Questions
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 its port open to the world: 8333 on the client itself, 8433 on the Umbrel app (how). The crawler finds you within hours. There is nothing to sign up for.
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.