# Nym API Setup [//]: # (> The nym-api binary was built in the [building nym](../binaries/building-nym.md) section. If you haven't yet built Nym and want to run the code, go there first. You can build just the API with `cargo build --release --bin nym-api`.) > The `nym-api` binary will be released in the immediate future - we're releasing this document beforehand so that validators have information as soon as possible and get an idea of what to expect. This doc will be expanded over time as we release the API binary itself as well as start enabling functionality. > > You can build the API with `cargo build --release --bin nym-api`. > Any syntax in `<>` brackets is a user's unique variable. Exchange with a corresponding name without the `<>` brackets. ## What is the Nym API? The Nym API is a binary that will be operated by the Nyx validator set. This binary can be run in several different modes, and has two main bits of functionality: * network monitoring (calculating the routing score of Mixnet nodes) * generation and validation of [zk-Nyms](https://blog.nymtech.net/zk-nyms-are-here-a-major-milestone-towards-a-market-ready-mixnet-a3470c9ab10a), our implementation of the Coconut Selective Disclosure Credential Scheme. This is important for both the proper decentralisation of the network uptime calculation and, more pressingly, enabling the NymVPN to utilise privacy preserving payments. The process of enabling these different aspects of the system will take time. At the moment, Nym API operators will only have to run the binary in a minimal 'caching' mode in order to get used to maintaining an additional process running alongside a full node. ```admonish warning It is highly recommended to run `nym-api` alongside a full node and NOT a validator node, since you will be exposing HTTP port(s) to the Internet. We also observed degradation in p2p and block signing operations when `nym-api` was run alongside a signing validator. ``` ### Rewards Operators of Nym API will be rewarded for performing the extra work of taking part in credential generation. These rewards will be calculated **separately** from rewards for block production. Rewards for credential signing will be calculated hourly, with API operators receiving a proportional amount of the reward pool (333NYM per hour / 237,600 NYM per month), proportional to the percentage of credentials they have signed. ### Hardware Requirements The specification mentioned below is for running a full node alongside the nym-api. It is recommended to run `nym-api` and a full Nyx node on the same machine for optimum performance. Bear in mind that credential signing is primarily CPU-bound, so choose the fastest CPU available to you. #### Minimum Requirements | Hardware | Minimum Specification | |----------|--------------------------------------------| | CPU | 8-cores, 2.8GHz base clock speed or higher | | RAM | 16GB DDR4+ | | Disk | 500 GiB+ NVMe SSD | #### Recommended Requirements | Hardware | Minimum Specification | |----------|---------------------------------------------| | CPU | 16-cores, 2.8GHz base clock speed or higher | | RAM | 32GB DDR4+ | | Disk | 1 TiB+ NVMe SSD | ### Full node configuration To install a full node from scratch, refer to the [validator setup guide](./validator-setup.md) and follow the steps outlined there. Additionally, to ensure `nym-api` works as expected, ensure the configuration is as below: #### Ensure transaction index is turned on in your `config.toml`: ``` [tx_index] # Ensure that this is not set to "null". You're free to use any indexer indexer = "kv" ``` #### Ensure pruning settings are manually configured `nym-api` needs to check validity of user-submitted transactions (in the past) while issuing credentials and as part of double-spend check. Hence, aggressively pruning data will lead to errors with your `nym-api` Make sure your pruning settings are configured as below in `app.toml`: ``` pruning = "custom" # This number is likely to be updated once zk-nym signing goes live pruning-keep-recent = "750000" pruning-interval = "100" ``` The example value of `100` for `pruning-interval` can be customised as per your requirement. ### (Coming Soon) Credential Generation Validators that take part in the DKG ceremony will become part of the 'quorum' generating and verifying zk-Nym credentials. These will initially be used for private proof of payment for NymVPN (see our blogposts [here](https://blog.nymtech.net/nymvpn-an-invitation-for-privacy-experts-and-enthusiasts-63644139d09d) and [here](https://blog.nymtech.net/zk-nyms-are-here-a-major-milestone-towards-a-market-ready-mixnet-a3470c9ab10a) for more on this), and in the future will be expanded into more general usecases such as [offline ecash](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.08221). The DKG ceremony will be used to create a subset of existing validators - referred to as the quorum. As outlined above, they will be the ones taking part in the generation and verification of zk-Nym credentials. The size of the 'minimum viable quorum' is 10 - we are aiming for a larger number than this for the initial quorum in order to have some redundancy in the case of a Validator dropping or going offline. We will be releasing more detailed step-by-step documentation for involved validators nearer to the ceremony itself, but at a high level it will involve: * the deployment and initialisation of [`group`](https://github.com/nymtech/nym/tree/develop/contracts/multisig/cw4-group) and [`multisig`](https://github.com/nymtech/nym/tree/develop/contracts/multisig) contracts by Nym. Validators that are members of the `group` contract are the only ones that will be able to take part in the ceremony. * the deployment and initialisation of an instance of the [DKG contract](https://github.com/nymtech/nym/tree/develop/contracts/coconut-dkg) by Nym. * Validators will update their `nym-api` configs with the address of the deployed contracts. They will also stop running their API instance in caching only mode, instead switching over run with the `--enabled-credentials-mode`. * From the perspective of operators, this is all they have to do. Under the hood, each `nym-api` instance will then take part in several rounds of key submission, verification, and derivation. This will continue until quorum is acheived. More information on this will be released closer to the time of the ceremony. **We will be communicating individually with members of the existing Validator set who have expressed interest in joining the quorum concerning the timing and specifics of the ceremony**. ## Current version ``` ``` ## Setup and Usage ### Viewing command help You can check that your binary is properly compiled with: ``` ./nym-api --help ``` Which should return a list of all available commands. ~~~admonish example collapsible=true title="Console output" ``` ``` ~~~ You can also check the various arguments required for individual commands with: ``` ./nym-api --help ``` ### Initialising your Nym API Instance Initialise your API instance with: ``` ./nym-api init ``` You can optionally pass a local identifier for this instance with the `--id` flag. Otherwise the ID of your instance defaults to `default`. ### Running your Nym API Instance The API binary currently defaults to running in caching mode. You can run your API with: ``` ./nym-api run ``` By default the API will be trying to query your full node running locally on `localhost:26657`. If your node is hosted elsewhere, you can specify the RPC location by using the `--nyxd-validator ` flag on `run`: ``` ./nym-api run --nyxd-validator https://rpc-nym.yourcorp.tld:443 ``` > You can also change the value of `local_validator` in the config file found by default in `$HOME/.nym/nym-api//config/config.toml`. This process is quite noisy, but informative: ~~~admonish example collapsible=true title="Console output" ``` Starting nym api... 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch > 🔧 Configured for release. 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > address: 127.0.0.1 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > port: 8000 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > workers: 4 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > max blocking threads: 512 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > ident: Rocket 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > IP header: X-Real-IP 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > limits: bytes = 8KiB, data-form = 2MiB, file = 1MiB, form = 32KiB, json = 1MiB, msgpack = 1MiB, string = 8KiB 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > temp dir: /tmp 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > http/2: true 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > keep-alive: 5s 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > tls: disabled 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > shutdown: ctrlc = true, force = true, signals = [SIGTERM], grace = 2s, mercy = 3s 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > log level: critical 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > cli colors: true 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch > 📬 Routes: 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_registered_names) GET /v1/names 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_mixnodes) GET /v1/mixnodes 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_gateways) GET /v1/gateways 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_services) GET /v1/services 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /v1/openapi.json 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_full_circulating_supply) GET /v1/circulating-supply 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_current_epoch) GET /v1/epoch/current 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_active_set) GET /v1/mixnodes/active 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_mixnodes_detailed) GET /v1/mixnodes/detailed 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_rewarded_set) GET /v1/mixnodes/rewarded 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_gateways_described) GET /v1/gateways/described 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_interval_reward_params) GET /v1/epoch/reward_params 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_blacklisted_mixnodes) GET /v1/mixnodes/blacklisted 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_blacklisted_gateways) GET /v1/gateways/blacklisted 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_total_supply) GET /v1/circulating-supply/total-supply-value 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_circulating_supply) GET /v1/circulating-supply/circulating-supply-value 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_active_set_detailed) GET /v1/mixnodes/active/detailed 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_rewarded_set_detailed) GET /v1/mixnodes/rewarded/detailed 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /cors/ 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /swagger/ 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /swagger/index.css 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /swagger/index.html 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /swagger/swagger-ui.css 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /swagger/oauth2-redirect.html 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /swagger/swagger-ui-bundle.js 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /swagger/swagger-ui-config.json 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /swagger/swagger-initializer.js 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > GET /swagger/swagger-ui-standalone-preset.js 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_mixnodes_detailed) GET /v1/status/mixnodes/detailed 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_mixnode_inclusion_probabilities) GET /v1/status/mixnodes/inclusion_probability 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_mixnode_status) GET /v1/status/mixnode//status 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_active_set_detailed) GET /v1/status/mixnodes/active/detailed 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_rewarded_set_detailed) GET /v1/status/mixnodes/rewarded/detailed 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_mixnode_stake_saturation) GET /v1/status/mixnode//stake-saturation 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (get_mixnode_inclusion_probability) GET /v1/status/mixnode//inclusion-probability 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (network_details) GET /v1/network/details 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (nym_contracts) GET /v1/network/nym-contracts 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > (nym_contracts_detailed) GET /v1/network/nym-contracts-detailed 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch > 📡 Fairings: 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > Validator Cache Stage (ignite) 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > Circulating Supply Cache Stage (ignite) 2023-12-12T14:29:55.800Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > Shield (liftoff, response, singleton) 2023-12-12T14:29:55.801Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > CORS (ignite, request, response) 2023-12-12T14:29:55.801Z INFO rocket::launch::_ > Node Status Cache (ignite) 2023-12-12T14:29:55.801Z INFO rocket::shield::shield > 🛡️ Shield: 2023-12-12T14:29:55.801Z INFO rocket::shield::shield::_ > X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff 2023-12-12T14:29:55.801Z INFO rocket::shield::shield::_ > X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN 2023-12-12T14:29:55.801Z INFO rocket::shield::shield::_ > Permissions-Policy: interest-cohort=() 2023-12-12T14:29:55.801Z WARN rocket::launch > 🚀 Rocket has launched from http://127.0.0.1:8000 2023-12-12T14:29:56.375Z INFO nym_api::nym_contract_cache::cache::refresher > Updating validator cache. There are 888 mixnodes and 105 gateways 2023-12-12T14:29:56.375Z INFO nym_api::node_status_api::cache::refresher > Updating node status cache 2023-12-12T14:29:57.359Z INFO nym_api::circulating_supply_api::cache > Updating circulating supply cache 2023-12-12T14:29:57.359Z INFO nym_api::circulating_supply_api::cache > the mixmining reserve is now 220198535489690unym 2023-12-12T14:29:57.359Z INFO nym_api::circulating_supply_api::cache > the number of tokens still vesting is now 145054386857730unym 2023-12-12T14:29:57.359Z INFO nym_api::circulating_supply_api::cache > the circulating supply is now 634747077652580unym 2023-12-12T14:30:00.803Z INFO nym_api::support::caching::refresher > node-self-described-data-refresher: refreshing cache state 2023-12-12T14:31:56.290Z INFO nym_api::nym_contract_cache::cache::refresher > Updating validator cache. There are 888 mixnodes and 105 gateways 2023-12-12T14:31:56.291Z INFO nym_api::node_status_api::cache::refresher > Updating node status cache ``` ~~~ ## Automation You will most likely want to automate your validator restarting if your server reboots. Checkout the [maintenance page](./maintenance.md) for an example `service` file. ## Exposing web endpoint using HTTPS It is recommended to expose the webserver over HTTPS by using a webserver like Nginx. An example configuration for configuring Nginx is listed [on the maintenance page](maintenance.md#nym-api-configuration). If you're using a custom solution, ensure to allow requests from anywhere by setting a permissive CORS policy. For example, it is configured in Nginx using: `add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' '*';`