# Stacks Mining

Stacks tokens (STX) are mined by transferring BTC via PoX. To run as a miner,
you should make sure to add the following config fields to your config file:

```toml
[node]
# Run as a miner
miner = True
# Bitcoin private key to spend
seed = "YOUR PRIVATE KEY"
# How long to wait for microblocks to arrive before mining a block to confirm them (in milliseconds)
wait_time_for_microblocks = 10000
# Run as a mock-miner, to test mining without spending BTC. Needs miner=True.
#mock_mining = True

[miner]
# Smallest allowed tx fee, in microSTX
min_tx_fee = 100
# Time to spend on the first attempt to make a block, in milliseconds.
# This can be small, so your node gets a block-commit into the Bitcoin mempool early.
first_attempt_time_ms = 1000
# Time to spend on subsequent attempts to make a block, in milliseconds.
# This can be bigger -- new block-commits will be RBF'ed.
subsequent_attempt_time_ms = 60000
# Time to spend mining a microblock, in milliseconds.
microblock_attempt_time_ms = 30000
# Time to spend mining a Nakamoto block, in milliseconds.
nakamoto_attempt_time_ms = 10000
```

You can verify that your node is operating as a miner by checking its log output
to verify that it was able to find its Bitcoin UTXOs:

```bash
$ head -n 100 /path/to/your/node/logs | grep -i utxo
INFO [1630127492.031042] [testnet/stacks-node/src/run_loop/neon.rs:146] [main] Miner node: checking UTXOs at address: <redacted>
INFO [1630127492.062652] [testnet/stacks-node/src/run_loop/neon.rs:164] [main] UTXOs found - will run as a Miner node
```

## Configuring Cost and Fee Estimation

Fee and cost estimators can be configured via the config section `[fee_estimation]`:

```toml
[fee_estimation]
cost_estimator = naive_pessimistic
fee_estimator = fuzzed_weighted_median_fee_rate
fee_rate_fuzzer_fraction = 0.1
fee_rate_window_size = 5
cost_metric = proportion_dot_product
log_error = true
enabled = true
```

Fee and cost estimators observe transactions on the network and use the
observed costs of those transactions to build estimates for viable fee rates
and expected execution costs for transactions. Estimators and metrics can be
selected using the configuration fields above, though the default values are
the only options currently. `log_error` controls whether or not the INFO logger
will display information about the cost estimator accuracy as new costs are
observed. Setting `enabled = false` turns off the cost estimators. Cost estimators
are **not** consensus-critical components, but rather can be used by miners to
rank transactions in the mempool or client to determine appropriate fee rates
for transactions before broadcasting them.

The `fuzzed_weighted_median_fee_rate` uses a
median estimate from a window of the fees paid in the last `fee_rate_window_size` blocks.
Estimates are then randomly "fuzzed" using uniform random fuzz of size up to
`fee_rate_fuzzer_fraction` of the base estimate.

## Further Reading

- [stacksfoundation/miner-docs](https://github.com/stacksfoundation/miner-docs)
- [Mining Documentation](https://docs.stacks.co/docs/nodes-and-miners/miner-mainnet)