README.md

How to run a full Bitcoin node using Docker Compose

This directory contains an example docker-compose.yml file which will allow you to run a full Bitcoin node. The compose file will automatically handle creating a data volume for you, so that blockchain data is persisted between Bitcoin upgrades. It also makes it easy to run bitcoin-cli against your running Bitcoin node.

Before you can get started, you need to install Docker Compose. Follow the Docker Compose installation instructions relevant to your platform.

Create a workspace

First, you should create a directory to keep your compose file in. Copy the example docker-compose.yml file from this repository into your local directory.

$ mkdir bitcoin
$ cd bitcoin
$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NicolasDorier/docker-bitcoin/master/example/docker-compose.yml

Launch bitcoind

To launch your node, simply type docker-compose up:

$ docker-compose up -d  # start bitcoind in the background
$ docker-compose ps     # show running processes
$ docker-compose down   # stop bitcoind (blockchain data will remain on disk)

Run bitcoin-cli

To run commands against your running Bitcoin node, a bitcoin-cli shorthand is provided. Simply use the docker-compose run command:

$ docker-compose run --rm bitcoin-cli getinfo

Note that passing --rm to docker-compose run is not strictly necessary. However, it will prevent exited containers building up on your system after each command, which can waste disk space. If you forget to pass --rm, the unused containers will be cleaned up next time you run docker-compose down.

Configuration options

To configure your Bitcoin node, update the command: bitcoind line in docker-compose.yml. For example, to run a node on the Bitcoin testnet, you would change the line to:

command: bitcoind -testnet

Running a specific fork or version

The docker-compose.yml file can be edited to suit your needs. If you wish to run a specific version or fork of bitcoin, simply replace NicolasDorier/bitcoin with the desired image.