Chaincore Node

Chaincore, the NodeJS package that enables simplistic APIs among cryptocurrency blockchains.

Contents

• Supported Chains
• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Configuration
• Usage
  • REST API
    • Serving the API
    • Endpoints List
    • HTTP JSON Response Structure
  • Websockets
    • Serving the Stream
    • Socket JSON Request Structure
    • Socket JSON Response Structure
    • NodeJS Code Example
    • Vanilla JS Code Example
• Ubuntu Setup Cheatsheet
• License

Supported Chains

• bch
• btc
• ltc

Prerequisites

• npm >= 6.0.0
• node >= 10.0.0
• libzmq3-dev

Installation

npm install chaincore-node

Configuration

Create a config.json using config.example.json

See example

{
  "api": {
    "port": 7070
  },
  "stream": {
    "port": 8080
  },
  "network": "mainnet",
  "chains": {
    "bch": {
      "zmq": {
        "host": "127.0.0.1",
        "port": 20000
      },
      "rpc": {
        "user": "username",
        "pass": "password",
        "host": "127.0.0.1",
        "port": 30000
      }
    },
    "btc": {
      "zmq": {
        "host": "127.0.0.1",
        "port": 20001
      },
      "rpc": {
        "user": "username",
        "pass": "password",
        "host": "127.0.0.1",
        "port": 30001
      }
    },
    "ltc": {
      "zmq": {
        "host": "127.0.0.1",
        "port": 20002
      },
      "rpc": {
        "user": "username",
        "pass": "password",
        "host": "127.0.0.1",
        "port": 30002
      }
    }
  }
}

Usage

Chaincore provides REST and Websocket APIs for: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin nodes.

REST API

The Chaincore REST API allows for effective blockchain interaction via HTTP endpoints.

Serving the API

node node_modules/chaincore-node/serve-api.js /path/to/config.json

Endpoints List

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/:chain/peer	Get peer info
GET	/api/:chain/network	Get network info
GET	/api/:chain/mining	Get mining info
GET	/api/:chain/blocks	Get latest blocks
GET	/api/:chain/blocks/tip	Get best block
GET	/api/:chain/blocks/height	Get blocks height
GET	/api/:chain/block/:hash	Get block details given the hash
POST	/api/:chain/address/:address	Import the given address without rescanning
GET	/api/:chain/address/:address/utxos	Get UTXOs belonging to the given address
GET	/api/:chain/address/:address/balance	Get unspent balance of the given address
GET	/api/:chain/mempool	Get mempool transactions
GET	/api/:chain/tx/:txId	Get transaction details given the txId
GET	/api/:chain/tx/:txId/block	Get transaction block details given the txId
POST	/api/:chain/broadcast/:hex	Broadcast a transaction given the hex

Please note: endpoints that get address UTXOs or balance will only return data that occurred after the address was imported. Chaincore is designed to be watch-only, therefore no rescan happens following an address import.

HTTP JSON Response Structure

{
    "success": <bool>,
    "message": <null|string>,
    "results": <object|array>
}

Websockets

The Chaincore websockets stream allows for real-time blockchain event subscriptions.

Serving the Stream

node node_modules/chaincore-node/serve-stream.js /path/to/config.json

Channels List

Method	Channel	Description
subscribe/unsubscribe	btc:block	Stream new blocks
subscribe/unsubscribe	btc:tx	Stream new transactions
subscribe/unsubscribe	btc:utxo	Stream new UTXOs

Socket JSON Request Structure

{
    "method": <string>,
    "channel": <string>,
    "params": <array>
}

Socket JSON Response Structure

{
    "success": <bool>,
    "message": <null|string>,
    "channel": <string>,
    "method": <string>,
    "results": <object>
}

NodeJS Code Example

Example using: ws as a client on the server.

First, install ws via the following command: npm install ws - then, subscribe to channels and receive events like so:

const WebSocket = require('ws')
const ws = new WebSocket('ws://127.0.0.1:8080')

ws.on('open', () => {
  console.log('Connected')

  let request = {method: 'subscribe', channel: 'btc:utxo', params: []}

  ws.send(JSON.stringify(request))
})

ws.on('message', message => {
  let event = JSON.parse(message)

  console.log(event)
})

Vanilla JS Code Example

No need to install anything else, simply run the following code in any modern browser:

const ws = new WebSocket('ws://127.0.0.1:8080')

ws.addEventListener('open', () => {
  console.log('Connected')

  let request = {method: 'subscribe', channel: 'btc:utxo', params: []}

  ws.send(JSON.stringify(request))
})

ws.addEventListener('message', message => {
  let event = JSON.parse(message.data)

  console.log(event)
})

Ubuntu Setup Cheatsheet

Get Chaincore working on Ubuntu 18.04 (from-scratch) using the following instructions:

Prerequisites

sudo apt update
sudo apt install npm
sudo apt install nodejs
sudo apt install libzmq3-dev

Install (optional) pm2 daemon manager

npm install pm2@latest -g
pm2 install pm2-logrotate

Setup the project

cd /var
git clone https://github.com/Vimiso/chaincore-node.git
cd /var/chaincore-node
npm install

Configure Chaincore

vi /var/chaincore-node/config.json

Install a Bitcoin full-node

mkdir /root/.bitcoin
cd /root/.bitcoin
wget https://bitcoin.org/bin/bitcoin-core-0.20.1/bitcoin-0.20.1-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
tar -xf bitcoin-0.20.1-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz

Configure the full-node

vi /root/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

port=10001
whitelist=127.0.0.1
txindex=1
listen=1
server=1
upnp=1
dbcache=512

rpcport=30001
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1

rpcuser=username
rpcpassword=password

datadir=/mnt/bitcoin

zmqpubrawblock=tcp://127.0.0.1:20001
zmqpubrawtx=tcp://127.0.0.1:20001
zmqpubhashtx=tcp://127.0.0.1:20001
zmqpubhashblock=tcp://127.0.0.1:20001

Important: a mounted disk (/mnt/bitcoin) with at-least 350GB is required to store the Bitcoin blockchain.

Run bitcoind as a daemon:

/root/.bitcoin/bitcoin-0.20.1/bin/bitcoind -conf=/root/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf -daemon

Now you must wait for Bitcoin to sync... you can find the sync progress and other useful logs in: /mnt/bitcoin/debug.log.

Once synced you're ready to run Chaincore as a daemon using pm2!

Run Chaincore

pm2 startup
pm2 start /var/chaincore-node/serve-api.js
pm2 start /var/chaincore-node/serve-stream.js
pm2 save

You can monitor pm2 daemons by running: pm2 monit

You're done!

You can repeat these instructions with other supported blockchains, here's the list:

• Bitcoin: https://bitcoin.org/bin/bitcoin-core-0.20.1/bitcoin-0.20.1-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
• Bitcoin Cash: https://github.com/bitcoin-cash-node/bitcoin-cash-node/releases/download/v22.1.0/bitcoin-cash-node-22.1.0-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
• Litecoin: https://download.litecoin.org/litecoin-0.18.1/linux/litecoin-0.18.1-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz

License

Copyright 2020 Vimiso

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.