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Getting Started

Install Counterparty Core

The simplest way to get your Counterparty node up and running is to use Docker Compose, which may be installed as described here.

Note: It is required that you use Docker Compose V2, and it is suggested that you install the plugin as opposed to the standalone docker-compose executable.

Clone the repo:

git clone git@github.com:CounterpartyXCP/counterparty-core.git
cd counterparty-core

Next, create the directory that will be used to store Counterparty data. To run a node you must have at least 1.5TB free.

mkdir ~/.local/share/counterparty-docker-data

Now we can start the program.

docker compose --profile mainnet up -d

Use docker compose logs to view output from services. For example:

docker compose --profile mainnet logs --tail=10 -f bitcoind
docker compose --profile mainnet logs --tail=10 -f addrindexrs
docker compose --profile mainnet logs --tail=10 -f counterparty-core

You can use the testnet profile to run a testnet node:

docker compose --profile testnet up -d

NOTES:

  • By default, this Docker Compose script makes use of the bootstrap functionality, because Docker makes it hard to use kickstart. (See below.)
  • When working with a low-memory system, you can tell AddrIndexRs to use JSON-RPC to communicate with Bitcoin Core using the environment variable ADDRINDEXRS_JSONRPC_IMPORT: ADDRINDEXRS_JSONRPC_IMPORT=true docker compose up -d

Upgrade Counterparty Core

Download the latest version of counterparty-core and restart counterparty-server

cd counterparty-core
git pull
docker compose stop counterparty-core
docker compose --profile mainnet up -d

NOTE: If you were using a custom version of docker-compose.yml that uses the latest or develop tag, it is recommended to delete the old image before restarting the server:

docker compose stop counterparty-core
docker rmi counterparty/counterparty:latest
docker compose --profile mainnet up -d