Configuration¶

A download is configured in a single JSON file. Generate one with all defaults filled in:

fdsn-rush init > config.json

You can leave out any option, and it takes its default. The smallest useful configuration is:

{
  "station_selection": ["GE.APE"],
  "time_range": ["2026-09-01", "2026-09-03"]
}

The file is validated strictly when it is loaded. Malformed values are reported with the name of the option before any request is made. Relative paths are resolved against the directory you run fdsn-rush from.

Top level¶

station_selection

List of station codes · default ["2D.."]

Stations to download, as NET.STA.LOC codes. Empty parts match anything, and codes may contain the wildcards *, ? and [...]. At least one entry is required. See Selecting stations and channels.

station_blacklist

List of station codes · default []

Stations to exclude, in the same syntax as station_selection.

time_range

Pair of dates · default: the last seven days, ["<7 days ago>", "today"]

[start, end] as ISO dates ("2026-09-01") or "today" / "yesterday". UTC days from start up to, but not including, end are downloaded. start must not be after end.

channel_priority

List of channel patterns · default ["HH[ZNE12]", "EH[ZNE12]", "HN[ZNE12]"]

Channel groups in order of preference. For each station and day, the first pattern that matches at least min_channels_per_station channels is downloaded. See Channels.

min_channels_per_station

Integer · default 1

Minimum number of channels a pattern in channel_priority must match to be used. Set it to 3 to require complete three-component recordings.

min_sampling_rate

Number (Hz) · default 100.0

Channels sampled below this rate are skipped. 0 disables the check.

max_sampling_rate

Number (Hz) · default 200.0

Channels sampled above this rate are skipped. 0 disables the check.

metadata_path

Path · default "metadata"

Directory for StationXML files with full instrument responses, one <NET>.xml per network. The files are overwritten on every run.

writer

Object · see Writer

clients

List of objects · default: one GEOFON client · see Clients

Writer¶

Controls how day files are written to the SDS archive.

"writer": {
  "sds_archive": "data",
  "steim_compression": 1,
  "record_length": 4096,
  "min_length_seconds": "PT1M",
  "fix_date_suffixes": false,
  "squirrel_environment": null
}

sds_archive

Path · default "data"

Root directory of the SDS archive. It is created if it does not exist. It also holds remote_errors.log, as explained in Missing data.

steim_compression

1 or 2 · default 1

STEIM compression of the MiniSEED records. STEIM2 produces smaller files for most seismic data.

record_length

512 or 4096 · default 4096

MiniSEED record length in bytes.

min_length_seconds

ISO 8601 duration · default "PT1M" (one minute)

Traces shorter than this are dropped before writing. Examples: "PT30S", "PT5M". Plain numbers are not accepted.

fix_date_suffixes

Boolean · default false

Repairs archives written by older versions that did not zero-pad the day of year, for example .5 instead of .005. The files are renamed in place on startup.

squirrel_environment

Path or null · default null

Path to an existing Pyrocko Squirrel environment. Each new day file is added to it right after it is written.

Clients¶

Each entry in clients is one FDSN data centre. All clients download in parallel. See Servers and performance.

"clients": [
  {
    "url": "https://geofon.gfz.de/",
    "timeout": 30.0,
    "n_workers": 8,
    "n_connections": 24,
    "chunk_size": "4.0MiB",
    "rate_limit": 10,
    "eida_key": null
  }
]

url

URL · default "https://geofon.gfz.de/"

Base URL of the FDSN web service, without the /fdsnws/... path.

timeout

Number (seconds) · default 30.0, minimum 1

How long to wait for data before a request is abandoned.

n_workers

Integer · default 8, range 1–64

Number of day files downloaded concurrently from this server.

n_connections

Integer · default 24, range 1–128

Size of the HTTP connection pool.

chunk_size

Byte size · default "4.0MiB", minimum "1MiB"

Size of the chunks the download stream is read in.

rate_limit

Integer (requests/second) · default 10, minimum 1

Maximum rate of new waveform requests. It is replaced by the server's X-RateLimit-Limit header if one is sent.

eida_key

Path or null · default null

Path to an EIDA token file for restricted data. ~ is expanded, and the file must exist. See Restricted data with EIDA tokens.