DERO Daemon (Node)

The DERO daemon (derod) is the core software that runs the DERO blockchain network. It validates transactions, maintains the blockchain, and connects peers in a decentralized P2P network.

What Does a Daemon Do?

Network Ports

Mainnet

Testnet

Source: config/config.go (RPC + GETWORK ports); p2p/controller.go:502 (P2P default 0.0.0.0:0 — random); README.md:133 (10101 convention).

Verify your binaries

Before running derod or dero-wallet-cli from a download, confirm the binary matches Captain's published GPG signature and the release sha512sum:

gpg --verify checksum.txt.asc
sha512sum dero_linux_amd64.tar.gz

Full instructions for installing Captain's GPG key and running the verification end-to-end are in the DERO forum thread (opens in a new tab).

Reading the derod prompt

When you start derod, the top of the terminal looks like this:

Every field on the prompt is a live signal. Once you can read it, you can diagnose almost any daemon problem at a glance.

Read the prompt left to right:

• When 1 and 2 match, you're synced.
• When 9 shows non-zero seconds, your clock is drifting — fix NTP (see Mining → Time sync — install chrony).
• When 10 climbs into the hundreds of ms, check your network.

Three commands give you more detail any time you need it:

status     # chain height, peers, version, top hash
syncinfo   # per-peer height and direction
help       # full command list

MB / MBR / IB counters

When you're mining (or operating a daemon other miners connect to), three additional counters appear under the prompt's Mining Stats:

The status command's Block Minted line is (MB + IB) − MBR — so when MBR climbs, your minted count visibly drops. MBR is PoW-test rejection only (cmd/derod/rpc/websocket_getwork_server.go:137), so the root-causes to check, in order: (1) clock drift on the miner host (Mining → Time sync); (2) network instability dropping work mid-flight; (3) an unofficial miner binary submitting malformed work — switch back to the official dero-miner.

Running Your Own Node

Basic command:

./derod-linux-amd64
 
# With custom settings
./derod-linux-amd64 --rpc-bind=0.0.0.0:10102 --p2p-bind=0.0.0.0:10101

System Requirements:

• CPU: 2 to 4 cores minimum
• RAM: 4GB minimum
• Disk: 15GB+ SSD (grows over time)
• Network: Stable internet connection

Integrator Rewards

The 10% Daemon Bonus

How it works:

Every 10 miniblocks → 1 integrator block
  • 9 regular miniblocks (normal difficulty)
  • 1 integrator block (9× difficulty)
  
Integrator block reward → Your daemon address
Result: Daemon operators earn ~10% of blocks mined on their node

Why run your own daemon:

• ✅ Earn 10% integrator rewards (vs 1.6% fee to pool operators)
• ✅ Support network decentralization
• ✅ Full privacy (no third-party node)
• ✅ Contribute to blockchain security

Source: Miniblock system described in blockchain/blockchain.go

Sync Status

Understanding the numbers:

# Daemon display
Height: 6090778/6090778  ← Synced!
         ^local  ^network
 
Not synced: 5500000/6090778
Syncing:    6090000/6090778 (99.9%)
Synced:     6090778/6090778 ✓

Fast sync vs Full sync:

• Full sync: Downloads and validates entire blockchain (slow, complete)
• Fast sync: Downloads state snapshots (faster, still secure)

Pruned-node height — why your status looks short

If you started your node with --fastsync, status will print a line like:

Chain is pruned till 6087500

…meaning blocks before that point exist only on full-history nodes. The chain still validates correctly — you just can't serve TX queries from before the prune point.

If you need full history (e.g. to serve TX queries from genesis), there is no "backfill" — --fastsync is a bootstrap-only flag (cmd/derod/main.go:73), and toggling it off post-bootstrap doesn't recover pruned blocks. Captain's recommended path for full history is to start over: stop derod, delete the mainnet/ folder, and run a full sync from zero (no --fastsync).

When your node gets stuck — the pop escalation

If your daemon stops advancing or believes a wrong tip, Captain's recommended recovery is to rewind blocks from the top and let the chain re-sync from your peers.

In practice the ladder operators converge on is:

Steps 1 and 2 are Captain's direct recommendation. Intermediate values (pop 1000, pop 10000) work the same way — pop N simply rewinds N blocks; pick whatever distance reflects how far back you suspect the wedge is.

Daemon as Mining Pool

Each daemon acts as its own mining pool:

Total: 100% (nothing wasted)

Connect miners to your daemon:

# Miner connects to daemon
./dero-miner-linux-amd64 --daemon-rpc-address=127.0.0.1:10100 --wallet-address=dero1qy...

Daemon tracks shares and distributes rewards automatically

Source: Mining pool logic in blockchain/miniblocks.go

Key Features

Privacy-Preserving

• ✅ TLS-encrypted P2P connections
• ✅ Stores encrypted balances (ElGamal)
• ✅ Validates without revealing amounts
• ✅ No metadata leakage

Lightweight Storage

Blockchain storage:
  • Account: 66 bytes (encrypted balance)
  • Total accounts: Scales efficiently
  • Pruning: Can reduce disk usage
  
1 billion accounts = ~200GB (with overhead)
Source: README.md (lines 92-98)

Fast Validation

• Block time: ~18 seconds
• Transaction verification: under 25ms
• Instant balance queries: 66 bytes

Daemon Commands

Interactive mode:

$ ./derod
 
Commands available:
  status          # Show blockchain height, peers
  peer_list       # Connected peers
  diff            # Current difficulty
  print_bc        # Print blockchain info
  print_block     # Show specific block
  print_tx        # Show transaction details
  exit            # Stop daemon

Useful RPC calls:

# Get blockchain info
curl http://127.0.0.1:10102/json_rpc \
  -d '{"method":"DERO.GetInfo"}'
 
# Get block details  
curl http://127.0.0.1:10102/json_rpc \
  -d '{"method":"DERO.GetBlock","params":{"height":100000}}'

Why Run a Daemon?

Benefits:

Trade-offs:

• Requires: Always-on machine, disk space, bandwidth
• Maintains: Full blockchain copy
• Syncs: Initially time-consuming

Related Pages

Get Started:

• Running a Node - Complete VPS setup guide
• DERO Mining - How to mine with your node

API & Integration:

• Daemon RPC API - Full API reference
• Network Ports & Setup - P2P network details

Understanding DERO:

• DERO Blockchain - How DERO works
• Smart Contracts - DVM integration