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Dealer Configuration

The dealer node reads its configuration from four INI files in poker/config/:

File Purpose
dealer.ini Per-table game parameters and dealer-level knobs.
blockchain.ini Verus CLI invocation, currency name, new-block polling flag.
keys.ini Identity names and VDXF key prefix used to derive CMM keys.
.rpccredentials Username/password for the Verus daemon’s RPC (kept out of config/ because it holds secrets).

A non-default location for any file can be passed on the command line with -c <path> when starting bet. If unset, bet resolves paths relative to its own executable: <dir-of-bet>/config/*.ini (or <dir-of-bet>/../config/*.ini when run from bin/). See bet_init_config_paths in poker/src/config.c.

1. dealer.ini

The shipped example covers only the keys a dev regtest setup needs:

[table]
max_players = 2
big_blind   = 0.001
min_stake   = 20
max_stake   = 100
table_id    = t1.sg777z.VRSCTEST@

[verus]
dealer_id  = d1.sg777z.VRSCTEST@
cashier_id = cashier.sg777z.VRSCTEST@

All identity fields must be fully-qualified Verus IDs (containing @); the parser rejects bare short names with ERR_INI_PARSING.

The parser (bet_parse_dealer_config_ini_file + the per-table reader in config.c) also accepts the following optional sections, all of which fall back to compiled-in defaults when omitted:

[table]

Key Units Default Meaning
max_players integer 2 (CLI flag) Seats at the table. Hand starts once full.
big_blind CHIPS (double) 0.02 Stored internally as BB_in_table_chips; small_blind = big_blind / 2.
min_stake CHIPS (double) — Minimum payin a player can post.
max_stake CHIPS (double) — Maximum payin (cap on stack size).
table_id string — Fully-qualified Verus ID of the per-table identity this dealer manages, e.g. t1.sg777z.VRSCTEST@.

[verus]

Key Default Meaning
dealer_id — Operational dealer identity, fully-qualified (e.g. d1.sg777z.VRSCTEST@).
cashier_id — Operational cashier identity, fully-qualified (e.g. cashier.sg777z.VRSCTEST@). Defaults to bet_get_cashiers_id_fqn() when omitted.

[dealer] (all optional)

Key Units Default Meaning
chips_tx_fee CHIPS (double) 0.0001 Fee the dealer attaches to its on-chain sends. Must be ≥ network minimum.
dcv_commission % of winning pot 0.75 Dealer’s cut applied at settlement (host.c:960).
gui_host URL http://<dealer_ip>:1234/ Where the dealer advertises its GUI when peer nodes ask. Filled in automatically if blank.
gui_ws_port TCP port 9000 Local WebSocket port for the dealer’s GUI/inspection front-end.
min_cashiers integer (compile-time threshold_value) Minimum cashier multisig threshold this dealer requires. Carried over from the legacy multi-cashier design and is not exercised by the current single-cashier setup.

[private table] (all optional, dormant)

Key Default Meaning
is_table_private 0 If 1, table is gated by table_password.
table_password empty Shared secret distributed offline to whitelisted players.

These settings are parsed and stored in is_table_private / table_password but only consumed by bet_player_stack_info in the old nanomsg join handshake (client.c:1707). That path is not wired in the current Verus build, so the values have no runtime effect today.

2. blockchain.ini

[blockchain]
blockchain_cli = "verus -chain=VRSCTEST"
currency       = VRSCTEST
new_block      = "Y"
Key Units Meaning
blockchain_cli string Command (or full path) used to invoke the Verus CLI. Quoted so a -chain=... argument can be included.
currency string Native currency name used when constructing sendcurrency payloads. Defaults to CHIPS if absent.
new_block Y/N If Y, the cashier (when colocated with the dealer) processes pending payin requests on every new block notification.

3. keys.ini

Identity names and the VDXF namespace prefix for all CMM keys. The example below matches the dev regtest layout:

[identities]
cashier_id = cashier.sg777z.VRSCTEST@   # aggregator
dealers_id = dealers.sg777z.VRSCTEST@   # aggregator

Both fields must be fully-qualified Verus IDs; the parser rejects bare short names. There is no longer a parent_id field — the parent is implicit in each FQN.

Note the distinction between aggregator identities (cashier_id, dealers_id — hold the on-chain discovery lists) and the operational identities (d1.sg777z.VRSCTEST@, cashier.sg777z.VRSCTEST@) configured in dealer.ini. See id_creation_process.md for the full identity taxonomy.

VDXF key names are not configured in keys.ini. The prefix (chips.vrsc::poker.) and every key name are compile-time macros in poker/include/vdxf.h; the prefix lives once as VDXF_POKER_KEYS_PREFIX and every *_KEY macro composes it with a fixed suffix.

4. .rpccredentials

Plain key/value file with the Verus daemon’s RPC username and password. Read by rpc_credentials_file resolution in bet_init_config_paths. Format:

rpcuser=...
rpcpassword=...

bet shells out to verus for almost every on-chain operation; it does not connect to the daemon’s RPC port directly today.

5. Becoming a dealer

There is no on-chain admission control on becoming a dealer at the protocol level. To bring a new dealer online:

  1. Provision a Verus wallet on the chain you intend to host on (VRSCTEST for development).
  2. Register the operational dealer identity (./bet register_dealer) under the dev/parent VerusID and any per-table identities you want to host. See id_creation_process.md.
  3. Update dealer.ini with the new identity FQNs and table parameters.
  4. Start the dealer node and confirm it can sign updates against the parent aggregator.

Inviting it into a multi-dealer deployment is a social/operational decision, not a protocol-level one — the discovery list lives in the dealers.<parent>@ aggregator’s CMM and anyone who can write that identity can extend it.