Bitcoin: REST API documentation

Bitcoin: REST API Documentation

Introduction

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The Bitcoin Core (BTC) project provides a RESTful API for interacting with its blockchain. This article provides a detailed overview of the REST API, including how to use it and some examples of its functionality.

Getting Started

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To begin using the BTC REST API, you will need to obtain an API key from the official Bitcoin Core website. You can do this by registering on the [official website](

Once you have obtained your API key, you can use it to create a client library in your preferred programming language (e.g. Python, JavaScript, Ruby). The client library will provide an interface to access the BTC REST API.

REST API Endpoints

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The BTC REST API provides several endpoints for interacting with the blockchain:

Blocks: Get the latest block by ID or get all blocks.

Transactions: Get a transaction's details by ID or get all transactions.

Wallets

: Get wallet information, including balance and address.

Nodes: Gets node information, including network status and nodes available.

Getting the Latest Block

To get the latest block, you can use the following endpoint:

GET /blockchain/v1/block/last_block

Replace /blockchain/v1 with your desired version (e.g. v1 for Bitcoin Core 0.7.x).

Transaction Details

To get a transaction's details by ID or get all transactions, you can use the following endpoints:

GET /transaction/v1/transaction/{txid}

Replace {txid} with the desired transaction ID.

For example, to get a transaction's details by ID:

GET /transaction/v1/transaction/1234567890abcdef

Wallet Information

To get wallet information, including balance and address, you can use the following endpoint:

GET /wallets/v1/wallet/{walletid}

Replace {walletyid} with the desired wallet ID.

For example, to get a wallet's details by ID:

GET /wallets/v1/wallet/1234567890abcdef

Node Information

To get node information, including network status and nodes available, you can use the following endpoint:

GET /nodes/v1/nodes

This endpoint returns a list of all available nodes in your local network.

Example Client Code (Python)

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Here is an example client code for using the BTC REST API with Python:

import requests







Set up API key and version
api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"

version = "0.7.x"



Set up endpoint URL
endpoint_url = f"



Create a client library object
client = requests.Customer()


try:

    
Get the latest block
    response = client.get(endpoint_url)


    
Check if the response was successful
    if response.status_code == 200:

        
Parse the JSON response
        block_data = response.json()

        print("Latest Block:", block_data)

    else:

        print(f"Error: {response.status_code}")

except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as http_err:

    print(f"HTTP error occurred: {http_err}")

Conclusion

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The Bitcoin Core REST API provides a powerful tool for interacting with the blockchain. By understanding how to use this API, you can perform a wide range of tasks, from retrieving block information to managing wallet balances. This article has provided a detailed overview of the REST API and examples of its usage in Python.