Node Strategies

Node strategies offer advanced users detailed control over their node's behavior and HOPR protocol interactions. Configure settings like ticket redemption thresholds and automatic channel management to optimize performance. To modify or manage these strategies, implement the configuration file as described in the node configuration guide.

Fund your channels for Cover Traffic

The strategy in the hosted configuration files gets your node onto the network: it opens and funds payment channels so your node can relay traffic. To be eligible for Cover Traffic, your node also needs at least 5 open outgoing channels with at least 100 wxHOPR each. The default funding values don't keep that much in your channels, so change the funding settings of ChannelLifecycle in your configuration file:

strategy:
  allow_recursive: false
  strategies:
    - AutoRedeeming:
        redeem_on_winning: true
    - ChannelLifecycle:
        population:
          min_open_channels: 5
          target_open_channels: 20
          peer_reopen_cooldown: 30m
        funding:
          sizing_mode:
            probabilistic:
              success_probability: 0.99
          initial_capacity: "8964 MiB" # 150 wxHOPR
          lower_capacity_threshold: "6148 MiB" # 112.5 wxHOPR
          topup_capacity: "1225 MiB" # 37.5 wxHOPR
        finalizer:
          finalize_max_concurrent: 5
        concurrency:
          max_concurrent_actions: 5

caution

Copy sizing_mode too. If a funding section leaves it out, the node uses deterministic, and the same capacities fund only about 90 wxHOPR per channel, which isn't enough for Cover Traffic.

With these values:

• Your node opens each new channel with 150 wxHOPR.
• When a channel's balance drops to 112.5 wxHOPR or less, your node tops it up with 37.5 wxHOPR, back to 150 wxHOPR. This keeps your channels above 100 wxHOPR while your node relays traffic.

Your node takes this wxHOPR from your Safe:

• Keep at least 750 wxHOPR in your Safe for the 5 channels (5 × 150 wxHOPR), plus extra for top-ups.
• Your node also uses any wxHOPR left in your Safe to open more channels, up to target_open_channels (20 in the hosted configuration files, which needs 3,000 wxHOPR). If these extra channels use up your Safe, your node can't top up your first 5 channels. If you keep less wxHOPR in your Safe, lower target_open_channels, for example to 5.

note

Channel funding is set as data capacity, not as wxHOPR. Your node converts it using the current ticket price and winning probability, and always funds whole winning tickets. The wxHOPR amounts in the comments apply to the current network values. After your node opens its channels, check their balances with GET …/channels, as described in How can I verify if Cover Traffic is being relayed through my node(s)?

After you change the configuration file, restart your node as described in Managing Node Service.

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Understanding node strategies

Node strategies are set in the strategy section of the configuration file.

strategy

In this section, you can configure various strategies for your node, enabling you to optimize its performance and behavior to meet your specific requirements. Each strategy is a list item whose name is followed by a colon, with its settings indented below it:

strategy:
  allow_recursive: false
  execution_interval: 60s
  strategies:
    - AutoRedeeming:
        redeem_all_on_close: true
        minimum_redeem_ticket_value: "1 wxHOPR"
        redeem_on_winning: true
    - ChannelLifecycle:
        population:
          min_open_channels: 5
          target_open_channels: 8
        funding:
          sizing_mode:
            probabilistic:
              success_probability: 0.99
          initial_capacity: "1 GiB"
          topup_capacity: "512 MiB"
          lower_capacity_threshold: "512 MiB"

Every setting has a default, so you only need to list the settings you want to change. To use a strategy with all its defaults, write - ChannelLifecycle: {}. Unknown settings are rejected and stop the node from starting.

If you leave the whole strategy section out of your configuration file, the node uses AutoRedeeming (with redeem_on_winning: true) and ChannelLifecycle (with success_probability: 0.99). If you add a strategy section, only the strategies you list are active.

Settings	Default value	Description
strategy.allow_recursive	true	Allows nesting strategies through Multi. Nesting is limited to one level.
strategy.execution_interval	60s	How often the strategies run their periodic checks. The minimum is 10s. ChannelLifecycle uses its own tick_interval instead.
strategy.strategies		The list of strategies to run. If the list is empty, the node behaves as Passive.

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strategy.strategies: AutoRedeeming

Automatically redeems winning tickets.

Settings	Default value	Description
redeem_all_on_close	true	Redeem all tickets in a channel (above minimum_redeem_ticket_value) when the channel starts closing.
minimum_redeem_ticket_value	1 wxHOPR	The strategy only redeems a winning ticket if it's worth at least this amount. If set to 0, tickets are redeemed regardless of their value.
redeem_on_winning	false	Redeem each winning ticket as soon as it arrives. Otherwise, tickets are redeemed periodically. Set it to true when winning tickets are rare (winning probability below 1%).

strategy.strategies: ChannelLifecycle

Automatically opens, funds, tops up, closes and finalizes your outgoing payment channels based on peer connectivity and quality. Channel stakes are set as data capacity (for example "1 GiB") and converted to wxHOPR by the node.

Settings	Default value	Description
tick_interval	60s	Time between full evaluation passes.
jitter	5s	Maximum random offset added to tick_interval.
population.min_open_channels	5	Minimum number of open outgoing channels. Closures are paused when the count would drop below this.
population.target_open_channels	8	Target number of open outgoing channels. New channels are opened until this target is reached.
population.peer_reopen_cooldown	15m	How long a peer is ineligible for a new channel after its previous channel closed.
eligibility.require_currently_connected	true	Only open channels to peers that are currently connected.
eligibility.min_peer_quality_score	0.5	Minimum peer quality score (0 to 1) for opening a channel.
eligibility.peer_quality_weight	0.6	Weight of the peer quality score in the combined peer score.
eligibility.ticket_activity_weight	0.4	Weight of ticket activity in the combined peer score.
eligibility.require_observed_since_start	true	Only close a channel if the peer has been observed since the node started. Prevents closing channels right after a restart.
eligibility.allowlist	~ (none)	If set, only open channels to these node addresses.
eligibility.blocklist	[]	Never open channels to these node addresses.
eligibility.demote_non_forwarding_peers	true	Prefer peers that fund their own outgoing channels, so they can relay traffic further.
eligibility.minimum_peer_outgoing_channels	1	Funded outgoing channels a peer needs to count as able to relay.
funding.initial_capacity	1 GiB	Data volume a new channel's stake should be able to carry.
funding.topup_capacity	1 GiB	Data volume added when a channel is topped up.
funding.lower_capacity_threshold	256 MiB	Remaining capacity below which a channel is topped up.
funding.sizing_mode	deterministic	How capacity is converted to a wxHOPR stake. If you leave the whole strategy section out, the node uses probabilistic with success_probability: 0.99 instead. deterministic funds the expected usage. probabilistic with success_probability (between 0.5 and 1, default 0.999) adds a safety buffer so the channel rarely runs out before a top-up.
proactive_funding.enabled	true	Top up channels early based on how fast they are being used.
proactive_funding.safety_margin	1.5	Multiplier applied to the projected usage when deciding to top up.
proactive_funding.balance_drain_weight	1.0	Weight of balance decreases in the usage estimate.
proactive_funding.ticket_index_drain_weight	1.0	Weight of ticket activity in the usage estimate.
closure.close_when_peer_unseen_for	24h	Close a channel after the peer has been absent for this long.
closure.close_below_quality_score	0.3	Close channels to peers whose quality score dropped below this.
closure.close_when_drained_below	0 wxHOPR	Close channels whose balance dropped below this amount.
closure.close_max_concurrent	2	Maximum number of closures started per pass.
closure.close_after_disconnected_ticks	3	Passes in a row a peer must be disconnected before its channel is closed.
finalizer.enabled	true	Finalize channel closures automatically once the closure period has passed.
finalizer.max_closure_overdue	15m	Extra time to wait after the closure period before finalizing.
finalizer.finalize_max_concurrent	4	Maximum number of finalizations started per pass.
restart.startup_observation_period	1m	No channel is closed for this long after the node starts.
restart.startup_close_grace_period	5m	Channels to connected peers are protected from closure for this long after the node starts.
concurrency.max_concurrent_actions	4	Maximum number of channel transactions (open, fund, close, finalize) in progress at once.
selector	default	How peers are chosen for opening and closing: default, low_latency, balanced, dispersed or economical.

strategy.strategies: AutoFunding

Automatically funds channels with a specified amount if the stake on any channel falls below the defined threshold. ChannelLifecycle already tops up channels, so you don't need this strategy when you use it.

Settings	Default value	Description
funding_amount	10 wxHOPR	The amount to fund a channel with when its stake drops below the threshold. Must be greater than zero.
min_stake_threshold	1 wxHOPR	The stake below which a channel is funded.

strategy.strategies: ClosureFinalizer

Finalizes channels in the PendingToClose state once their closure period has elapsed. ChannelLifecycle already does this through its finalizer settings.

Settings	Default value	Description
max_closure_overdue	300s	Channels that have been overdue for longer than this are not finalized. Write the value with a unit, for example 300s.

strategy.strategies: Multi

Groups several strategies. It takes the same settings as the strategy section: allow_recursive, execution_interval and strategies.

strategy.strategies: Passive

A strategy that does nothing. This is equivalent to leaving the strategies list empty. Write it as - Passive.