bittorrent-tracker

bittorrent-tracker is a Node.js implementation of a BitTorrent tracker, providing both client and server components. It handles announce and scrape requests to help BitTorrent clients discover peers and track swarm statistics across supported tracker protocols.

Key Features

• Client and server implementations in one package
• Supports HTTP/HTTPS trackers, UDP trackers (BEP 15), and WebSocket-based trackers used by WebTorrent
• Announce and scrape support, including multi-scrape
• IPv4 and IPv6 support
• Optional web-based tracker statistics with JSON output endpoints
• Server-side filtering hook for allow/deny logic (e.g., private tracker behavior)
• Command-line interface to run a tracker server

Use Cases

• Running a public or private tracker for distributing torrents within a community or organization
• Powering WebRTC-friendly tracker infrastructure for WebTorrent browser swarms
• Integrating tracker client functionality into custom Node.js BitTorrent tooling

Limitations and Considerations

• Tracker state is primarily in-memory by default, so persistence and horizontal scaling require external design decisions
• WebSocket tracking is primarily aimed at WebTorrent/WebRTC clients and may not be relevant for all BitTorrent ecosystems

bittorrent-tracker is a practical choice when you need a lightweight, well-tested tracker stack in JavaScript, with support for mainstream tracker protocols and straightforward operational tooling. It fits both standalone tracker deployments and programmatic embedding into other BitTorrent applications.