rbitcoin

Bitcoin full node in Rust aimed at production server-side use: multi-peer IBD, tip follow, block/tx relay (tip mode), optional Core-class JSON-RPC, and in-process Electrum + optional Esplora REST for wallet clients (scripthash index via --shindex, default off; not a graphical block-explorer stack) — built around a libbitcoin-class relational archive and a pure-Rust consensus/script path.

0.5.1 is the current named published 0.x line (GitHub Release: Linux musl + Windows CRT-static + Darwin aarch64). Not 1.0: schema can still refuse a named wipe (SCHEMA.md, OPERATOR.md); default mainnet --milestone 840000 skips historical script/sig checks (--milestone 0 is full scripts); Electrum/Esplora need --shindex (default off) after tip. Run signet first, then mainnet with monitoring. Report security issues privately: SECURITY.md. Runbook: docs/experimental-mainnet.md.

License	MIT OR Apache-2.0 (LICENSE-MIT, LICENSE-APACHE)
Version	0.5.1 — CHANGELOG.md
Platform	Linux musl is the operator path. Windows / Darwin are published snapshots (no IoRing; Darwin not notarized)
Security	SECURITY.md — 0.5.x supported published line; no LTS until 1.0
Design	docs/architecture.md — why this node is different
Develop	rustup 1.95, no Nix — CONTRIBUTING.md

Why this node is different

Most full nodes center a UTXO set + block files (Bitcoin Core). Most Electrum backends are external indexers of another node. rbitcoin does neither: no UTXO set (libbitcoin-class archive), Electrum + txindex in-process.

• ~200 GiB hot pin/annotate set (schema 17); ~700 GiB with cold inwit — census in SCHEMA.md, --shindex costs in OPERATOR.md
• Under ~30 h IBD on a laptop-class host with --milestone 0
• Modest RAM during sync — no multi‑GiB dbcache pause
• Pure-Rust consensus/scripts (no libbitcoinconsensus)
• Reproducible static musl for ordinary Linux hosts

Core / Fulcrum contrasts: docs/architecture.md. Product surface: COMPAT.md. RPC subset: docs/rpc.md.

Status

Core pipelines exist (store, consensus, P2P IBD, tip follow, scripthash, Electrum, Esplora REST, libre mempool) for the server-side / wallet-client backend role. 0.5 mainnet is early production / high-scrutiny — not a Core or Fulcrum replacement, not a soak badge. Run signet first, then mainnet with monitoring (OPERATOR.md). First hour on regtest (mine → Electrum → Esplora): OPERATOR.md. Finishing any one operator’s first full mainnet sync is not a gate for using or packaging this tree. 1.0 gates: docs/road-to-1.0.md.

Non-goal: powering a graphical block explorer (search boxes, address-prefix autocomplete, explorer-only catalogue APIs). Product surface: COMPAT.md.

Authorship: first-party code is AI-written (Grok / xAI) under Brandon Black (@reardencode) prompting — details in SECURITY.md. Default milestone and script skip: OPERATOR.md. Signet lab: docs/experimental-mainnet.md.

Build

Develop (any OS, Nix optional)

Nix is not required. Rust 1.95 via rustup (rust-toolchain.toml). Clone, first build, --smoke, and Windows/macOS notes: CONTRIBUTING.md (Getting started).

git clone https://github.com/reardencode/rbitcoin.git && cd rbitcoin
cargo build -p rbitcoin-node -p rbitcoin-cli

Linux-only optional pin (nix develop / nix-shell, same flake.lock as release). Agents use a worktree branch and let Actions run workspace/coverage gates — AGENTS.md.

Portable static release (Linux operator)

Pinned nixpkgs + Cargo.lock musl static binaries. Commands and byte-identity: docs/reproducible-builds.md. Day-to-day flags: OPERATOR.md. Experimental mainnet: docs/experimental-mainnet.md.

Do not use cargo build --release inside nix-shell / nix develop as the operator binary — that links against the Nix store glibc and fails outside the store.

Crate map

Crate	Role
rbitcoin-primitives	Shared types / newtypes
rbitcoin-store	Map-free Class A/B/C tables (fd pread/pwrite), scripthash, bulk IO
rbitcoin-query	Domain API (archive, confirm, reconstruct, Electrum joins)
rbitcoin-consensus	Validation / confirm; pure-Rust scripts; milestone = scripts only
rbitcoin-net	P2P + IBD (modular ibd/), tip follow, relay
rbitcoin-mempool	Cluster graph + libre admission
rbitcoin-electrum	Electrum TCP server
rbitcoin-esplora	Esplora REST + wallet-scoped WS (opt-in)
rbitcoin-log	Leveled stderr logger
rbitcoin-rpc	Documented Core-class JSON-RPC subset (not full Core)
rbitcoin-cli	CLI client
rbitcoin-node	Node binary
rbitcoin-bench	Optional Electrum/Esplora client benchmark (--features cli; not a default/musl product bin)
rbitcoin-test	High-level test harness

Documentation

Full map (one owner per fact): docs/README.md.

Audience	Start
Operator	OPERATOR.md
Product / interop	COMPAT.md
Contributor	CONTRIBUTING.md (getting started: rustup, Linux / macOS / Windows)
Agent	AGENTS.md
On-disk	SCHEMA.md
Tests	TESTING.md

Design uniqueness: docs/architecture.md. Security contact: SECURITY.md.

What this is not

• Production multi-tenant Electrum or “drop-in Core”
• Wallet, mining, GUI, or pruning
• Full Core JSON-RPC surface
• A claim of complete mainnet script validation under the default milestone (use --milestone 0 for full scripts)
• A multi-OS port — Linux is the supported IO target today

License

Licensed under either of:

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

at your option.

Contribution

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions. See CONTRIBUTING.md.