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Quick Start

Get up and running with BLVM in minutes.

Running Your First Node

After installing the binary, you can start a node:

Regtest mode is safe for development - it creates an isolated network:

blvm

Or explicitly:

blvm --network regtest

Starts a node in regtest mode (default), creating an isolated network with instant block generation for testing and development.

Testnet Mode

Connect to Bitcoin testnet:

blvm --network testnet

Mainnet Mode

⚠️ Warning: Only use mainnet if you understand the risks.

blvm --network mainnet

Basic Node Operations

Checking Node Status

Once the node is running, check its status via RPC:

# Mainnet uses port 8332, testnet/regtest use 18332
curl -X POST http://localhost:8332 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "getblockchaininfo", "params": [], "id": 1}'

Example Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": {
    "chain": "regtest",
    "blocks": 100,
    "headers": 100,
    "bestblockhash": "0f9188f13cb7b2c71f2a335e3a4fc328bf5beb436012afca590b1a11466e2206",
    "difficulty": 4.656542373906925e-10,
    "mediantime": 1231006505,
    "verificationprogress": 1.0,
    "chainwork": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000064",
    "pruned": false,
    "initialblockdownload": false
  },
  "id": 1
}

Getting Peer Information

# Mainnet uses port 8332, testnet/regtest use 18332
curl -X POST http://localhost:8332 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "getpeerinfo", "params": [], "id": 2}'

Getting Mempool Information

# Mainnet uses port 8332, testnet/regtest use 18332
curl -X POST http://localhost:8332 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "getmempoolinfo", "params": [], "id": 3}'

Verifying Installation

blvm --version  # Verify installation
blvm --help     # View available options

The node connects to the P2P network, syncs blockchain state, accepts RPC commands on port 8332 (mainnet default) or 18332 (testnet/regtest), and can mine blocks if configured.

Using the SDK

Generate a Governance Keypair

blvm-keygen --output my-key.key

Sign a Message

blvm-sign release \
  --version v1.0.0 \
  --commit abc123 \
  --key my-key.key \
  --output signature.txt

Verify Signatures

blvm-verify release \
  --version v1.0.0 \
  --commit abc123 \
  --signatures sig1.txt,sig2.txt,sig3.txt \
  --threshold 3-of-5 \
  --pubkeys keys.json

Next Steps

See Also