light-devp2p

A lightweight implementation of Ethereum's devp2p protocol. This project provides a minimal, educational implementation of peer-to-peer networking using the core concepts of Ethereum's network layer.

Features

• Minimal devp2p implementation
• Node discovery and peer management
• Secure communication using ECDSA keys
• Configurable network parameters
• debug logging
• Bootnode supports

Installation

git clone https://github.com/devlongs/light-devp2p.git
cd light-devp2p
go mod tidy

Running Nodes

1. Start the first node:

go run main.go -addr :30303

2. Start the second node:

go run main.go -addr :30304 -bootnode "enode://[public-key]@127.0.0.1:30303"

Configuration

Available command-line options:

Flag	Description	Default
-addr	Listen address	":30303"
-bootnode	Bootnode enode URL	""
-maxpeers	Maximum peer connections	10
-nodename	Node identifier	"MinimalP2PNode"
-metrics	Enable metrics collection	false

Project Structure

light-devp2p/
├── main.go           # Entry point
├── go.mod           # Go module file
├── node/
│   ├── node.go      # Core node implementation
│   ├── peer.go      # Peer management
│   └── protocol.go  # Protocol implementation
└── config/
    └── config.go    # Configuration handling

Main Components

The implementation is organized around three main components:

1. Node

• Manages the P2P server
• Handles peer connections
• Implements protocol communication

2. Peer Manager

• Tracks active connections
• Manages peer lifecycle
• Handles peer state

3. Protocol

• Defines message types
• Implements handshake
• Manages message exchange