Learning Bitcoin (and Lightning) from the Command Line

Learning Bitcoin from the Command Line is a tutorial for working with Bitcoin (and Lightning) that teaches direct interaction with the servers themselves, as the most robust and secure way to begin cryptocurrency work.

NOTE: This is a draft in progress, so that I can get some feedback from early reviewers. It is not yet ready for use.

This tutorial assumes that you have some minimal background of how to use the command line interface. If not, there are many tutorials available, and I have one for Mac users at https://github.com/ChristopherA/intro-mac-command-line.

Table of Contents

• 0.0: Introduction to Programming with Bitcoin Core and Lightning

PART ONE: PREPARING FOR BITCOIN

Status: Finished. Updated for 0.20.

• 1.0: Introducing Bitcoin
• 2.0: Setting Up a Bitcoin-Core VPS
  • 2.1: Setting Up a Bitcoin-Core VPS by Hand —Will be updated or dropped following Bitcoin Standup work this summer
  • 2.2: Setting Up a Bitcoin-Core VPS with Bitcoin Standup
  • 2.3: Setting Up a Bitcoin-Core Machine via Other Means

PART TWO: USING BITCOIN-CLI

Status: Finished. Updated for 0.20.

• 3.0: Understanding Your Bitcoin Setup

  • 3.1: Verifying Your Bitcoin Setup
  • 3.2: Knowing Your Bitcoin Setup
  • 3.3: Setting Up Your Wallet
    • Interlude: Using Command-Line Variables
  • 3.4: Receiving a Transaction
  • 3.5: Understanding the Descriptor

• 4.0: Sending Bitcoin Transactions

  • 4.1: Sending Coins the Easy Way
  • 4.2: Creating a Raw Transaction
    • Interlude: Using JQ
  • 4.3: Creating a Raw Transaction with Named Arguments
  • 4.4: Sending Coins with Raw Transactions
    • Interlude: Using Curl
  • 4.5: Sending Coins with Automated Raw Transactions
  • 4.6: Creating a Segwit Transaction

• 5.0: Controlling Bitcoin Transactions

  • 5.1 Watching for Stuck Transactions
  • 5.2: Resending a Transaction with RBF
  • 5.3: Funding a Transaction with CPFP

• 6.0: Expanding Bitcoin Transactions with Multisigs

  • 6.1: Sending a Transaction with a Multsig
  • 6.2: Spending a Transaction with a Multsig
  • 6.3: Sending & Spending an Automated Multisig

• 7.0: Expanding Bitcoin Transactions with PSBTs

  • 7.1: Creating a Partially Signed Bitcoin Transaction
  • 7.2: Using a Partially Signed Bitcoin Transaction
  • 7.3: Integrating with Hardware Wallets

• 8.0: Expanding Bitcoin Transactions in Other Ways

  • 8.1: Sending a Transaction with a Locktime
  • 8.2: Sending a Transaction with Data

PART THREE: BITCOIN SCRIPTING

Status: Finished. Updated for 0.20 and btcdeb.

• 9.0: Introducing Bitcoin Scripts
  • 9.1: Understanding the Foundation of Transactions
  • 9.2: Running a Bitcoin Script
  • 9.3: Testing a Bitcoin Script
  • 9.4: Scripting a P2PKH
  • 9.5: Scripting a P2WPKH
• 10.0: Embedding Bitcoin Scripts in P2SH Transactions
  • 10.1: Understanding the Foundation of P2SH
  • 10.2: Building the Structure of P2SH
  • 10.3: Running a Bitcoin Script with P2SH
  • 10.4: Scripting a Multisig
  • 10.5: Scripting a Segwit Script
  • 10.6: Spending a P2SH Transaction
• 11.0: Empowering Timelock with Bitcoin Scripts
  • 11.1: Understanding Timelock Options
  • 11.2: Using CLTV in Scripts
  • 11.3: Using CSV in Scripts
• 12.0: Expanding Bitcoin Scripts
  • 12.1: Using Script Conditionals
  • 12.2: Using Other Script Commands
• 13.0: Designing Real Bitcoin Scripts
  • 13.1: Writing Puzzles Scripts
  • 13.2: Writing Complex Multisig Scripts
  • 13.3: Empowering Bitcoin with Scripts

PART FOUR: USING TOR

Status: Finished.

• 14.0: Using Tor
  • 14.1: Verifying Your Tor Setup
  • 14.2: Changing Your Bitcoin Hidden Services
  • 14.3: Adding SSH Hidden Services

This is the end of the polished second-edition course as it currently stands. We are looking for reviews on chapters 0-14 above. Thank you for your help & support!

---

We want to expand this course to also introduce programming with RPC and finally talk about Lightning. The material below is all in process. We'll move it "above the line" for review and learning when we finish it up.

PART FIVE: PROGRAMMING WITH RPC

Status: VERY Unfinished. Requires editing C-chapter; writing Libwally chapter, regularizing other languages chapter; and deciding what to do with Swift

• 15.0: Talking to Bitcoind with C — Needs Rewrite + Editing
  • 15.1: Accessing Bitcoind with C — Needs Rewrite
  • 15.2: Programming Bitcoind with C — Needs Rewrite + Editing
  • 15.3: Receiving Bitcoind Notifications with C — Pending
• 16.0: Programming with LibWally
  • 16.1: Getting ready for LibWally
  • 16.2: Using secp256k1 Functions
  • 16.3: Writing Wallet Functions
  • 16.4: Integrating Libwally and Scripts
• 17.0: Talking to Bitcoind with Other Languages
  • 17.1: Accessing Bitcoind with Go
  • 17.2: Accessing Bitcoind with Java
  • 17.3: Accessing Bitcoind with Node JS
  • 17.4: Accessing Bitcoind with Python
  • 17.5: Accessing Bitcoind with Rust
  • [17.6: Accessing Bitcoind with Swift]

PART SIX: USING LIGHTNING-CLI

Status: Unfinished. Requires renumbering [currently all listed as chapter 13], editing

(At this point, I'm assuming that Lightning will be integrated into Standup, at which point we just need to tech how to use it at a pretty basic level.)

• 18.0: Understanding Lightning
  • 18.1: Verifying Your Lightning Setup
  • 18.2: Setting up a Channel
• 19.0: Using Lightning
  • 19.1: Creating an Invoice
  • 19.2: Paying an Invoice
  • 19.3: Closing a Channel
• 20.0: Talking to Lightningd with C

Some good docs from one of the developers are here: https://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/blockstream-webinars/2019-07-31-rusty-russell-getting-started-with-c-lightning/.

APPENDICES

Status: Unfinished. Requires editing

• Appendix I: Compiling Bitcoin from Source
• Appendix II: Using Bitcoin Regtest — Needs Rewrite + Editing
  • A2.1: Starting the Regtest — Needs Rewrite + Editing
  • A2.2: Mining with Regtest — Needs Rewrite + Editing
  • A2.3: Testing with Regtest — Needs Rewrite + Editing
  • [why is Regtest important if you're compiling it yourself?]

Status - Work in Progress

Learning Bitcoin from the Command Line is currently under active development and its writing in progress. Current chapters are functional, but need to be updated to more modern versions of Bitcoin-Core. Additional chapters also need to be written to fill out our intended scope.

The empty chapters above show some of our current plans for future work. Other plans, mainly drawn from old issues, can be found in TODO.md

Obviously, this work in progress should not be used for production tasks until it is completed and has had further testing and auditing.

Origin, Authors, Copyright & Licenses

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Credits

The following people directly contributed to this repository. You can add your name here by getting involved. The first step is learning how to contribute from our CONTRIBUTING.md documentation.

Name	Role	Github	Email	GPG Fingerprint
Christopher Allen	Lead Author	@ChristopherA	<[email protected]>	FDFE 14A5 4ECB 30FC 5D22 74EF F8D3 6C91 3574 05ED
Shannon Appelcline	Lead Author	@shannona	<[email protected]>	7EC6 B928 606F 27AD

Additional contributions are listed below:

Role	Names
Contributors:	gg2001 (Go, Node.js sections), gorazdko (Rust section), Javier Vargas (C, Java, Lightning, Tor sections), jodobear (Appendix I, Python section)
Reviewers:	Glen Willem @gwillem
Sponsors:	Blockstream Corporation

Responsible Disclosure

We want to keep all of our software safe for everyone. If you have discovered a security vulnerability, we appreciate your help in disclosing it to us in a responsible manner. We are unfortunately not able to offer bug bounties at this time.

We do ask that you offer us good faith and use best efforts not to leak information or harm any user, their data, or our developer community. Please give us a reasonable amount of time to fix the issue before you publish it. Do not defraud our users or us in the process of discovery. We promise not to bring legal action against researchers who point out a problem provided they do their best to follow the these guidelines.

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The following keys may be used to communicate sensitive information to developers:

Name	Fingerprint
Christopher Allen	FDFE 14A5 4ECB 30FC 5D22 74EF F8D3 6C91 3574 05ED

You can import a key by running the following command with that individual’s fingerprint: gpg --recv-keys "<fingerprint>" Ensure that you put quotes around fingerprints that contain spaces.