.TH CESSPOOL-BOOTSTRAP 1 "October 2026" "dat-gpt" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
cesspool-bootstrap \- dedicated Cesspool rendezvous node
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B cesspool-bootstrap
.RI [ options ]
.br
.B cesspool-bootstrap --help
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B cesspool-bootstrap
runs a Cesspool discovery node in the foreground. It answers discovery
lookups and tracks peer announcements; it does not relay chat, archive blocks,
or other peer payloads. Leave it running on a machine that should provide
discovery to clients on other networks.
.PP
At startup it reports its bound UDP port and prints the Windows Firewall rule
for that port. Use
.B --advertise HOST:PORT
to print the externally reachable endpoint for client setup. It does not
query a third-party service to discover the host's public address.
.PP
The node creates and reuses a persistent Cesspool identity at
.IR state-dir/identity.key .
Keep the state directory across restarts and protect it from other users.
Losing it creates a new node identity, but does not change archive or room
addresses.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BI --bind " IPv4"
Local IPv4 interface to bind. Default: 0.0.0.0.
.TP
.BI --port " UDP-PORT"
UDP listen port. Default: 3282.
.TP
.BI --advertise " HOST:PORT"
Print the externally reachable endpoint in client setup commands. The
endpoint must resolve to this node and accept inbound UDP on the selected port.
.TP
.BI --state-dir " DIR"
Directory for the persistent node identity. Default on Windows:
.IR %LOCALAPPDATA%/dat-gpt/cesspool-bootstrap-state ;
on GNU/Linux:
.IR $XDG_STATE_HOME/dat-gpt/cesspool-bootstrap ,
or
.IR $HOME/.local/state/dat-gpt/cesspool-bootstrap
when XDG_STATE_HOME is unset.
The directory is created if needed.
.TP
.B --help
Show usage.
.SH RUNNING A NODE
Start the executable directly:
.PP
.nf
cesspool-bootstrap --bind 0.0.0.0 --port 3282
.fi
.PP
Keep that process running. Allow inbound UDP on port 3282 in the host
firewall. If the machine is behind a router or cloud firewall, forward the
same UDP port to it there. The program prints a Windows Firewall command;
other firewalls need an equivalent UDP allow rule. A public hostname can be
used with
.B --advertise
when one is available. Clients set the printed endpoint in Settings, or run
.B dat bootstrap set HOST:PORT
or
.BR "cable bootstrap set HOST:PORT" .
.PP
The periodic status line's peer count is the number of distinct Cesspool
identities with at least one current announcement. The topic count is the
number of distinct announced discovery keys. One identity can announce many
topics; a Cesspool identity is a network key, not necessarily a human user.
.SH EXAMPLE
.nf
cesspool-bootstrap --bind 0.0.0.0 --port 3282 \\
  --state-dir cesspool-bootstrap-state \\
  --advertise bootstrap.example.net:3282
.fi
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR dat (1),
.BR cable (1),
.BR cable-thang (1)