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Worker Installation

Join the colony with a single command

Worker Installation

Join the colony. Share your compute.

pip install ants-worker
ants-worker join

That’s it. You’re now part of the swarm.

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                           YOUR MACHINE                                   │
│                                                                          │
│   $ ants-worker join                                                    │
│                                                                          │
│   ┌──────────────┐                                                      │
│   │ ants-worker  │──────┐                                               │
│   │              │      │  1. Register → get token                      │
│   │  Kangaroo    │      │  2. Sense cold regions                        │
│   │  Algorithm   │      │  3. Compute distinguished points              │
│   │              │      │  4. Deposit results                           │
│   │  (CPU/GPU)   │      │  5. Check for collision                       │
│   └──────────────┘      │  6. Repeat                                    │
│                         ▼                                                │
└─────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                          │
                          │  HTTPS + Bearer Token
                          ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     api.ants-at-work.com                                 │
│                     (Cloudflare Edge + D1)                               │
│                                                                          │
│   Collision detection happens here. When tame and wild kangaroos        │
│   land on the same point → private key found.                           │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

No manual configuration. No copying tokens. Just join.

Requirements

  • Python 3.8+
  • Internet connection
  • Any CPU (GPU optional but faster)

Installation Options

Standard Installation

pip install ants-worker

With CUDA Support (NVIDIA GPUs)

pip install ants-worker[cuda]

Development Installation

git clone https://github.com/ants-at-work/worker
cd worker
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Verify Installation

ants-worker --version
ants-worker info

Configuration Location

After first run, config is stored at:

~/.ants/config.json

Contains:

{
  "token": "your-bearer-token",
  "worker_id": "worker-xxx",
  "gateway_url": "https://api.ants-at-work.com"
}

What Are We Solving?

Bitcoin Puzzle #71 - a 7.1 BTC bounty (~$700,000).

Target: Find the private key for address 1PWo3JeB9jrGwfHDNpdGK54CRas7fsVzXU

The key is between 2^70 and 2^71. Using Pollard’s Kangaroo algorithm across many workers, we find it together.

Stigmergic Coordination

Workers coordinate through the environment (not direct messaging):

  1. Sense - Query cold regions (low pheromone = unexplored)
  2. Decide - Pick a region to explore
  3. Mark - Deposit “working” pheromone
  4. Work - Run Kangaroo algorithm
  5. Deposit - Leave results + exploration pheromone
  6. Repeat

No central coordinator. Intelligence emerges.

Safety

  • Your machine only runs cryptographic calculations
  • You get a unique token that can only submit work results
  • No access to your files, network, or other resources
  • Stop anytime with Ctrl+C
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