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P2P Communication

The AnYa network is a peer-to-peer network where nodes communicate with each other directly. This section provides an overview of the communication protocol and the messages used for communication.

Connection Establishment

To establish a connection with a peer, a node sends a connect message. The connect message includes the peer's network address and the node's own network address. If the peer is available to accept connections, it sends a connection_accepted message back to the node with its own network address.

Message Format

Each message consists of a header and a payload. The header contains the message type and the length of the payload in bytes. The payload is the actual data being sent.

The message type is a string of up to 32 bytes. The length of the payload is a 32-bit unsigned integer.

Message Types

The following message types are supported:

  • connect: Establish a connection with a peer.
  • connection_accepted: Confirm that a connection has been established.
  • disconnect: Request to disconnect from a peer.
  • disconnect_ack: Acknowledge a request to disconnect.
  • ping: Send a ping message to a peer.
  • pong: Respond to a ping message.
  • tx: Send a transaction to a peer.
  • block: Send a block to a peer.
  • get_block: Request a block from a peer.
  • get_blockchain_info: Request blockchain information from a peer.
  • blockchain_info: Send blockchain information to a peer.
  • get_mempool: Request the mempool from a peer.
  • mempool: Send the mempool to a peer.
  • get_peers: Request the list of peers from a peer.
  • peers: Send the list of peers to a peer.

Message Payloads

The payloads for each message type are as follows:

  • connect: network_address (32 bytes)
  • connection_accepted: network_address (32 bytes)
  • disconnect: None
  • disconnect_ack: None
  • ping: None
  • pong: None
  • tx: transaction (variable length)
  • block: block (variable length)
  • get_block: block_hash (32 bytes)
  • get_blockchain_info: None
  • blockchain_info: blockchain_info (variable length)
  • get_mempool: None
  • mempool: mempool (variable length)
  • get_peers: None
  • peers: peers (variable length)

Errors

If an error occurs while processing a message, an error message is sent back to the sender. The error message includes the message type and the error code.

The following error codes are supported:

  • invalid_message: The message is invalid.
  • invalid_payload: The payload is invalid.
  • unknown_message_type: The message type is unknown.
  • unsupported_message_type: The message type is not supported.
  • invalid_network_address: The network address is invalid.

Last updated: 2025-06-02