bitcoind.js

bitcoind.js as a node.js module which dynamically loads a node.js C++ modules which links to libbitcoind.so (bitcoind compiled as a shared library), making all useful bitcoind functions asynchronous.

Operating Systems to be bundled with libbitcoind.so

You will not have to compile libbitcoind.so if you run one of these operating systems, but may need some of the runtime libraries such as boost.

Arch Linux is the only OS currently supported. If you would like to be a maintainer of a certain OS, please contact me, although I'm not quite open to letting people I don't know maintain this library due to its importance.

• Arch Linux
• CentOS (currently unsupported)
• Debian (currently unsupported)
• Fedora (currently unsupported)
• Linux Mint (currently unsupported)
• Mac OSX (currently unsupported)
• RHEL (currently unsupported)
• openSUSE (currently unsupported)
• Ubuntu (currently unsupported)

Building

libbitcoind.so

Compiling bitcoind as a library

Dependencies

• Boost

  • Bost Header Files (/usr/include/boost)
  • NOTE: These are now included in the repo if they're not present.

• Berkeley DB

• LevelDB Header Files (included in bitcoin source repo, leveldb itself unnecessary, libbitcoind.so is already linked to them)

  • NOTE: These also are now included in the repo if they're not present.

• Protobuf

• secp256k1

Building

$ cd ~/node_modules/bitcoind.js
$ ./build-libbitcoind.sh remote

remote will clone the latest bitcoin upstream, apply a patch to it, compile libbitcoind.so, and place it in the appropriate directory. The first argument can also be a bitcoin repo directory you already have on your disk, otherwise it will check for ~/bitcoin by default.

NOTE: libbitcoind.so is currently unsupported on OSX due to OSX's mess of header files and libraries. Special magic is required to make this work that has not been implemented yet. This will only compile on a real unix (linux is recommended).

In the build-libbitcoind.sh script:

--enable-daemonlib will compile all object files with -fPIC (Position Independent Code - needed to create a shared object).

make will then compile ./src/libbitcoind.so (with -shared -fPIC), linking to all the freshly compiled PIC object files. This will completely ignore compiling tests and the QT object files.

Without --enable-daemonlib, the Makefile with compile bitcoind with -fPIE (Position Independent for Executable), this allows compiling of bitcoind.

bitcoind.js

$ cd ~/node_modules/bitcoind.js
$ BITCOIN_DIR=~/libbitcoind BOOST_INCLUDE=/usr/include/boost PYTHON=/usr/bin/python2.7 make

Running bitcoind.js

You can run bitcoind.js to start downloading the blockchain by doing:

$ node example --on-block &
bitcoind: status="start_node(): bitcoind opened."
...
[should see full javascript blocks here]

You can also look at the blocks come in through the bitcoind log file:

$ tail -f ~/.libbitcoind-example/debug.log

^C (SIGINT) will call StartShutdown() in bitcoind on the node thread pool.

Example Usage

bitcoind.js has direct access to the global wallet:

var bitcoind = require('bitcoind.js')({
  directory: '~/.libbitcoind-example',
  testnet: false,
  rpc: false
});

bitcoind.on('block', function(block) {
  console.log('Found Block:');
  console.log(block);
});

bitcoind.on('addr', function(addr) {
  console.log('Found more peers to connect to:');
  console.log(addr);
});

bitcoind.on('open', function() {
  console.log('Your Wallet:');
  console.log(bitcoind.wallet.getAccounts());
});

bitcoind.start();

$ node ./my-example.js
bitcoind.js: status="start_node(): bitcoind opened."
Your Wallet:
{ '':
   { balance: 0,
     addresses:
      [ { address: '16PvEk4NggaCyfR2keZaP9nPufJvDb2ATZ',
          privkeycompressed: true,
          privkey: 'L47MC7gtB5UdWYsmxT6czzGophFm6Zj99PYVQWDNkJG6Mf12GGyi',
          pubkeycompressed: true,
          pubkey: '02bf636e7a3ad48ea2cf0c8dbdf992792e617a4f92f2e161f20f3c038883647f0d' } ] } }
^C
bitcoind.js: stop_node(): bitcoind shutdown.
bitcoind.js: shutting down...
bitcoind.js: shut down.

Documentation

bitcoind.js is a node.js module which links to libbitcoind.so (bitcoind complied as a shared library).

Javascript API

Bitcoin Object/Class

Bitcoind in javascript. Right now, only one object can be instantiated.

Bitcoin::start([options], [callback])

Start the javascript bitcoin node.

Bitcoin::getBlock(blockHash, callback)

Get any block asynchronously by reading it from disk.

Bitcoin::getTransaction(txid, blockhash, callback)

Get any tx asynchronously by reading it from disk.

Bitcoin::log(), Bitcoin::info()

Log to standard output.

Bitcoin::error()

Log to stderr.

Bitcoin::stop, Bitcoin::close(callback)

Stop the javascript bitcoin node safely. This will be done automatically on process.exit also. It also takes the bitcoin node off the libuv event loop. If the bitcoin object is the only thing on the event loop. Node will simply close.

Bitcoin Object Events

Note: Any event that requires polling will only start the polling once the event is bound.

open(bitcoind)

bitcoind has opened and loaded the blockchain.

close(bitcoind)

bitcoind has shutdown.

block(block)

A block has been received an accepted by bitcoind.

tx(tx)

A confirmed or unconfirmed transaction has been received by bitcoind.

mptx(tx)

A tx from the mempool has been addded. Most likely not included in a block yet.

Block Object

A block (CBlock) represented in javascript. It is a full block containing all transactions in block.tx.

Block::_blockFlag

Internal non-enumerable property to check whether the object is a block.

Block.isBlock(block)

Static method to check whether object is a block.

Block.fromHex(hex)

Create a js block from a hex string.

Block::getHash(enc)

Get the block's hash. Return the correct encoding. hex is most likely what you want. If no encoding is provided, a buffer will be returned.

Block::verify()

Verify whether the block is valid.

Block::toHex()

Convert the block to a hex string.

Block.toHex(block)

Static method to convert any block-like object to a hex string.

Block::toBinary()

Convert the block to a binary buffer.

Block.toBinary(block)

Static method to convert a block-like object to a hex string.

Transaction Object/Class

Transaction::_txFlag

Internal non-enumerable property to check whether the object is a transaction.

Transaction.isTransaction(tx), Transaction.isTx(tx)

Static method to check whether object is a transaction.

Transaction.fromHex(hex)

Create a js transaction from a hex string.

Transaction::verify()

Verify whether the transaction is valid.

Transaction::sign(), Transaction::fill(options)

Fill the raw transaction with available unspent outputs and sign them.

Transaction.sign(tx, options), Transaction.fill(tx, options)

Static method to fill a tx-like object.

Transaction::getHash(enc)

Get the hash of a Transaction object. Encoding is usually hex. If no encoding is provided, a Buffer will be returned.

Transaction::isCoinbase()

Check whether the Transaction is a coinbase tx.

Transaction::toHex()

Convert the transaction to a hex string.

Transaction.toHex(tx)

Static method to convert a transaction-like object to a hex string.

Transaction::toBinary()

Convert the transaction to a binary buffer.

Transaction.toBinary(tx)

Static method to convert a transaction-like object to a binary buffer.

Transaction::broadcast(options, callback)

Broadcast a raw transaction that has not been included in a block yet. This can be your own transaction or a transaction relayed to you.

Transaction.broadcast(tx, options, callback)

Static method to broadcast a transaction.

Wallet Object/Class (Singleton)

Wallet::createAddress(options)

Create a new address for the global wallet.

Wallet::getAccountAddress(options)

Get the main address associated with the provided account.

Wallet::setAccount(options)

Associate account name with address.

Wallet::getAccount(options)

Get account name by address.

Wallet::sendTo(options)

Automatically create a transaction and fill/sign it with any available unspent outputs/inputs and broadcast it.

Wallet::signMessage(options)

Sign any piece of text using the private key associated with the provided address.

Wallet::verifyMessage(options)

Verify any signed piece of text using the public key associated with signing private key.

Wallet::createMultiSigAddress(options)

Create a multi-signature for the global wallet.

Wallet::getBalance(options)

Get the total balance of the global wallet in satoshis.

Wallet::getUnconfirmedBalance(options)

Get the total unconfirmed balance of the global wallet in satoshis

Wallet::sendFrom(options)

Automatically create a transaction and fill/sign it with any available unspent outputs/inputs and broadcast it. This method will also select unspent outputs from the provided account name to fill the transaction.

Wallet::listTransactions(options)

List transactions associated with the global wallet - NOT YET IMPLEMENTED.

Wallet::listAccounts(options)

Return a javascript object containing account names, addresses, public keys, private keys, balances, and whether the keys are in compressed format.

Wallet::getTransaction(options)

Return any transaction associated with the global wallet - NOT YET IMPLEMENTED.

Wallet::backup(options)

Backup wallet.dat to provided path.

Wallet::decrypt(options), Wallet::passphrase(options)

Temporarily decrypt the wallet using the provided passphrase.

Wallet::passphraseChange(options)

Change passphrase for the global encrypted wallet.

Wallet::forgetPassphrase(options), Wallet::lock(options)

Forget the current passphrase so the wallet is once again encrypted and unusuable for any meaningful purpose.

Wallet::encrypt(options)

Encrypt the global wallet with the provided passphrase.

Wallet::setTxFee(options)

The the default transaction fee for the global wallet in satoshis.

Wallet::importKey(options)

Import a private key to global wallet in the standard bitcoind compressed format.

Utils Object (Singleton)

utils.forEach(obj, iter, done)

Asynchronous parallel forEach function.

utils.NOOP()

A simple NOP function.

Exposed Objects

NOTE: All exposed objects will also be exposed on any instantiated Bitcoin object.

bitcoin.Bitcoin, bitcoin.bitcoin, bitcoin.bitcoind

The bitcoin object.

bitcoin.native, bitcoin.bitcoindjs

The native C++ bitcoindjs object.

bitcoin.Block, bitcoin.block

The bitcoind.js Block object.

bitcoin.Transaction, bitcoin.transaction, bitcoin.tx

The bitcoind.js Transaction object.

bitcoin.Wallet, bitcoin.wallet

The bitcoind.js Wallet singleton.

bitcoin.utils

The bitcoind.js utils object.

Contribution and License Agreement

If you contribute code to this project, you are implicitly allowing your code to be distributed under the MIT license. You are also implicitly verifying that all code is your original work. </legalese>

License

• bitcoind.js: Copyright (c) 2014, BitPay (MIT License).
• bitcoin: Copyright (c) 2009-2013 Bitcoin Core Developers (MIT License)
• bcoin (some code borrowed temporarily): Copyright Fedor Indutny, 2014.