FAQ · Reamer Research and Reamer Server: what they are and who they fit

What does it take to move from Reamer Research to Reamer Server?

Your trading logic and your order structure carry over. The relay functions in the Reamer Research library send the same orders your strategy returns in a backtest to a running Reamer Server and reads the fills back. Around it, you build a pre-trade gate and a broker connector once per deployment, feed live bars, and keep indicators as running state. Cost settings stay in research: live costs are what your broker charges.

Your trading logic and your order structure carry over. The relay functions in the Reamer Research library send the same orders your strategy returns in a backtest to a running Reamer Server and reads the fills back. Around it, you build a pre-trade gate and a broker connector once per deployment, feed live bars, and keep indicators as running state. Cost settings stay in research: live costs are what your broker charges.

Both kits ship the same guide to the move, RESEARCH_TO_SERVER.md, with a one-order round trip you can run. This is a plain summary of it.

What carries over

  • The decision logic: entry and exit rules, position sizing, stop and target levels, and risk thresholds.
  • The order. reamer_relay_send() takes the same ReamerOrderRequest your on_bar returns. Order IDs are numbered as in a backtest, so a cancel names the same order in both places, and the submission rules for closing and reducing are the same.
  • The instrument names. reamer_relay_open() takes the same ticker_names[] array you pass to reamer_run_backtest() and sends each order under its name. Backtest results carry those names too, so you can check them against your live instrument table as a build step.
  • The language. Reamer Server hosts no strategy. Your strategy runs in its own process, so it can stay in Python, C++ or anything else that reaches the server's socket.

What changes

  • Where bars come from. In Reamer Research the engine calls your strategy with a window of past bars. Live, your process reads bars from your feed, so an indicator that needs history, such as a moving average or ATR, is kept as running state. This is the one change to the strategy's own code.
  • Exits. The live socket carries each order on its own, so a stop and a target are sent as their own orders rather than as a bracket attached to the entry.
  • Costs. Backtest spread, slippage and commission are a simulation. Live costs are what your broker charges.

What you build

Both are built once and shared by every strategy. The Server kit has worked examples to start from, including a full FIX 4.4 integration in Go, and the round trip in RESEARCH_TO_SERVER.md runs one research order through its reference gate to a simulated fill.

Licences

Each product is licensed separately, per machine. A machine running both holds one seat of each. See pricing.

For how to write a strategy so the move is easy, and how to prove the live version matches the backtest, see How do I take a strategy from backtest to live trading without a rewrite?

Next questions

How do I take a strategy from backtest to live trading without a rewrite?Keep the decision logic, and port everything around it. Write the strategy so its signals depend only on state it updates one bar at a time, keep instrument names and costs out of it, then prove the live version matches by replaying the backtest's bars through it and comparing every signal. What changes is the plumbing, not the strategy, but the plumbing is real work.Can I paper trade before going live?Yes, by pointing your Reamer Server connector at your broker's paper or demo account. The server handles paper and live orders the same way, and the licence allows both. The kit's in-memory paper broker only checks that your server is wired up correctly; it fills every order instantly at a made-up price, so it is not a market simulation.Which brokers does Reamer Server connect to?Any broker you write a connector for. Reamer Server ships no ready-made broker connection. You write the connector against its C interface, in C, C++, Rust or Go, over whatever API your broker offers. The kit includes an in-memory paper broker and a worked FIX 4.4 example run against a simulated venue.How long does integration take?In uncut recordings, Claude Code working only from the kit documents integrated Reamer Research in about 13 minutes and Reamer Server in about 19, through to a simulated fill for Reamer Server. The Reamer Server kit puts a person's first simulated trade at a few hours. Going live at a real broker takes longer, because the broker's protocol details, session recovery and certification are your work.

Every answer here restates the documents that ship in the kit, which are authoritative. All questions.

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