Files
fips/docs/reference/cli-fips.md
Johnathan Corgan c7fa576275 Merge maint into master: v0.5.3 release content
Bring v0.5.3 up from maint: the rustls 0.23.46 update, the action pin
refresh, the TreeAnnounce resend on a failed link send, the start-up stop
test timing, the package rename to fips-mesh with its include list, and the
release notes and documentation corrections.

What stays master's: the package version stays 0.6.0-dev; README.md keeps
master's status badge and status section, which name v0.5.2 as the current
release; the native API how-to snippets take the fips-mesh package form
without the v0.5.3 tag, since they describe master's API. CHANGELOG.md
gains the [0.5.3] section below master's [Unreleased], and, as with v0.5.2,
master's Unreleased keeps only entries not released in 0.5.3.

The rename carries up with master's workspace block, and the
interface-binding CI step now builds and selects the fips-mesh package.
Cargo.lock is master's, with the rename and rustls 0.23.46 applied.
2026-10-16 15:28:14 +00:00

6.6 KiB

fips

The FIPS mesh network daemon.

Synopsis

fips [-c FILE] [--log-file FILE]

On Windows the same binary additionally accepts --install-service, --uninstall-service, and (used internally by the service control manager) --service.

Description

fips is the FIPS daemon. It loads a YAML configuration, resolves an identity, brings up the TUN adapter, listens on configured transports, authenticates peers, maintains the spanning tree, and forwards mesh traffic. There is one daemon per node.

The daemon stays in the foreground, logging to stderr (or to the file named by --log-file or node.log_file), until it receives SIGINT or SIGTERM. On Windows, the service variant is controlled through the standard service control manager.

Options

Flag Argument Description
-c, --config FILE Use FILE as the configuration. Skips the default search paths.
--log-file FILE Log to FILE instead of stdout, rolled by size at node.log_max_size_mb and kept to node.log_max_files rolled files. Overrides node.log_file, and is opened before the configuration loads, so a configuration error is logged there too. The macOS package passes it from the launchd plist. See configuration.md.
-V — Print the short version, <version> (rev <git-hash>). The rev part is omitted when the build could not read a git revision, as in a package built from a git worktree.
--version — Print the long version: short version plus build target triple.
-h, --help — Print usage and exit.
--install-service — (Windows only) Install fips as a Windows service. Requires Administrator.
--uninstall-service — (Windows only) Uninstall the Windows service. Requires Administrator.
--service — (Windows only, internal) Run as a Windows service. Invoked by the service control manager — not for direct use.

There are no other CLI flags; all other daemon behaviour is governed by the YAML configuration. See configuration.md.

Exit Codes

Code Meaning
0 Clean shutdown after SIGINT / SIGTERM.
1 Failed to load configuration, resolve identity, construct the node, or start the node. The reason is printed to stderr before exit. A configuration that configures nothing (no identity, transports, peers or gateway section) counts as a load failure; see Files.

Environment

Variable Description
RUST_LOG Tracing filter directive. Overrides node.log_level from the config. Examples: info, debug, fips=trace,fips::node::handlers::mmp=debug.
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR Used to derive the default control-socket path when /run/fips does not exist. See control-socket.md.
FIPS_CONFIG (Windows service mode only) Path to the configuration file when the daemon runs under the service control manager.

The daemon also clamps the nostr_relay_pool, nostr_sdk, and nostr log targets to info whenever the effective log level is below trace, so that RUST_LOG=debug does not flood the journal with raw relay frames. To see those frames, set the level to trace.

Files

fips looks for fips.yaml in the following locations, lowest to highest priority. All present files are merged in priority order; the highest-priority value wins.

Priority Path Purpose
1 /usr/local/etc/fips/fips.yaml (macOS, FreeBSD), C:\ProgramData\fips\fips.yaml (Windows), /etc/fips/fips.yaml (other Unix) System-wide defaults
2 ~/.config/fips/fips.yaml (%APPDATA%\fips\fips.yaml on Windows) User preferences
3 ~/.fips.yaml Legacy user config
4 ./fips.yaml Deployment-specific overrides

On macOS and FreeBSD both system directories are probed: /etc/fips first, then /usr/local/etc/fips, so the packaged file wins over a leftover /etc/fips copy from an earlier install. Windows likewise probes \etc\fips on the current drive, then C:\ProgramData\fips. The \etc\fips probe is deprecated: any local user can create that file, so the daemon warns when it loads a config from there, and from v0.6.0 the search no longer looks there. Move the settings you need into C:\ProgramData\fips\fips.yaml.

If the file given with -c, or the files found on the search path taken together, configure nothing (no node.identity.nsec, node.identity.persistent off, no transports, no peers and no gateway section), fips refuses to start and names the file or files, rather than start an ephemeral node with no transports. This covers an empty or comments-only file, and one that sets only other settings such as node.log_level. A blank file beside one that configures the node is accepted. With no config file found at all, fips starts on the built-in defaults. See configuration.md.

Adjacent to the highest-priority config file the daemon keeps the identity files:

File Mode Purpose
fips.key 0600 Bech32 nsec for the persistent identity, written only in persistent mode (Unix; on Windows the file takes its directory's ACL, which install-service.ps1 restricts to SYSTEM and Administrators).
fips.pub 0644 Bech32 npub of the running identity, written on every start. In persistent mode it corresponds to fips.key.

When node.identity.persistent is false (the default), a fresh keypair is generated on every start and only fips.pub is written. A fips.key found there is moved aside to fips.key.unused and a warning is logged.

On Windows the service writes its log to C:\ProgramData\fips\fips.log, rolled at 10 MiB with four old files kept; a foreground run logs to the console.

On Windows, install-service.ps1 restricts C:\ProgramData\fips to SYSTEM and Administrators. Reading or editing files there, fipsctl keygen, fipsctl address with no argument, and a foreground run that relies on C:\ProgramData\fips\fips.yaml need an elevated prompt; unelevated, a foreground run may skip that file without saying so or fail with an access error. Run the installer before fipsctl keygen, and again after moving files into the directory, since a moved file keeps its old permissions.

The control socket path is derived per control-socket.md.

See also