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DocumentationIntroduction

Microbolt

Build your own “do-everything-yourself” Bitcoin full node that will make you a sovereign peer in the Bitcoin and Lightning network.

No need to trust anyone else.

What is the Microbolt?

Microbolt is more than a fork of RaspiBolt and MiniBolt, made for all kind of computers, not only Raspberry Pi’s.

With this guide, you can set up a Bitcoin and Lightning node from scratch, doing everything yourself. You will learn about Linux, Bitcoin, and Lightning. As a result, you’ll have your very own Microbolt node, built by you and no one else.

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 own 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 that you no longer need to reveal their whole financial history to external servers.
  • Be part of Lightning. Run your own Lightning node for everyday payments and help building a robust, decentralized Bitcoin Lightning network.

Did we mention that it’s fun, as well?

Microbolt overview

This guide explains how to set up your own Bitcoin node on a Computer. But it works on most hardware platforms because it only uses standard Alpine 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 own 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

🪽 Nostr: global, decentralized, and censorship-resistant social media

🔋 Always on: services are constantly synced and available 24/7

🧅 Reachable from anywhere: connect to all your services through the Tor network

Target audience

We strive to give foolproof instructions. But the goal is also to do everything ourselves. 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. You’ll gain a basic understanding of the how and why.

If you like to learn about Linux, Bitcoin, and Lightning, then this guide is for you.

Structure

We aim to keep the core of this guide well maintained and up-to-date:

  1. System: prepare the hardware and set up the operating system
  2. Bitcoin: sync your own Bitcoin full node, Electrum server, and Blockchain Explorer
  3. Lightning: run your own Lightning client with web-based node management
  4. Nostr: utilize decentralized and censorship-resistant social networks

Community

This is NOT a community project. doitwithnotepad retain the final say in disputes or arguments within the community.

Find help and other Microbolt users on the following platforms:

And feel free to join the many other contributors if you see something that can be improved!

System