START_HERE.md

RustChain Start Here

Welcome to RustChain! This guide gets you started in minutes.

---

Quick Comparison

Path	Best For	Reward Potential
Wallet	Using RTC, payments	N/A
Miner	Earning RTC passively	1-100+ RTC/day
Developer	Building apps, tools	Bounties

---

Path 1: Wallet User

Check balances and learn the current transfer flow.

Pick Your RustChain Wallet ID

# Example wallet/miner ID used across docs and miners
YOUR_WALLET=retro-g5-miner

Current clawrtc releases do not ship wallet new, wallet show, or wallet pay subcommands. clawrtc is the miner installer/service wrapper. For wallet basics, keep one consistent RustChain wallet ID (miner_id) and use the balance + signed transfer docs below.

Check Balance

curl -sk "https://rustchain.org/wallet/balance?miner_id=YOUR_WALLET"

Note: Your RustChain wallet ID is a RustChain-specific miner_id. It is not an Ethereum or Solana address.

Transfer RTC

• User transfers use the signed endpoint: POST /wallet/transfer/signed
• Admin transfers use: POST /wallet/transfer
• Canonical examples live in docs/DEVELOPER_QUICKSTART.md and docs/WALLET_USER_GUIDE.md

---

Path 2: Miner

Earn RTC by contributing compute resources.

Requirements

• Linux (recommended), macOS, or Windows
• 4GB+ RAM
• GPU recommended (4GB+ VRAM) for better rewards

Start Mining

Recommended: current clawrtc installer

# Install the miner wrapper and write config for your wallet ID
npm install -g clawrtc
clawrtc install --wallet YOUR_WALLET

# Start the miner
clawrtc start --service

clawrtc status and clawrtc logs are the supported management commands in current releases.

Alternative: manual Python miner

# Download miner scripts
mkdir -p ~/.rustchain && cd ~/.rustchain
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Scottcjn/Rustchain/main/miners/linux/rustchain_linux_miner.py -o rustchain_miner.py
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Scottcjn/Rustchain/main/miners/linux/fingerprint_checks.py -o fingerprint_checks.py

# Run miner
python3 rustchain_miner.py --wallet YOUR_WALLET

Manage Miner

# Cross-platform wrapper
clawrtc status
clawrtc logs
clawrtc stop
clawrtc start --service

# Linux/macOS service manager fallback
systemctl --user status rustchain-miner
journalctl --user -u rustchain-miner -f

Check Rewards

curl -s "https://rustchain.org/api/miners?wallet=YOUR_WALLET"

---

Path 3: Developer

Build apps on RustChain.

API Endpoints

Endpoint	Description
/health	Node health check
/ready	Readiness probe
/epoch	Current epoch info
/api/miners	List active miners
/wallet/balance?miner_id=X	Check balance
/api/stats	Chain statistics
/api/hall_of_fame	Top miners

Primary Node: https://rustchain.org
Explorer: https://rustchain.org/explorer

Python Example

import requests

# Check balance
r = requests.get(
    "https://rustchain.org/wallet/balance",
    params={"miner_id": "Ivan-houzhiwen"},
    verify=False  # Self-signed cert
)
print(r.json())
# {"amount_rtc": 155.0, "miner_id": "Ivan-houzhiwen"}

Note on SSL

The nodes use self-signed certificates. Use verify=False in Python or --insecure in curl.

---

Resources

• Bounties: https://github.com/Scottcjn/rustchain-bounties
• Explorer: https://rustchain.org/explorer
• Health: https://rustchain.org/health
• Wallet Guide: docs/WALLET_USER_GUIDE.md
• Developer Quickstart: docs/DEVELOPER_QUICKSTART.md

---

Last updated: 2026-03-09