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Blockchain Node

PoA/PoS consensus blockchain with REST/WebSocket RPC, real-time gossip layer, and comprehensive observability

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Overview

The AITBC Blockchain Node is the core infrastructure component that maintains the distributed ledger. It implements a hybrid Proof-of-Authority/Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism with fast finality and supports high throughput for AI workload transactions.

Key Features

  • Hybrid PoA/PoS consensus with sub-second finality
  • REST and WebSocket RPC APIs
  • Real-time gossip protocol for block propagation
  • Comprehensive observability with Prometheus metrics
  • SQLModel-based data persistence
  • Built-in devnet tooling and scripts

Architecture

The blockchain node is built with a modular architecture separating concerns for consensus, storage, networking, and API layers.

Consensus Engine

Hybrid PoA/PoS with proposer rotation and validator sets

Storage Layer

SQLModel with SQLite/PostgreSQL support

Networking

WebSocket gossip + REST API

Observability

Prometheus metrics + structured logging

API Reference

The blockchain node exposes both REST and WebSocket APIs for interaction.

REST Endpoints

GET /rpc/get_head

Get the latest block header

POST /rpc/send_tx

Submit a new transaction

GET /rpc/get_balance/{address}

Get account balance

GET /rpc/get_block/{height}

Get block by height

WebSocket Subscriptions

  • new_blocks - Real-time block notifications
  • new_transactions - Transaction pool updates
  • consensus_events - Consensus round updates

Configuration

The node can be configured via environment variables or configuration file.

Key Settings

# Database
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///blockchain.db

# Network
RPC_HOST=0.0.0.0
RPC_PORT=9080
WS_PORT=9081

# Consensus
CONSENSUS_MODE=poa
VALIDATOR_ADDRESS=0x...
BLOCK_TIME=1s

# Observability
METRICS_PORT=9090
LOG_LEVEL=info

Deployment

The blockchain node runs on the host machine with GPU access requirements.

System Requirements

  • CPU: 4+ cores recommended
  • RAM: 8GB minimum
  • Storage: 100GB+ SSD
  • Network: 1Gbps+ for gossip

Installation

# Clone repository
git clone https://gitea.bubuit.net/oib/aitbc.git
cd aitbc/apps/blockchain-node

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run node
python -m aitbc_chain.node

Monitoring & Observability

The node provides comprehensive monitoring capabilities out of the box.

Metrics Available

  • Block production rate and intervals
  • Transaction pool size and latency
  • Network gossip metrics
  • Consensus health indicators
  • Resource utilization

Grafana Dashboard

A pre-built Grafana dashboard is available at /observability/grafana/