nym/documentation/docs/pages/operators/nodes/performance-and-testing/node-api-check.mdx

import { Tabs } from 'nextra/components';
import { Callout } from 'nextra/components';
import { VarInfo } from 'components/variable-info.tsx';
import { Steps } from 'nextra/components';
import { MyTab } from 'components/generic-tabs.tsx';
import NodeApiCheckHelp from 'components/outputs/command-outputs/node-api-check-help.md';
import NodeApiCheckQueryHelp from 'components/outputs/command-outputs/node-api-check-query-help.md'

# Node API Check

<VarInfo />

Operating a `nym-node` is not a *"set and forget"* endeavor, it takes some work. To diagnose node network performance through querying APIs, is a good knowledge to have. These are the main places to look for API endpoints regarding `nym-node`:

- [`openapi.json`](https://validator.nymtech.net/api/v1/openapi.json): a list of all endpoints
- [Swagger UI page](https://validator.nymtech.net/api/swagger/index.html)

Besides that, node operators can check out their node performance, connectivity and much more on [harbourmaster.nymtech.net](https://harbourmaster.nymtech.net/).

### Basic API usage

For information about available endpoints and their status, you can refer to:
```sh
# for http
http://<PUBLIC_IP>:8080/api/v1/swagger/#/
# or
http://<PUBLIC_IP>/api/v1/swagger/#/

# for reversed proxy/WSS
https://<HOSTNAME>/api/v1/swagger/#/
```

For example to determine which mode your node is running, you can check `:8080/api/v1/roles` endpoint:
```sh
# for http
http://<PUBLIC_IP>:8080/api/v1/roles
# or
http://<PUBLIC_IP>/api/v1/roles

# for reversed proxy/WSS
https://<HOSTNAME>/api/v1/roles
```

## `node_api_check.py`

To make this a bit easier, we made a CLI tool querying all available API endpoints based on node `Identity Key` (further denoted as `<ID_KEY>`) called `node_api_check.py`. To diagnose your node performance, whether by yourself or by sharing an output in our [operator channel](https://matrix.to/#/#operators:nymtech.chat), this tool provides you with a quick overview of live data. We recommend to run this checker alongside [`nym_gateway_probe`](gateway-probe.md) to triage both performance and an actual routing.

Besides querying any bonded node APIs, `nym_api_check.py` has a function counting all existing nodes in provided version.

### Setup

#### Pre-requsities

<Steps>

###### 1. Install and configure Python3


- Start with installing Python3:
```sh
sudo apt install python3
```

- Make sure Python3 is your default Python version:
```sh
update-alternatives --install  /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3 1
```

- Verify:
```sh
python --version

# should return higher than 3
```

- Install Python modules `tabulate`, `pandas` and `argparse` either using [`pip`](https://python.land/virtual-environments/installing-packages-with-pip) or if you installed Python3 system-wide you can install modules directly:

<div>
  <Tabs items={[
    <strong>Using <code>pip</code></strong>,
    <strong>System-wide Python installation</strong>,
    ]} defaultIndex="1">
    <MyTab>
      ```sh
      pip install tabulate pandas argparse
      ```
    </MyTab>
    <MyTab>
      ```sh
      sudo apt install python3-tabulate python3-pandas python3-argparse -y
      ```
    </MyTab>
  </Tabs>
</div>

###### 2. Install `node_api_check.py` and make executable  

To run the program you neet to have  [`node_api_check.py`](https://github.com/nymtech/nym/tree/develop/scripts/node_api_check.py) and [`api_endpoints.json`](https://github.com/nymtech/nym/tree/develop/scripts/api_endpoints.json). 

- If you [compiled from source](../../binaries/building-nym.mdx), you already have both of these files. Note that the latest version of this program may be on `develop` branch.

- If you prefer to download them individually, do it by opening terminal in your desired location and running:
```sh
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nymtech/nym/tree/develop/node_api_check.py

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nymtech/nym/tree/develop/api_endpoints.json
```

- Make executable:
```sh
chmod u+x node_api_check.py
```

</Steps>

Now you are ready to check your node.

### Usage & Commands

- Run the program with `--help` flag to see the available commands:
```sh
./node_api_check.py --help
```

- Command Output:

<NodeApiCheckHelp />

#### `query_stats`

When you want to see all the options connected to any command, add a `--help` flag after the command of your choice. Command `query_stats` is the most useful one of this program.

```sh
./node_api_check query_stats --help
```

- Command output:

<NodeApiCheckQueryHelp/ >

The most common usage may be `./node_api_check.py query_stats <ID_KEY>` where `<ID_KEY>` is required, substitute it with node Identity Key.

**Optional arguments**

| Flag                   | Shortcut | Description                                                    |
| :---                   |   :---   | :---                                                           |
| `--markdown`           |   `-m`   | returns output in markdown format                              |
| `--no_routing_history` |   None   | returns output without routing history which can be lengthy    |
| `--no_verloc_metrics`  |   None   | returns output without verloc measurement which can be lengthy |
| `--output`             |   `-o`   | exports output to a file, possible to add a target path        |

#### `version_count`

<Callout>
To see a quick overview of `nym-node` version distribution in numbers and graph, visit [Nym Harbourmaster](https://harbourmaster.nymtech.net).
</Callout>

Another command is `version_count` where at least one `nym-node` version is required. In case of multiple version count, separate the versions with space. We recommend to run this command with `--markdown` flag for a nicer output. This is an example where we want to look up how many registered nodes are on versions `1.1.0`, `1.1.1`, `1.1.2` and `1.1.3`:
```sh
./node_api_check version_count 1.1.0 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.1.3 --markdown
```