How a node finds the pack
Three steps, and the third is the whole point.
A new node knows nobody
It has the software and an empty address book. Before it downloads a single block it asks a seed name: who is out there? Bitcoin Core ships eight such names, each run by a known developer.
The seed has been crawling
Around the clock, it connects to every node it hears about and remembers which ones are really reachable. It answers with a few dozen of them. This seed answers only with nodes that advertise DOG Mode.
Dog nodes find each other
DOG Mode reserves four connections for other dog nodes. Without a seed they fill by luck, on a network of 26,000 nodes. With one they fill in the first minute instead of the first week.
$ dig +short x4009.dnsseed.dogofbitcoin.com
The seed answers at dnsseed.dogofbitcoin.com; this page is about it. The x4009 prefix is the filter a node sends: NETWORK, WITNESS and the DOG Mode bit. Answers begin the day the first dog node is on the network.
What it is not
A phone book. Nothing more.
- 01Not a gatekeeper. It hands out addresses and nothing else. It cannot decide who joins the network or what a node accepts.
- 02Not a watcher. It never sees your transactions. It never sees your keys or your funds. It sees an address and a port, like every node you connect to.
- 03Not a switch. Turn it off and every node keeps running on the address book it already has. That is how seeds are built, and why Bitcoin Core ships eight of them.
Get counted
Run a DOG Mode node with port 8333 open.
The crawler finds you within the hour and the number above moves. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to prove, no account. Being counted is recognition, not a reward: a node runner can be named on a board one day if they choose to be, and that is all it is.
The runbook for running a node, written from the one we run ourselves: what it is, what you need, how to build a commit you can name, how to open the port on purpose, how to update without a re-sync.
Read the runbookQuestions
The ones people ask first.
What is a DNS seed?
A name that a new Bitcoin node asks, once, to get its first few dozen peer addresses. Bitcoin Core ships with eight, each run by a known developer under their own domain. After the first minutes a node keeps its own address book and rarely asks again.
Why does DOG Mode need one?
DOG Mode nodes relay transactions that Core policy nodes drop, so they need each other as peers. The client reserves four connections for other DOG Mode nodes, but it can only connect to ones it has heard of, and Core's seeds do not know which nodes run DOG Mode. A DOG seed answers with those nodes only.
Does the seed control anything?
No. It hands out addresses. It cannot see your transactions, change what your node accepts, or stop your node from running. Turn it off and every existing node keeps working. A new node can be pointed at any known peer by hand.
Is one seed centralisation?
One is a start, not a design. Bitcoin Core has eight for a reason. The recipe for running a DOG seed is published so others can run their own, and the client should list several.
What do you log?
Only what running a DNS server needs, kept no longer than necessary, never shared. The crawl data (how many nodes advertise DOG Mode, and where in the world) is aggregate, and it is what the live counter shows. Node addresses are not published on the counter.
Does a seed make big transactions confirm?
No. Relaying a transaction is not confirming it. A 975 kvB transaction or a 1 sat output reaches a block only when a miner running a compatible policy includes it. A seed makes DOG Mode findable. Miners make it real.
How do I get counted?
Run a DOG Mode node with port 8333 open to the world. The crawler finds you within the hour. There is nothing to sign up for.
Who runs this
A non-profit, not a business.
This seed is operated by Dog of Bitcoin Foundation Inc, a 501(c)(3) public charity (IRS determination effective June 16, 2025). It runs the seed as a public service and takes nothing from anyone for it. The DOG Mode client and dogswap.io are separate, volunteer-run community efforts; the Foundation asks nothing of them and speaks for neither.
What we sign up to
Bitcoin Core's rules for seed operators, taken as ours.
- Answers contain only fairly selected, working nodes from the public network. No group of hosts ever gets different results.
- DNS answers carry a time to live of at least one minute.
- Query logging only as much as running the service needs, retained no longer than necessary, never disclosed to a third party.
- Good host security, control of the infrastructure kept, never sold or transferred.
- A reachable contact, published. If we ever cannot meet these, we stop, and say so.
seed operations: contact@dogofbitcoin.org
Plant your own
One seed is a start, not a design.
Bitcoin Core has eight seeds so that no single operator matters. The recipe for running a DOG seed is published the day this one answers, so the second and the third are not ours. Want to run one? Write to the address above.