BX Commands

Bitcoin Explorer (bx) is the libbitcoin command line client. Its commands work offline, on keys, addresses, transactions, scripts and encodings, and online, querying a libbitcoin server. It is built on libbitcoin-explorer, which depends on libbitcoin-system alone (see Developers).

Each command is run as bx <command>, with bx <command> --help describing its arguments. Commands read their main argument from the command line or from standard input, so they can be piped together. For example, the key at BIP32 path m/0'/1 of a seed, and its legacy and segwit addresses:

$ bx hd-new 000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f | bx hd-private --hard --index 0 | bx hd-private --index 1 | bx hd-to-ec | bx ec-to-public
03501e454bf00751f24b1b489aa925215d66af2234e3891c3b21a52bedb3cd711c

$ bx ec-to-address 03501e454bf00751f24b1b489aa925215d66af2234e3891c3b21a52bedb3cd711c
1JQheacLPdM5ySCkrZkV66G2ApAXe1mqLj

$ bx ec-to-witness bc 03501e454bf00751f24b1b489aa925215d66af2234e3891c3b21a52bedb3cd711c
bc1qhm6697d9d2224vfyt8mj4kw03ncec7a7fdafvt

1. Commands#

109 commands, by category:

Category	Commands
Wallet	31
Key encryption	9
Stealth	3
Transaction	8
Messaging	2
Online	26
Encoding	12
Hash	6
Math	10
Meta	2

2. Wallet#

Command	Description
`address-decode`	Convert a payment address to its component parts.
`address-embed`	Create a pay-to-public-key-hash payment address with an embedded record of binary data. WARNING: any coin spent to this address is lost.
`address-encode`	Convert a RIPEMD160 value to a payment address.
`address-to-key`	Derive the payments search key of a payment address.
`dice-entropy`	Convert a sequence of dice rolls to Base16 data.
`ec-decompress`	Decompress a compressed EC public key.
`ec-new`	Create a new Base16 EC private key from entropy.
`ec-to-address`	Create a pay-to-public-key-hash address from an EC public key.
`ec-to-public`	Derive the EC public key of an EC private key. Defaults to the compressed public key format.
`ec-to-wif`	Convert an EC private key to a WIF private key. The result associates with the compressed public key format by default.
`ec-to-witness`	Create a BIP173 pay-to-witness-public-key-hash address from an EC public key.
`electrum-decode`	Convert an Electrum mnemonic to its numeric entropy. Entropy round-trips with the electrum-new command.
`electrum-new`	Create an Electrum mnemonic from entropy. After the mnemonic is created, entropy round-trips with the electrum-decode command.
`electrum-to-seed`	Convert an Electrum dictionary-based mnemonic to a wallet seed. Entropy cannot be derived from the seed. WARNING: mnemonic should be created from properly generated entropy.
`hd-new`	Create a new HD (BIP32) private key from entropy.
`hd-private`	Derive a child HD (BIP32) private key from another HD private key.
`hd-public`	Derive a child HD (BIP32) public key from another HD public or private key.
`hd-to-ec`	Convert a HD (BIP32) public or private key to the equivalent EC public or private key.
`hd-to-public`	Derive the HD (BIP32) public key of a HD private key.
`mnemonic-decode`	Convert a BIP39 mnemonic to its numeric entropy.
`mnemonic-encode`	Convert numeric entropy to its BIP39 mnemonic.
`mnemonic-to-seed`	Convert a BIP39 dictionary-based mnemonic to a wallet seed. Entropy cannot be derived from the seed. WARNING: mnemonic should be created from properly generated entropy.
`qrcode`	Create a square QRCODE TIFF file for a payment address.
`script-to-address`	Create a BIP16 pay-to-script-hash address from a script.
`script-to-key`	Derive the payments search key of an output script.
`script-to-witness`	Create a BIP173 pay-to-witness-script-hash address from a script.
`uri-decode`	Decompose a Bitcoin URI into its parts.
`uri-encode`	Compose a Bitcoin URI from specified parts.
`wif-to-ec`	Convert a WIF private key to an EC private key.
`wif-to-public`	Derive the EC public key from a WIF private key.
`witness-to-key`	Derive the payments search key of a witness address.

3. Key encryption#

Command	Description
`ec-to-ek`	Encrypt an EC private key as an encrypted private key (BIP38).
`ek-address`	Create a payment address derived from an intermediate passphrase token (BIP38).
`ek-new`	Create an encrypted private key from an intermediate passphrase token (BIP38).
`ek-public`	Create an encrypted public key from an intermediate passphrase token (BIP38).
`ek-public-to-address`	Extract the payment address of an encrypted public key (BIP38).
`ek-public-to-ec`	Extract the EC public key of an encrypted public key (BIP38).
`ek-to-address`	Extract the payment address of an encrypted private key (BIP38).
`ek-to-ec`	Recover the EC private key from an encrypted private key (BIP38).
`token-new`	Create an intermediate passphrase token for deferred encrypted key generation (BIP38).

4. Stealth#

Command	Description
`stealth-public`	Derive the stealth public key necessary to address and to identify a stealth payment.
`stealth-secret`	Derive the stealth private key necessary to spend a stealth payment.
`stealth-shared`	Derive the secret shared between an ephemeral key pair and a scan key pair. Provide scan SECRET and ephemeral PUBKEY, or ephemeral SECRET and scan PUBKEY.

5. Transaction#

Command	Description
`input-set`	Assign a script to an existing transaction input.
`input-sign`	Create an endorsement for a transaction input.
`input-validate`	Validate a transaction input endorsement.
`script-decode`	Decode a script to plain text tokens.
`script-encode`	Base16 encode a plain text script.
`tx-decode`	Decode a Base16 transaction.
`tx-encode`	Encode an unsigned transaction as Base16.
`tx-sign`	Sign a set of transactions using a private key. Output is suitable for sending to Bitcoin network.

6. Messaging#

Command	Description
`message-sign`	Create a message signature.
`message-validate`	Validate a message signature.

7. Online#

Command	Description
`broadcast-tx`	Broadcast a transaction to the Bitcoin network via the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network.
`fetch-balance`	Get the balance in satoshi of a payment address. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`fetch-block`	Get the block from the specified hash or height. Height is ignored if both are specified. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`fetch-block-hashes`	Get the block from the specified hash or height. Height is ignored if both are specified. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`fetch-block-height`	Get the block height from the specified hash. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`fetch-filter`	Retrieve compact filters from a Libbitcoin server.
`fetch-filter-checkpoint`	Retrieve compact filter checkpoint from a Libbitcoin server.
`fetch-filter-headers`	Retrieve compact filter headers from a Libbitcoin server. The distance between provided height and hash must be strictly less than 2000.
`fetch-header`	Get the block header from the specified hash or height. Height is ignored if both are specified. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`fetch-height`	Get the last block height. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`fetch-history`	Get list of output points, values, and spends for a payment key. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`fetch-public-key`	Get the EC public key of the address, if it exists on the blockchain. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`fetch-tx`	Get a transaction by its hash. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`fetch-tx-index`	Get the block height and index of a transaction. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`fetch-utxo`	Get enough unspent transaction outputs from a payment address to pay a number of satoshi. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`get-filter-checkpoint`	Retrieve compact filter checkpoint from a single Bitcoin network node.
`get-filter-headers`	Retrieve compact filter headers from a single Bitcoin network node. The distance between provided height and hash must be strictly less than 2000.
`get-filters`	Retrieve compact filters from a single Bitcoin network node. The distance between provided height and hash must be strictly less than 100.
`put-tx`	Broadcast a transaction to the Bitcoin network via a single Bitcoin network node.
`send-tx`	Broadcast a transaction to the Bitcoin network via a Libbitcoin server.
`subscribe-block`	Watch the network for all blocks. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`subscribe-tx`	Watch the network for all transactions. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`validate-tx`	Determine if a transaction is valid for submission to the blockchain. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`version`	Fetch and display the libbitcoin server and client versions. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`watch-key`	Watch the network for transactions in which a payment key participates. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.
`watch-tx`	Watch the network for a transaction by hash. Requires a Libbitcoin server connection.

8. Encoding#

Command	Description
`base16-decode`	Convert a Base16 value to binary data.
`base16-encode`	Convert binary data to Base16.
`base32-decode`	Convert a Base32 value to binary data.
`base32-encode`	Convert binary data to Base32.
`base58-decode`	Convert a Base58 value to Base16.
`base58-encode`	Convert a Base16 value to Base58.
`base64-decode`	Convert a Base64 value to binary data.
`base64-encode`	Convert binary data to Base64.
`bech32-decode`	Validate the bech32 checksum of Base16 data and recover its witness prefix, version and program.
`bech32-encode`	Add a prefix, version byte and checksum to a Base32 witness program.
`checked-decode`	Validate the bitcoin checksum of Base16 data and recover its version and payload.
`checked-encode`	Add a version byte and bitcoin checksum to Base16 data.

9. Hash#

Command	Description
`bitcoin160`	Perform a RIPEMD160 hash of a SHA256 hash of Base16 data.
`bitcoin256`	Perform a SHA256 hash of a SHA256 hash of Base16 data and then reverse the byte order.
`ripemd160`	Perform a RIPEMD160 hash of Base16 data.
`sha160`	Perform a SHA160 (also known as SHA-1) hash of Base16 data.
`sha256`	Perform a SHA256 hash of Base16 data.
`sha512`	Perform a SHA512 hash of Base16 data.

10. Math#

Command	Description
`btc-to-satoshi`	Convert BTC to satoshi.
`cert-new`	Create a Base85 Curve ZMQ private key for use with a Libbitcoin server. WARNING: entropy is obtained from the underlying platform.
`cert-public`	Derive a Base85 Curve ZMQ public key for use with a Libbitcoin server.
`ec-add`	Calculate the EC function POINT + (SECRET * curve-generator-point).
`ec-add-secrets`	Calculate the EC function (SECRET + SECRET) % curve-order.
`ec-multiply`	Calculate the EC product (POINT * SECRET).
`ec-multiply-secrets`	Calculate the EC function (SECRET * SECRET) % curve-order.
`match-neutrino-address`	Determine whether the provided client filter probabilistically matches the provided payment address.
`match-neutrino-script`	Determine whether the provided client filter probabilistically matches the provided script.
`satoshi-to-btc`	Convert satoshi to BTC.

11. Meta#

Command	Description
`help`	Get the list of commands.
`settings`	Display the loaded configuration settings.