A renter for Sia.
Overview
renterd is a next-generation Sia renter, developed by the Sia Foundation. It
aims to serve the needs of both everyday users -- who want a simple interface
for storing and retrieving their personal data -- and developers -- who want to
a powerful, flexible, and reliable API for building apps on Sia.
To achieve this, we have carefully architected renterd to isolate its
user-friendly functionality, which we call "autopilot," from its low-level APIs.
Autopilot consists of background processes that scan and rank hosts, form and
renew contracts, and automatically migrate files when necessary. Most users want
this functionality, but for those who want absolute control over their contracts
and data, autopilot can easily be disabled with a CLI flag. Even better, the
autopilot code is built directly on top of the public renterd HTTP API,
meaning it can be easily forked, modified, or even ported to another language.
renterd also ships with an embedded web UI, rather than yet another Electron
app bundle. Developers and power users can even compile renterd without a UI
at all, reducing bloat and simplifying the build process.
Current Status
All of the key low-level APIs have been implemented and are ready for use.
However, renterd currently does not ship with a UI or autopilot functionality,
and it lacks backwards-compatibility with siad renter metadata. This means
that, while renterd is already capable of serving as the backbone for new Sia
applications, most users should continue to use siad.
Going forward, our immediate priority is to implement autopilot functionality,
which will make renterd viable as a standalone renter. In tandem, we'll be
designing and integrating the embedded web UI. At this point, renterd will
become the recommended renter for new users. However, we also want to make it
painless for existing siad users to switch to renterd. So before shipping
v1.0, we'll implement compatibility code that will allow you to access all of
your siad files with renterd.