Operator guide
How-to hub for running a BLVM node. You do not need the Consensus, Protocol, or Governance sections for day-to-day operations.
New to BLVM? Installation → Quick Start (regtest, ~5 minutes) → this page for ongoing tasks.
The blvm binary speaks Bitcoin Core JSON-RPC. Script history and Electrum blockchain.scripthash.get_history are the separate blvm-wallet-index process. Payment, vault, pool, and congestion methods are the separate blvm-payment process: createpaymentrequest, createcovenantproof, getpaymentstate, listpayments, verifyonchainpayment, verifyonchainpaymentbytx, verifycovenantproof, createvault, unvault, withdrawfromvault, getvaultstate, createpool, joinpool, distributepool, getpoolstate, createbatch, addtobatch, getcongestion, getcongestionmetrics, and broadcastbatch. The default node answers those names with method-not-found until that module is loaded. It is not in the default module set. Chain and mempool reads go through the node API. A merchant_key in the module config.toml signs a peer payment acknowledgement.
First sync and daily run
| Task | Guide |
|---|---|
| Config, RPC verify, and mainnet IBD | First Node Setup (mainnet IBD) |
| Regtest local dev (5 min) | Quick Start |
| Start / stop / backup | Node Operations |
| Import Bitcoin Core datadir | Operations: Core datadir |
| Configuration file and env | Node configuration |
| All config keys (reference) | Configuration Reference |
Initial block download (IBD)
Mainnet first sync touches several docs, use this map instead of reading them in arbitrary order.
| Topic | Guide |
|---|---|
| First mainnet sync (config, RPC verify, checklist) | First Node Setup: Mainnet IBD |
| Parallel download, chunk tuning, assume-valid | Performance: Parallel IBD |
Age-tiered UTXO store (on unless BLVM_IBD_ENGINE=0) | IBD UTXO engine |
| Bandwidth limits when serving peers during their IBD | IBD bandwidth protection |
| Stuck, slow, or quiet sync | Troubleshooting: Mainnet IBD |
[ibd] keys and BLVM_IBD_* env vars | Configuration Reference: IBD |
Security before mainnet
| Task | Guide |
|---|---|
| Pre-mainnet checklist | Deployment posture |
| RPC auth and transport | RPC transport × authentication |
| Threat surfaces | Threat models |
RPC and monitoring
| Task | Guide |
|---|---|
| JSON-RPC methods and parity | RPC API Reference |
| Error codes | JSON-RPC error reference |
| Health / metrics / logs | Operations: Monitoring |
Storage and network
| Task | Guide |
|---|---|
| Database backends | Storage Backends |
| LAN peering (faster sync when LAN peers exist) | LAN Peering |
| Transports (TCP default) | Transport abstraction |
| Mempool / RBF policies | RBF and Mempool Policies |
Mining (optional)
| Task | Guide |
|---|---|
| Mining overview | Mining Integration |
| Stratum V2 | Stratum V2 + Merge Mining, Stratum V2 module |
| DATUM / Ocean | Datum module |
Optional modules
| Module | Page |
|---|---|
| Full catalog | Module catalog |
| ZMQ notifications | ZMQ module |
| FIBRE block relay | FIBRE module |
| Mesh payments | Mesh module |
Examples and troubleshooting
When you need deeper context
- Stack overview: what the crates are
- Node overview: node architecture
- API Index: cross-repo API map