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Quick Start

Get your Bitcoin Knots node up and running in just a few minutes.

Starting the Node​

GUI Mode (Bitcoin-Qt)​

Simply run the Qt application:

# Linux
bitcoin-qt

# macOS
open /Applications/Bitcoin-Knots/bitcoin-qt.app

# Windows
# Use the Start Menu shortcut or run bitcoin-qt.exe

Daemon Mode​

For headless servers, run the daemon:

# Start the daemon
bitcoind -daemon

# Check status
bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo

Initial Block Download (IBD)​

On first run, your node will download and verify the entire blockchain. This takes:

  • Time: 6-24 hours depending on hardware and connection
  • Disk Space: ~600 GB for full node, ~10 GB for pruned node
  • Bandwidth: ~600 GB download
# Run with pruning enabled (keep only last 10GB of blocks)
bitcoind -prune=10000

Monitor Progress​

# Check sync progress
bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo | grep -E "(blocks|headers|verificationprogress)"

Basic Configuration​

Create a configuration file at ~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf:

~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
# Network
server=1
listen=1

# RPC access
rpcuser=youruser
rpcpassword=yourpassword

# Performance
dbcache=4000
maxconnections=40

# Knots-specific: data carrier limit
datacarriersize=42

Common Operations​

Check Node Status​

# Blockchain info
bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo

# Network info
bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo

# Peer connections
bitcoin-cli getpeerinfo | jq '.[].addr'

Wallet Operations​

# Create a new wallet
bitcoin-cli createwallet "mywallet"

# Get a receiving address
bitcoin-cli getnewaddress

# Check balance
bitcoin-cli getbalance

Stop the Node​

# Graceful shutdown
bitcoin-cli stop

Knots-Specific Quick Commands​

Check Mempool with Extended Info​

# List mempool transactions
bitcoin-cli getrawmempool true | jq 'to_entries | .[0:5]'

# Get mempool info
bitcoin-cli getmempoolinfo

Fee Estimation​

# Get fee histogram (Knots feature)
bitcoin-cli getmempoolinfo

Troubleshooting​

Node Won't Start​

# Check for existing process
pgrep -a bitcoind

# Check logs
tail -f ~/.bitcoin/debug.log

Slow Sync​

  1. Increase dbcache in config (use 50-75% of available RAM)
  2. Ensure SSD storage
  3. Check network connection

RPC Connection Refused​

Ensure server=1 is in your config and the daemon is running:

bitcoin-cli -getinfo

Next Steps​