Node installation

Overview

The Bitcoin Indexer requires a fully synced Bitcoin Core node with transaction indexing enabled. This guide walks through setting up a node specifically configured for indexer operation.

Download Bitcoin Core

Download Bitcoin Core version 25.0 or higher. Choose the correct version for your processor architecture.

Create Bitcoin directory

Terminal

$ mkdir -p ~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin
$ cd ~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin

Download and extract

Terminal

$ curl -O https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-25.1/bitcoin-25.1-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
$ tar -xzf bitcoin-25.1-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz

Verify installation:

Terminal

$ bitcoind --version
Bitcoin Core version v25.1.0

Configure for indexing

Create data directory

Terminal

$ mkdir -p ~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/chainstate

Create configuration file

Terminal

$ nano ~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

Add the following configuration:

~/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

# Data directory
datadir=/home/$USER/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/chainstate

# Core settings
server=1
txindex=1
daemon=1

# RPC settings
rpcuser=user
rpcpassword=password
rpcport=8332
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
rpcthreads=16

# ZeroMQ settings (required for indexer)
zmqpubrawblock=tcp://0.0.0.0:18543
zmqpubrawtx=tcp://0.0.0.0:18544
zmqpubhashtx=tcp://0.0.0.0:18545
zmqpubhashblock=tcp://0.0.0.0:18546

# Performance settings
# Set to 16384 (16GB) during initial sync, reduce to 2048 after
dbcache=16384
maxmempool=1000
mempoolexpiry=72

# Network settings
listen=1
maxconnections=125

# Deprecated RPC
deprecatedrpc=warnings

Security note

Always use a strong, unique password for RPC access. The indexer will use these credentials to communicate with your node.

Initial blockchain sync

Start Bitcoin Core with your configuration:

Terminal

$ bitcoind -conf=$HOME/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

Initial sync time

Initial blockchain sync takes 1-3 days depending on hardware and network speed. The node will download ~600GB of data.

Monitor sync progress in another terminal:

Terminal

$ bitcoin-cli -conf=$HOME/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf getblockchaininfo | jq '{blocks, headers, verificationprogress}'

You can also monitor detailed sync status:

Terminal

$ bitcoin-cli -conf=$HOME/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf getblockchaininfo | jq '{chain, blocks, headers, bestblockhash, verificationprogress, size_on_disk}'

Verify indexer compatibility

Once synced, verify the node is properly configured:

Terminal

$ bitcoin-cli -conf=$HOME/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf getindexinfo
$ bitcoin-cli -conf=$HOME/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf getzmqnotifications

systemd service setup

Create a systemd service for automatic startup:

/etc/systemd/system/bitcoind.service

[Unit]
Description=Bitcoin Core Daemon
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=notify
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/bitcoind -conf=/home/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
User=bitcoin-indexer
Group=bitcoin-indexer
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=30

# Security hardening
NoNewPrivileges=true
PrivateTmp=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ReadWritePaths=/home/bitcoin-indexer/bitcoin/chainstate

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

Terminal

$ sudo systemctl enable bitcoind
$ sudo systemctl start bitcoind
$ sudo systemctl status bitcoind
[32m●[0m bitcoind.service - Bitcoin Core Daemon
    Active: [32mactive (running)[0m

Node installation

Overview

Download Bitcoin Core

Create Bitcoin directory

Download and extract

Configure for indexing

Create data directory

Create configuration file

Initial blockchain sync

Verify indexer compatibility

systemd service setup

Next steps

Configure the indexer→

Bootstrap from archive→