# How To Run Tahoe-LAFS

This is how to run a Tahoe-LAFS client or a complete Tahoe-LAFS grid. First you have to install the Tahoe-LAFS software, as documented in install.html.

The `tahoe` program in the `bin` directory is used to create, start, and stop nodes. Each node lives in a separate base directory, in which there is a configuration file named `tahoe.cfg`. Nodes read and write files within this base directory.

A grid consists of a set of storage nodes and client nodes running the Tahoe-LAFS code. There is also an introducer node that is responsible for getting the other nodes talking to each other.

If you're getting started we recommend you try connecting to the the public test grid as you only need to create a client node. When you want to create your own grid you'll need to create the introducer and several initial storage nodes (see the note about small grids below).

If the Tahoe-LAFS `bin` directory is not on your PATH, then in all the command lines below, specify the full path to `bin/tahoe`.

To construct a client node, run "`tahoe create-client`", which will create `~/.tahoe` to be the node's base directory. Acquire a copy of the `introducer.furl` from the introducer and put it into this directory, then use "`tahoe run`". After that, the node should be off and running. The first thing it will do is connect to the introducer and get itself connected to all other nodes on the grid. By default, "`tahoe create-client`" creates a client-only node, that does not offer its disk space to other nodes. To configure other behavior, use "`tahoe create-node`" or see configuration.rst.

To construct an introducer, create a new base directory for it (the name of the directory is up to you), `cd` into it, and run "`tahoe create-introducer .`". Now run the introducer using "`tahoe start .`". After it starts, it will write a file named `introducer.furl` in that base directory. This file contains the URL the other nodes must use in order to connect to this introducer. (Note that "`tahoe run .`" doesn't work for introducers, this is a known issue: #937.)

The "`tahoe run`" command above will run the node in the foreground. On Unix, you can run it in the background instead by using the "`tahoe start`" command. To stop a node started in this way, use "`tahoe stop`". `tahoe --help` gives a summary of all commands.

See configuration.rst for more details about how to configure Tahoe-LAFS, including how to get other clients to connect to your node if it is behind a firewall or NAT device.

### A note about small grids

By default, Tahoe-LAFS ships with the configuration parameter `shares.happy` set to 7. If you are using Tahoe-LAFS on a grid with fewer than 7 storage nodes, this won't work well for you — none of your uploads will succeed. To fix this, see configuration.rst to learn how to set `shares.happy` to a more suitable value for your grid.

## Do Stuff With It

This is how to use your Tahoe-LAFS node.

### The WUI

Point your web browser to http://127.0.0.1:3456 — which is the URL of the gateway running on your own local computer — to use your newly created node.

Create a new directory (with the button labelled "create a directory"). Your web browser will load the new directory. Now if you want to be able to come back to this directory later, you have to bookmark it, or otherwise save a copy of the URL. If you lose URL to this directory, then you can never again come back to this directory.

You can do more or less everything you want to do with a decentralized filesystem through the WUI.

### The CLI

Prefer the command-line? Run "`tahoe --help`" (the same command-line tool that is used to start and stop nodes serves to navigate and use the decentralized filesystem). To get started, create a new directory and mark it as the 'tahoe:' alias by running "`tahoe create-alias tahoe`". Once you've done that, you can do "`tahoe ls tahoe:`" and "`tahoe cp LOCALFILE tahoe:foo.txt`" to work with your filesystem. The Tahoe-LAFS CLI uses similar syntax to the well-known scp and rsync tools. See CLI.rst for more details.

As with the WUI (and with all current interfaces to Tahoe-LAFS), you are responsible for remembering directory capabilities yourself. If you create a new directory and lose the capability to it, then you cannot access that directory ever again.

### The SFTP and FTP frontends

You can access your Tahoe-LAFS grid via any SFTP or FTP client. See FTP-and-SFTP.rst for how to set this up. On most Unix platforms, you can also use SFTP to plug Tahoe-LAFS into your computer's local filesystem via `sshfs`.

The SftpFrontend page on the wiki has more information about using SFTP with Tahoe-LAFS.

### The Web-API

Want to program your Tahoe-LAFS node to do your bidding? Easy! See webapi.rst.

## Socialize

You can chat with other users of and hackers of this software on the #tahoe-lafs IRC channel at `irc.freenode.net`, or on the tahoe-dev mailing list.