peer

Running a Convex Peer

A peer participates in consensus (CPoS), holds state in an Etch store, and optionally serves the REST API.

For local development and testing you almost always want the local-network skill instead — it starts a throwaway network in one command. Use this skill when running a peer against a real network, or setting up a new one.

peer accepts -c / --config for a configuration file.

Joining an Existing Network

java -jar convex.jar peer create --host <existing-peer>

Configures and creates a peer against a running network. Needs an existing peer to bootstrap from and a valid peer controller account; generates a new peer key unless one is supplied.

Then start it:

java -jar convex.jar peer start

Useful start options:

--reset discards local peer state. Confirm before using it on anything that is not disposable.

Creating a New Network

java -jar convex.jar peer genesis

Instantiates a new Convex network — a genesis state with this peer as the first participant. --governance-key sets the governance key; --protocol-version pins the protocol version.

This creates a new network, not a connection to an existing one. Do not run it when the intent was to join Protonet or a testnet.

Managing

java -jar convex.jar peer list                    # peers in the current store
java -jar convex.jar peer backup -o <file>        # back up stored peer data

Back up before any operation that resets or migrates peer state. See the etch skill for working on the underlying store directly.

Keys

Peer keys are separate from account keys: --peer-key and --peer-keypass select the peer's key from the keystore. The peer controller account is set with -a / --address.