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Bitcoin Core connects to the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network to download and fully validate blocks and transactions. It also includes a wallet and graphical user interface, which can be optionally built.

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Get started

Quickstart

Get Bitcoin Core running in minutes with basic commands

Installation

Detailed installation instructions for all platforms

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Core features

Full node validation

Download and fully validate the entire Bitcoin blockchain, ensuring all transactions follow consensus rules

Wallet functionality

Built-in wallet with support for multiple wallets, PSBT, multisig, and offline signing

JSON-RPC interface

Comprehensive RPC API for programmatic control of Bitcoin Core operations

GUI and headless modes

Run with bitcoin-qt graphical interface or bitcoind headless daemon

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Important considerations

Bitcoin Core downloads and stores the entire history of Bitcoin transactions, which requires several hundred gigabytes or more of disk space. Depending on your computer and network connection, the synchronization process can take anywhere from a few hours to several days or more.
This is security-critical software. Any mistake might cost people money. Always verify downloads and follow security best practices.

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Key interfaces

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Command-line tools

Bitcoin Core provides several command-line interfaces:
  • bitcoin-qt - GUI application with visual interface
  • bitcoind - Headless daemon for server deployments
  • bitcoin-cli - RPC client for interacting with bitcoind
  • bitcoin-tx - Transaction creation and manipulation utility
  • bitcoin-wallet - Wallet management utility for offline operations
  • bitcoin-util - General utility commands
  • bitcoin-chainstate - Standalone UTXO database validation tool
  • bitcoin - Wrapper command supporting subcommands like bitcoin gui, bitcoin node, and bitcoin rpc

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Network support

Bitcoin Core supports multiple networks:
  • Mainnet - The production Bitcoin network
  • Testnet3/Testnet4 - Test networks for development
  • Signet - Signed test network with controlled block generation
  • Regtest - Regression test mode for local testing

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Getting help

Bitcoin Wiki

Comprehensive Bitcoin documentation and guides

Bitcoin StackExchange

Ask technical questions and get answers from the community

IRC Chat

Real-time chat on #bitcoin at Libera Chat

BitcoinTalk Forums

Technical support board for Bitcoin Core

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License

Bitcoin Core is released under the terms of the MIT license. See opensource.org/license/MIT for more information.