Ping Output Formats

The ping tool provides human-readable output on stderr by default and machine-parseable NDJSON on stdout when the --json flag is used.

Human-Readable Output (stderr)

Bootstrap Check

BOOTSTRAP CHECK (3 nodes)
  bootstrap1.example.com:49737  OK  12ms  (20 nodes)  node_id=ab12...
  bootstrap2.example.com:49737  TIMEOUT
--- bootstrap summary ---
3 nodes, 2 reachable, 1 unreachable
50 unique peers discovered via routing tables
public address: 1.2.3.4:5000 (consistent across 2 nodes)
NAT type: consistent (hole-punchable)

Targeted Ping

PING 1.2.3.4:49737 (direct)
  [1] OK  12ms  node_id=ab12...
--- 1.2.3.4:49737 ping statistics ---
1 probes, 1 responded, 0 timed out (0% probe loss)
rtt min/avg/max = 12.0/12.0/12.0 ms

JSON Output (stdout)

JSON output is emitted as newline-delimited objects.

Resolve Events

Emitted before probing starts for PubKey and Topic targets.

{"type":"resolve","method":"find_peer","public_key":"<64-hex>"}
{"type":"resolve","status":"found","addresses":2}

Probe Events

Emitted for each individual probe. UDP probes use rtt_ms, while encrypted echo probes use latency_ms.

// UDP probe (direct/bootstrap)
{"type":"probe","seq":1,"status":"ok","rtt_ms":12.3,"node_id":"<hex>"}

// Echo probe (connect mode)
{"type":"probe","seq":1,"status":"ok","latency_ms":48.3}

Summary Events

Emitted at the end of a session if count > 1 or count == 0.

// Bootstrap summary
{
  "type": "bootstrap_summary",
  "nodes": 3,
  "reachable": 2,
  "unreachable": 1,
  "nat_type": "consistent",
  "closer_nodes_total": 50,
  "public_host": "1.2.3.4",
  "public_port": 5000,
  "port_consistent": true
}

// Targeted summary
{
  "type": "summary",
  "target": "1.2.3.4:49737",
  "probes_sent": 5,
  "probes_responded": 4,
  "probes_timed_out": 1,
  "rtt_min_ms": 11.0,
  "rtt_avg_ms": 20.5,
  "rtt_max_ms": 45.0
}