Creating a Local Bitcoin Testnet / Regtest - Programming Bitcoin

UPDATE: a few specifics have changed, see below for up-to-date commands

In this video we create a local bitcoin testnet within a docker container. Then we'll connect to our testnet from Bitcoin-Qt on our desktop (host) machine.

Essentially, run:

docker pull freewil/bitcoin-testnet-box
docker run -t -i --name bitcoind -P -p 49020:19000 freewil/bitcoin-testnet-box
make start

Now we'll have a local testnet we can use for test transactions.

Tips: 1FfxymRtVTJbqtFg5ZK9p16mABVFCjqg6J

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It's been a few years since I recorded this and the commands for `freewil/bitcoin-testnet-box` have changed.

* Make sure you expose port 19000, too: `docker run -t -i -p 19000:19000 -p 19001:19001 -p 19011:19011 freewil/bitcoin-testnet-box`
* Instead of using bitcoind at 9:31, use: `bitcoin-cli -datadir=1 stop`
* Now use bitcoin-cli for most functions instead of bitcoind
* E.g. `bitcoin-cli -datadir=1 listaccounts`
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[gameragedad]

Thanks for the tutorial, but as of 12/31/2017 this is outdated. For example, there is no longer a 1/testnet3 directory in the docker container. Rather than try to mess with docker, I think I'm just going to run the bitcoind server with the testnet-1 flag. Thank you though!

[CINDY-wnst]

what about regtest? can i get a walkthrough?

[Million]

Can you leave a pinned comment here that explains updates since video was made?

[rjljr]

Nice video, except freewil switched to using regtest now...

[pythgoreansassistant]

I've been stuck at figuring out the port numbers for 2 hours.

[MrJDOaktown]

why use Docker+VM+testnet when you can just use regtest ??

[CoDonKiep]

Can you give me your facebook???, I want to ask you a few questions