Minibolt
A step-by-step guide to building a Bitcoin & Lightning node, and other stuff on a personal computer
Install / Use
/learn @minibolt-guide/MiniboltREADME
description: >- Build your own "DIY" Bitcoin & Lightning node, and other stuff on a personal computer. No need to trust anyone else. layout: width: default title: visible: true description: visible: true tableOfContents: visible: true outline: visible: true pagination: visible: true metadata: visible: true tags: visible: true
MiniBolt
What is the MiniBolt?
With this guide, you can set up a Bitcoin, Lightning node, and other stuff on a personal computer, doing everything yourself. You will learn about Linux, Bitcoin, Lightning, and much more.
<figure><img src=".gitbook/assets/tgfoss-build-under-win.gif" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>There are many reasons why you should run your own Bitcoin node:
👥 Keep Bitcoin decentralized: use your node to help enforce your Bitcoin consensus rules.
🗽 Take back your sovereignty: let your node validate your Bitcoin transactions. No need to ask someone else to tell you what's happening in the Bitcoin network.
🥷🏽 Improve your privacy: connect your wallets to your node so you no longer need to reveal your financial history to external servers.
⚡️ Be part of Lightning: run your Lightning node for everyday payments and help build a robust and decentralized Lightning network.
MiniBolt overview
This guide explains setting up your Bitcoin node on a personal computer. However, it works on most hardware platforms because it only uses standard Debian-based Linux commands.
Features
Your Bitcoin node will offer the following functionality:
🟠 Bitcoin: direct and trustless participation in the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network, full validation of blocks and transactions.
⚛️ Electrum server: connect your compatible wallets (including hardware wallets) to your node.
⛓️ Blockchain Explorer: web-based Explorer to privately look up transactions, blocks, and more.
⚡ Lightning: full client with stable long-term channels and web-based and mobile-based management interfaces.
🔋 Always on: services are constantly synced and available 24/7.
🌐 Reachable from anywhere: connect to all your services through the Tor network and Wireguard VPN.
Target audience
- [x] We strive to give foolproof instructions. But the goal is also to do everything ourselves.
- [x] Shortcuts that involve trusting someone else are not allowed. This makes this guide quite technical, but we try to make it as straightforward as possible.
- [x] You'll gain a basic understanding of the how and why.
- [x] If you want to learn about Linux, Bitcoin, and Lightning, this guide is for you.
Structure
We aim to keep the core of this guide well-maintained and up-to-date:
<table data-view="cards" data-full-width="false"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th align="center"></th><th data-type="content-ref"></th><th data-type="content-ref"></th><th data-type="content-ref"></th><th data-type="content-ref"></th><th data-type="content-ref"></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th><th data-hidden data-card-cover data-type="files"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>🖥️</strong> <a href="broken-reference/"><strong>System</strong></a></td><td>Prepare the hardware and set up the operating system</td><td align="center"></td><td><a href="index-1/operating-system.md">operating-system.md</a></td><td><a href="index-1/remote-access.md">remote-access.md</a></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td><a href="system/">system</a></td><td><a href=".gitbook/assets/operating-system.gif">operating-system.gif</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>🟠</strong> <a href="broken-reference/"><strong>₿itcoin</strong></a></td><td>Sync your own Bitcoin full node, Electrum server, Blockchain Explorer, and connect a desktop wallet to the Electrum server</td><td align="center"></td><td><a href="bitcoin/bitcoin/electrum-server.md">electrum-server.md</a></td><td><a href="bitcoin/bitcoin/blockchain-explorer.md">blockchain-explorer.md</a></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td><a href="bitcoin/bitcoin/">bitcoin</a></td><td><a href=".gitbook/assets/core_logo.png">core_logo.png</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>⚡</strong> <a href="broken-reference/"><strong>Lightning</strong></a></td><td>Run your Lightning client with web-based node management, connect a mobile app, and save safely your SCB backup</td><td align="center"></td><td><a href="lightning/channel-backup.md">channel-backup.md</a></td><td><a href="lightning/web-app.md">web-app.md</a></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td><a href="lightning/">lightning</a></td><td><a href=".gitbook/assets/lightning-network-daemon-logo.png">lightning-network-daemon-logo.png</a></td></tr><tr><td>➕ <a href="broken-reference/"><strong>Bonus guide</strong></a></td><td>The bonus section contains more specific guides that build on top of the main section. More fun, lots of knowledge, but with lesser maintenance guarantees. Everything is optional.</td><td align="center"></td><td><a href="bonus/system/">system</a></td><td><a href="bonus/bitcoin/">bitcoin</a></td><td><a href="bonus-guides/nostr/">nostr</a></td><td><a href="bonus-guides/security/">security</a></td><td><a href="bonus-guides/networking/">networking</a></td><td><a href="broken-reference/">broken-reference</a></td><td><a href=".gitbook/assets/bonus-logo.png">bonus-logo.png</a></td></tr></tbody></table>How to build
- YouTube list building MiniBolt live with Albercoin of Laboratorio Virtual Bitcoin (Spanish).
{% embed url="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7-Q40ihLbmP9vXZGdQgEozQnFISzT8ms" %}
Community
<table data-card-size="large" data-view="cards" data-full-width="false"><thead><tr><th align="center"></th><th></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="center">👥 <strong>RRSS</strong> 👥</td><td></td><td><p>🌲 <a href="https://linktr.minibolt.info">Linktr (FOSS)</a></p><p>🦩 <a href="https://njump.me/npub1wcas2w7r0gyjfst03adxq7pt0sddp22mn09vv7t3kd2ejn5d470s7j67s4">Nostr account</a></p><ul><li><p>Telegram Groups:</p><ul><li><a href="https://t.me/minibolt">English</a></li><li><a href="https://t.me/minibolt_es">Spanish</a></li></ul></li><li><p>Nostr channels:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.nostrchat.io/channel/aa64f2ead929ce8417f85bde7d22ebde13cc01ceb4e00145572437eb1ad46249">English</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nostrchat.io/channel/3bd633eaad12242572bfc5ba10d3e52b2c0e152f4207383858993c373d314015">Spanish</a></li></ul></li><li><p>Telegram Channels (News):</p><ul><li><a href="https://t.me/minibolt_news">English</a></li><li><a href="https://t.me/minibolt_es_noticias">Spanish</a></li></ul></li></ul><p>🏅 <a href="https://badges.page/a/naddr1qq9y66twd9px7mr5v4eqzxthwden5te0wpuhyctdd9jzuenfv96x5ctx9e3k7mgzyzchlnxlq7az8pls8ze5gfnjpntg6yfdly3meg47mruvxzdhyyg42qcyqqq82wgfsa98u">MiniBolter Badge</a></p><p>⚡<a href="https://amboss.space/en/community/fee5ec65-5b9a-4305-856a-1eb1aff19c34"> Amboss community</a></p></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><strong>🛠️</strong> <a href="https://github.com/minibolt-guide/minibolt"><strong>GitHub</strong></a> 🛠️</td><td></td><td><ul><li><a href="https://github.com/minibolt-guide/minibolt/pulls">Pull requests</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/minibolt-guide/minibolt/issues">Issues / Knowledge base</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/orgs/minibolt-guide/discussions">Discussions</a></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>{% hint style="info" %} Feel free to join the many other contributors if you see something that can be improved! {% endhint %}
