> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Command-Line Options

> Complete reference for bitcoind and bitcoin-qt command-line arguments

Command-line options allow you to configure Bitcoin Core at startup. These options can also be specified in the `bitcoin.conf` file (without the leading `-`).

## Usage

```bash theme={null}
bitcoind [options]
bitcoin-qt [options]
```

<Info>
  Command-line options override values set in the configuration file, and configuration file options override values set in the GUI.
</Info>

## General Options

<ParamField path="-?" type="flag">
  Print help message and exit

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -?
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-help" type="flag">
  Print help message with all options and exit

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -help
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-version" type="flag">
  Print version and exit

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -version
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-conf" type="string" default="bitcoin.conf">
  Specify path to read-only configuration file. Relative paths are prefixed by datadir location.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -conf=/etc/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-datadir" type="string">
  Specify data directory. Cannot be negated.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -datadir=/mnt/bitcoin
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-settings" type="string" default="settings.json">
  Specify path to dynamic settings data file. Can be disabled with `-nosettings`.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -settings=/var/lib/bitcoin/settings.json
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-pid" type="string" default="bitcoind.pid">
  Specify PID file. Relative paths are prefixed by datadir location.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -pid=/var/run/bitcoind.pid
  ```
</ParamField>

## Chain Selection Options

<ParamField path="-chain" type="string" default="main">
  Use the specified chain: `main`, `test`, `testnet4`, `signet`, or `regtest`

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -chain=regtest
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-testnet" type="flag">
  Use the test network (testnet3)

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -testnet
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-testnet4" type="flag">
  Use the testnet4 test network

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -testnet4
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-signet" type="flag">
  Use the signet test network

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -signet
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-regtest" type="flag">
  Enter regression test mode, which uses a special chain for testing

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -regtest
  ```
</ParamField>

## Database Options

<ParamField path="-dbcache" type="number" default="450">
  Maximum database cache size in MiB (minimum 4). Unused memory is shared with mempool.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -dbcache=4096
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-blocksdir" type="string">
  Specify directory to hold blocks subdirectory for \*.dat files

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -blocksdir=/mnt/storage/blocks
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-txindex" type="boolean" default="0">
  Maintain a full transaction index, used by the getrawtransaction RPC

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -txindex=1
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-txospenderindex" type="boolean" default="0">
  Maintain a transaction output spender index, used by the gettxspendingprevout RPC

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -txospenderindex=1
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-coinstatsindex" type="boolean" default="0">
  Maintain coinstats index used by the gettxoutsetinfo RPC

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -coinstatsindex=1
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-blockfilterindex" type="string">
  Maintain an index of compact filters for blocks. Supported types: `basic`

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -blockfilterindex=basic
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-prune" type="number" default="0">
  Reduce storage by pruning old blocks. Value is target size in MiB (minimum 550). 0 = disable pruning.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -prune=10000
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-reindex" type="flag">
  Rebuild chain state and block index from block files on disk

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -reindex
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-reindex-chainstate" type="flag">
  Rebuild chain state from block index

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -reindex-chainstate
  ```
</ParamField>

## Network Options

<ParamField path="-listen" type="boolean" default="1">
  Accept connections from outside (default: 1 if no -proxy or -connect)

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -listen=1
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-port" type="number">
  Listen for connections on specified port. Default: 8333 (mainnet), 18333 (testnet3), 18444 (testnet4), 38333 (signet), 18444 (regtest)

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -port=8333
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-bind" type="string">
  Bind to given address and always listen on it. Use \[host]:port notation for IPv6.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -bind=0.0.0.0:8333
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-maxconnections" type="number" default="125">
  Maintain at most this many connections to peers. Does not apply to manual connections via -addnode.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -maxconnections=200
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-addnode" type="string">
  Add a node to connect to and attempt to keep the connection open. Can be specified multiple times.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -addnode=69.164.218.197 -addnode=10.0.0.2:8333
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-connect" type="string">
  Connect only to the specified node(s). `-noconnect` disables automatic connections.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -connect=192.168.1.100
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-seednode" type="string">
  Connect to a node to retrieve peer addresses, then disconnect. Can be specified multiple times.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -seednode=seed.bitcoin.sipa.be
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-proxy" type="string">
  Connect through SOCKS5 proxy. Format: `<ip:port|path>[=<network>]`

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -proxy=127.0.0.1:9050
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-onion" type="string">
  Use separate SOCKS5 proxy to reach peers via Tor onion services. Set `-noonion` to disable.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -onion=127.0.0.1:9050
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-i2psam" type="string">
  I2P SAM proxy to reach I2P peers and accept I2P connections

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -i2psam=127.0.0.1:7656
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-onlynet" type="string">
  Make automatic outbound connections only to specified network. Can be specified multiple times. Values: `ipv4`, `ipv6`, `onion`, `i2p`, `cjdns`

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -onlynet=ipv4 -onlynet=ipv6
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-dns" type="boolean" default="1">
  Allow DNS lookups for -addnode, -seednode and -connect

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -dns=1
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-dnsseed" type="boolean" default="1">
  Query for peer addresses via DNS lookup if low on addresses

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -dnsseed=1
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-discover" type="boolean">
  Discover own IP addresses (default: 1 when listening and no -externalip or -proxy)

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -discover=1
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-externalip" type="string">
  Specify your own public address

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -externalip=203.0.113.42
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-maxuploadtarget" type="string" default="0">
  Keep outbound traffic under given target per 24h. 0 = no limit. Suffix units: k|K|m|M|g|G|t|T

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -maxuploadtarget=144M
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-timeout" type="number" default="5000">
  Specify socket connection timeout in milliseconds (minimum: 1)

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -timeout=10000
  ```
</ParamField>

## RPC Server Options

<ParamField path="-server" type="flag">
  Accept command line and JSON-RPC commands

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -server
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rest" type="boolean" default="0">
  Accept public REST requests

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rest=1
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rpcbind" type="string" default="127.0.0.1">
  Bind to given address to listen for JSON-RPC connections. Use \[host]:port notation for IPv6.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rpcbind=127.0.0.1:8332 -rpcbind=[::1]:8332
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rpcport" type="number">
  Listen for JSON-RPC connections on specified port. Default: 8332 (mainnet), 18332 (testnet3), 18443 (regtest)

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rpcport=8332
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rpcallowip" type="string" default="127.0.0.1">
  Allow JSON-RPC connections from specified source. Can specify IP, network/netmask, or network/CIDR. Can be specified multiple times.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rpcallowip=192.168.1.0/24 -rpcallowip=10.0.0.5
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rpcuser" type="string">
  Username for JSON-RPC connections

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rpcuser=bitcoinrpc
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rpcpassword" type="string">
  Password for JSON-RPC connections

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rpcpassword=your-secure-password
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rpcauth" type="string">
  Username and HMAC-SHA-256 hashed password. Format: `<USERNAME>:<SALT>$<HASH>`. Can be specified multiple times.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rpcauth=alice:e3c4f2a7$0f2d...
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rpccookiefile" type="string">
  Location of the auth cookie. Relative paths are prefixed by datadir location.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rpccookiefile=/var/lib/bitcoin/.cookie
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rpcthreads" type="number" default="4">
  Set the number of threads to service RPC calls

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rpcthreads=8
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rpcworkqueue" type="number" default="16">
  Set the depth of the work queue to service RPC calls

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rpcworkqueue=32
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-rpcwhitelist" type="string">
  Set a whitelist to filter incoming RPC calls. Format: `<USERNAME>:<rpc 1>,<rpc 2>,...`

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -rpcwhitelist=user1:getblockcount,getbestblockhash
  ```
</ParamField>

## Mempool Options

<ParamField path="-maxmempool" type="number" default="300">
  Keep the transaction memory pool below specified megabytes

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -maxmempool=500
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-mempoolexpiry" type="number" default="336">
  Do not keep transactions in the mempool longer than specified hours

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -mempoolexpiry=72
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-persistmempool" type="boolean" default="1">
  Whether to save the mempool on shutdown and load on restart

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -persistmempool=1
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-blocksonly" type="boolean" default="0">
  Reject transactions from network peers. Disables automatic broadcast and rebroadcast.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -blocksonly=1
  ```
</ParamField>

## Transaction Relay Options

<ParamField path="-minrelaytxfee" type="number" default="0.00001">
  Fees (in BTC/kvB) smaller than this are considered zero fee for relaying, mining, and transaction creation

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -minrelaytxfee=0.00001
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-datacarrier" type="boolean" default="1">
  Relay and mine data carrier transactions

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -datacarrier=1
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-datacarriersize" type="number" default="83">
  Maximum size of data-carrying raw scriptPubKeys to relay and mine

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -datacarriersize=83
  ```
</ParamField>

## Notification Options

<ParamField path="-blocknotify" type="string">
  Execute command when the best block changes. %s in cmd is replaced by block hash.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -blocknotify="/usr/local/bin/notify-block.sh %s"
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-alertnotify" type="string">
  Execute command when an alert is raised. %s in cmd is replaced by message.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -alertnotify="echo %s | mail -s 'Bitcoin Alert' admin@example.com"
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-startupnotify" type="string">
  Execute command on startup

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -startupnotify="/usr/local/bin/startup.sh"
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-shutdownnotify" type="string">
  Execute command immediately before beginning shutdown

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -shutdownnotify="/usr/local/bin/shutdown.sh"
  ```
</ParamField>

## ZeroMQ Options

<Accordion title="ZeroMQ Publishing Options">
  <ParamField path="-zmqpubhashblock" type="string">
    Enable publish hash block in specified address

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -zmqpubhashblock=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332
    ```
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="-zmqpubhashtx" type="string">
    Enable publish hash transaction in specified address

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -zmqpubhashtx=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332
    ```
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="-zmqpubrawblock" type="string">
    Enable publish raw block in specified address

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -zmqpubrawblock=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332
    ```
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="-zmqpubrawtx" type="string">
    Enable publish raw transaction in specified address

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -zmqpubrawtx=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332
    ```
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="-zmqpubsequence" type="string">
    Enable publish hash block and tx sequence in specified address

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -zmqpubsequence=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332
    ```
  </ParamField>
</Accordion>

## Debugging and Testing Options

<Accordion title="Debug Options">
  <ParamField path="-debug" type="string">
    Output debugging information. Can be specified multiple times. Categories: `net`, `tor`, `mempool`, `http`, `bench`, `zmq`, `walletdb`, `rpc`, `estimatefee`, `addrman`, `selectcoins`, `reindex`, `cmpctblock`, `rand`, `prune`, `proxy`, `mempoolrej`, `libevent`, `coindb`, `qt`, `leveldb`, `validation`, `i2p`, `ipc`

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -debug=net -debug=mempool
    ```
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="-debugexclude" type="string">
    Exclude debugging information for a category. Can be negated to exclude all debugging.

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -debugexclude=libevent
    ```
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="-logips" type="boolean" default="0">
    Include IP addresses in debug output

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -logips=1
    ```
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="-logtimestamps" type="boolean" default="1">
    Prepend debug output with timestamp

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -logtimestamps=1
    ```
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="-printtoconsole" type="flag">
    Send trace/debug info to console instead of debug.log

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -printtoconsole
    ```
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="-shrinkdebugfile" type="flag">
    Shrink debug.log file on client startup

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -shrinkdebugfile
    ```
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="-uacomment" type="string">
    Append comment to the user agent string

    ```bash theme={null}
    bitcoind -uacomment="my custom node"
    ```
  </ParamField>
</Accordion>

## Daemon Options (Unix only)

<ParamField path="-daemon" type="flag" default="0">
  Run in the background as a daemon and accept commands

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -daemon
  ```
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-daemonwait" type="flag" default="0">
  Wait for initialization to be finished before exiting. Implies `-daemon`.

  ```bash theme={null}
  bitcoind -daemonwait
  ```
</ParamField>

## Example Usage

### Start a Full Node with RPC

```bash theme={null}
bitcoind -daemon -server -rpcuser=myuser -rpcpassword=mypass -rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
```

### Start a Pruned Node

```bash theme={null}
bitcoind -daemon -prune=10000 -dbcache=1024
```

### Start Testnet Node

```bash theme={null}
bitcoind -testnet -daemon -server -rpcport=18332
```

### Start with Custom Data Directory

```bash theme={null}
bitcoind -datadir=/mnt/bitcoin -daemon
```

### Connect to Specific Peers Only

```bash theme={null}
bitcoind -connect=192.168.1.100 -connect=192.168.1.101
```

## Notes

<Note>
  All command-line options (except `-?`, `-help`, `-version`, and `-conf`) may be specified in the configuration file.
</Note>

<Warning>
  Command-line options override values set in the configuration file.
</Warning>

## See Also

* [bitcoin.conf Configuration File](/configuration/bitcoin-conf) - Configuration file format and options
* [Data Directory Structure](/configuration/data-directory) - File and directory layout