# Keepers

## Who Are Keepers?

Keepers are the backbone of Chirp’s Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN). They are individuals or businesses that deploy and maintain Blackbird gateways, expanding Chirp’s global IoT coverage while earning CHIRP tokens as rewards.

By operating Blackbirds—low-power terrestrial gateways—Keepers provide wireless signal coverage across LoRa, LoRaWAN, BLE, Zigbee, Thread, and Mioty (planned). This infrastructure forms the Chirp network, allowing end devices such as temperature sensors, trackers, and IoT applications to connect. Connecting devices is a paid service, enabling businesses and developers to build IoT automation, geolocation solutions, and decentralized applications (DApps) on top of Chirp.

Keepers play a crucial role in strengthening Chirp’s IoT ecosystem, ensuring reliable network coverage, decentralized geolocation, and data availability for applications such as indoor wayfinding, power-efficient tracking, and real-world asset (RWA) management.

To participate, Keepers must deploy, register, and maintain their Blackbird gateways, ensuring they remain operational and strategically placed. In return, they receive CHIRP token rewards based on network demand, uptime, and contribution to the ecosystem.

<br>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.chirptoken.io/chirp-network/keepers.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.