Build Bitcoin Core from Source

Step 1: Clone the Bitcoin Core repository

Clone the repository from the official Bitcoin Core repository:

git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git
cd bitcoin
git checkout v30.2

Step 2: Build Bitcoin Core

Follow the instructions to build the repository for Linux, macOS, or Windows. You don't need to reclone the repo if you're asked to, since we've already done that.

Step 3: Run Mainnet Node

After building, you can run the following:

bitcoind -daemon -txindex=1 -rpcbind=0.0.0.0 -rpcport=8332 -rpcuser=citrea -rpcpassword=citrea

The arguments you provide here are important - if you modify any of these, you may also need to modify some fields before running a Citrea client in the next steps. Please check everything carefully before proceeding.

Testnet4 setup: To run a Bitcoin Testnet4 node for Citrea's testnet, add the -testnet4 flag and use the testnet4 RPC port 18443:

bitcoind -testnet4 -daemon -txindex=1 -rpcbind=0.0.0.0 -rpcport=18443 -rpcuser=citrea -rpcpassword=citrea