Peer Discovery Demo

Your node starts with ZERO peers. It only knows the hardcoded bootstrap node addresses (IP:port) compiled into the client software. These are the 'seed' of your peer discovery.

Your node connects to Boot-1 and Boot-2 — well-known, stable nodes run by the Ethereum Foundation and community. They respond with a list of other active peers they know about.

Your node queries a DNS seed (e.g., all.mainnet.ethdisco.net). The DNS record returns a list of recently-active node IDs and addresses. This is a backup discovery method via EIP-1459.

Boot-1 and Boot-2 share their peer lists with you. You learn about Peer-Alpha, Peer-Beta, and Peer-Gamma. Each peer is added to your candidate list for further connection.

You send FIND_NODE requests to your closest known peers, asking for nodes close to YOUR node ID (0x00). The Kademlia DHT organizes nodes by XOR distance — closer nodes go into nearer routing table buckets.

You query the newly discovered peers for even closer nodes. Each round gets you closer peers. Peer-Delta refers you to Peer-Eta and Peer-Theta. Your routing table is filling up!

You initiate encrypted connections (RLPx handshake) with a subset of discovered peers. You verify their identity, negotiate capabilities (eth/68, snap/1), and start exchanging chain data.

Your node now has 12 peers in its routing table across multiple Kademlia buckets. You can discover new peers, relay transactions, receive blocks, and participate fully in the network!