Bitcoin Development Environment Setup

This repository contains the configuration files necessary to set up a robust, local Bitcoin Regtest environment. It accompanies the blog post: Setting Up a Local Bitcoin Dev Environment (Regtest, Fulcrum, Mempool, Ord).

The goal is to create a "mini-mainnet" on your local machine using a hybrid approach (Native Binaries + Docker) for maximum performance and ease of use.

Contents

File	Purpose
bitcoin.conf	Configures Bitcoin Core to run in Regtest mode with specific RPC credentials.
fulcrum-config.conf	Configures the Fulcrum Electrum server to index your local Regtest node.
compose.yml	A Docker Compose file to spin up the Mempool block explorer backend and frontend.
ord.yaml	Configuration for the Ord tool to experiment with inscriptions locally.

Prerequisites

You will need the following software installed:

1. Bitcoin Core (Latest stable release)
2. Fulcrum (Latest release)
3. Docker Desktop (For running Mempool)
4. Ord (Optional, for inscriptions)

Important Configuration Note

The configuration files in this repository use Windows file paths (e.g., D:\Program\Bitcoin\data) as placeholders.

Tip

I don't know if this would matter, but if you encounter issues with the configuration file, perhaps check that the encoding and EOF is correct for your OS?

Before running anything:

1. Open each .conf and .yaml file.
2. Search for datadir or directory paths.
3. Update them to match the actual directory structure on your local machine (Mac/Linux users must switch to forward slashes /).

Usage

1. Bitcoin Core

Place bitcoin.conf in a known location. Start Bitcoin Core pointing to this config:

./bitcoin-qt -conf="/path/to/bitcoin.conf"

• RPC User: mempool
• RPC Password: mempool

2. Fulcrum Server

Update fulcrum-config.conf to point to your Bitcoin data directory. Start Fulcrum:

./Fulcrum /path/to/fulcrum-config.conf

• Note: You must mine at least 1 block (generatetoaddress 1 <addr>) for Fulcrum to initialize successfully.

3. Mempool Explorer

Ensure Docker is running. Navigate to the folder containing compose.yml and run:

docker compose up -d

Access the explorer at: http://localhost:8089

4. Ord (Optional)

Update ord.yaml with your paths. Run:

./ord --config ord.yaml server --http-port 8088

Startup Sequence

Because these services depend on one another, you should always start them in the following order:

• Start Bitcoin Core - Wait for RPC initialization.
• Start Fulcrum - Wait for it to sync with the tip.
• Start Mempool - Wait for the web interface to load.
• Start Ord - Can be started anytime after step 1.

License

MIT