFi darkfid localnet, testnet, and mainnet networks.

Example Configuration

Below is an example of a localnet configuration for explorerd (~/.config/darkfi/explorerd_config.toml):

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Localnet Configuration
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[network_config."localnet"]

# Path to daemon database
database = "~/.local/share/darkfi/explorerd/localnet"

# darkfid JSON-RPC endpoint
endpoint = "tcp://127.0.0.1:8240"

## Localnet JSON-RPC settings
[network_config."localnet".rpc]
# JSON-RPC listen URL
rpc_listen = "tcp://127.0.0.1:14567"

# Disabled RPC methods
#rpc_disabled_methods = []

Note: When updating the configuration, ensure the endpoint field matches the rpc_listen endpoint in the respective darkfid configuration, and that the database and rpc_listen paths are consistent with your environment.

---

Supported DarkFi Blockchain Networks

The explorerd daemon is pre-configured to support the following DarkFi blockchain environments:

• localnet: Ideal for development and testing in a local environment using darkfid's localnet configuration.
• testnet: Used for testing the explorer with darkfid's testnet network (pending availability).
• mainnet: The production environment for running the explorer on DarkFi's canonical chain (pending availability).

These blockchain environments are defined in the darkfid configuration file, located at Darkfid Config. The pre-configured explorerd network settings are configured to connect to the darkfid nodes running these networks.

Note: Once the testnet and mainnet are fully available, the explorer will sync more than just the genesis blocks for these networks.

Installation

Navigate to the explorerd directory, build the binary using make, and install it:

cd bin/explorer/explorerd
make install

Use make without install to build the explorerd binary in bin/explorerd without installing it.

---

Running the Daemon

1. Configure the Daemons

• For Darkfid Localnet: Explorerd is pre-configured to connect to the respective darkfid networks. No additional configuration is required when running explorerd without a configuration file.
• For Custom Configurations: To create a custom configuration file, use explorerd_config.toml as a template and modify it as needed. Ensure that the endpoint in the explorerd configuration matches the rpc_listen value in the corresponding darkfid_config.toml file, enabling proper connection to the corresponding DarkFi blockchain node.

Example Alignment:

• darkfid_config.toml:

  [network_config."localnet".rpc]
  rpc_listen = "tcp://127.0.0.1:8240"
  

• explorerd_config.toml:

  [network_config."localnet"]
  endpoint = "tcp://127.0.0.1:8240"
  

• For Contrib/Localnet Networks: If you're using a contrib/localnet network, update the endpoint in your explorerd_config.toml to match the rpc_listen endpoint in the respective darkfid configuration.

For information on configuring darkfid and minerd, refer to their respective documentation.

2. Start Supporting Daemons

Running Against darkfid's localnet

Start the minerd and darkfid daemons using their default configurations.

# Start the mining daemon using default settings
minerd

# Start darkfid using default settings on localnet 
darkfid --network localnet

Running Against contrib/localnet/darkfid-single-node

Run the DarkFi single-node.

# Change directory and start contrib/localnet/singlenode
cd contrib/localnet/darkfid-single-node
./tmux_sessions.sh

3. Start the explorerd Daemon

Syncing with darkfid's localnet

Run the explorerd daemon to sync with darkfid's localnet blockchain data.

# Start the explorer daemon using pre-configured localnet configuration
explorerd --network localnet

Syncing with Custom DarkFi Blockchain Endpoint

Run the explorerd daemon using a custom configuration with updated darkfid endpoint:

# Run explorerd using a custom configuration
explorerd -c explorerd-config.toml --network localnet

Ensure the endpoint in explorerd-config.toml is updated to match the desired darkfid endpoint.

---