BlockchainCommons/Learning-Bitcoin-from-the-Command-Line
Learning Bitcoin From The Command Line
Learning Bitcoin from the Command Line is an interactive tutorial that teaches Bitcoin Core node operation, JSON-RPC programming, and Lightning Network payments entirely from the terminal. The guide covers running a full Bitcoin Core node on a remote server with automated setup scripts, controlling the node through shell commands and JSON-RPC calls, and communicating with Bitcoin Core by sending JSON-formatted requests over HTTP.
The tutorial provides hands-on instruction for writing and executing custom Bitcoin locking and unlocking scripts using Bitcoin's stack-based scripting language, building and spending multisignature transactions through automated command-line workflows, and constructing, signing, and exchanging Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions for collaborative offline signing with hardware wallets. It also covers routing Bitcoin Core and SSH traffic through Tor or I2P anonymity networks to hide node identity and transaction origins, and subscribing to real-time blockchain events using ZeroMQ sockets.
Additional capability areas include opening, using, and closing Lightning Network payment channels with Core Lightning, monitoring stuck transactions and re-broadcasting them using Replace-by-Fee and Child-Pays-for-Parent techniques, and sending Bitcoin transactions in raw, SegWit, and automated formats. The guide also demonstrates how to call a running Bitcoin Core node programmatically from languages including C, Go, Java, Node.js, Python, Rust, and Swift.