Run a Bitcoin Node

To simply the concept of running a Bitcoin Full node, you can break it down into three core steps:

To simply the concept of running a Bitcoin Full node, you can break it down into three core steps:

1. Check and Format SSD if needed

2. Download the Bitcoin Core client and install it

3. Configure, initialize, and run the node

Step1: Check and format SSD if needed

Make sure your SSD is formatted correctly. On Macs, it is recommended to use APFS, or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) vs the typical ExFAT format that some SSD's come with.

Steps to check and if needed update the SSD Format

1. Connect the SSD External Drive to your Mac

2. Open Disk Utility by searching in spotlight search

3. If needed, update view to show all devices as shown in the screenshot below

   

4. Right click on your SSD and click Erase

   

   Important: Make sure you format the External SSD and not the internal Macintosh HD

5. From the popup choose Format dropdown and select APFS, or if APFS is not available, then select Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

   

6. Click Erase, once complete you can proceed to the next step

7. Now let's create a Bitcoin folder in your SSD. To do this, open Finder, Go to your SSD, and create a new folder named Bitcoin as shown in the screen shot below.

   

8. Woohoo! Time for Pizza! You have stup your SSD! Now proceed to the next section to download Bitcoin Core (QT) application and get the sync setup.

Step 2: Download the Bitcoin Core client and install it

Identify processor type

Before you can download the bitcoin core client, you need to identify which type of processor your Mac has. Newer Macs typically run Apple's M series chips (M1, M2, M3 etc), where as older generation could be running Intel chips. Here is how to check your processor version:

1. Click the  apple logo on the top left

2. Click About This Mac

3. A window will pop up with information about your computer as shown below

4. Note down if you have any of the M series chips (M1, M2, M3, etc) or an Intel chip

Download Bitcoin Core client for your chip type

1. Go to https://bitcoin.org/en/download

2. For Intel chips download macOS (x86_64) version and for M series (M1, M2, M3, etc) chips download macOS (arm64) version as shown in the image below

   

   Important: Make sure to click the .dmg ✅ download link not the tar.gz ❌ download link

3. Once the download is completed, you will see the .dmg file in your downloads folder

4. You can open this file by double clicking. When you double click, you will see a mounted image on your desktop which will have the name of Bitcoin-Core as shown below.

   

5. For some macs, the pop up shown in the next step opens automatically, if it does not, right click Bitcoin-Core icon your desktop and click open. This should open the pop up window you see in the next step.

6. Opening this file will show a pop up window with Bitcoin Core, drag this file into your applications folder

   

7. Now you have installed the Bitcoin Core, before you run it, we'll go over config items in the next section 🚀

   

Step 3: Configure, initialize and run the node

Now that you have installed Bitcoin Core it's time to run it. Before we run it and let it start syncing, we will take some steps to speed up synchronization. Follow these steps even if they seem repititve.

1. Make sure your SSD is still connected

2. Go to you Applications folder, for the first time do not open the Bitcoin Core application by double clicking, instead right click and open the Bitcoin Core application

3. You will see a pop-up as shown below, here select Use a custom data directory, then navigate to and select your External SSD drive as shown in the image below

   

4. Once you click OK your node should start to sync. However, at this point we want to stop it briefly. So wait about a minute, then quit the Bitcoin Core application by pressing CMD+Q

5. After the Bitcoin Core application is closed, you can navigate to your External SSD and you will see a bunch of new files and folders (directories) in here. Note, you won't have the bitcoin.conf file yet (see next step)

   

6. As shown in the image above, the files and folders in the orange rectangle are the ones added by the Bitcoin Core software. The one specific file that you will be missing is the bitcoin.conf file. This file has configuration provided by trevor.btc. You can download the file from here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OyElU2vXH1r4ruGc_9ZAWCysN02yFLlz/view?usp=sharing

7. Download the file and move it into the SSD drive as shown in the picture in step 5

8. Run the Bitcoin Core application again, at this point you should see a window similar to the one shown below:

   

9. Initially you won't see a value for "Estimated time left until synced". It takes a few minutes, sometimes longer for this field to show a value. After some time, the application will show you how long it will take to sync. Keep your computer powered on during this period. If you need to step away, start a long youtube timer video such as this one: Trick to keep Mac on while syncing - Run a YouTube video timer (mute your speaker) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2DY4cN0TFE

10. The video helps keep your machine in active state while the BItcoin node syncs.

11. The sync can take some time, initially it will have no time estimate, then it will inflate to weeks, after 30 minutes to an hour it comes down to a generally accurate estimate ranging between 30 hours to 3-4 days depending on your Mac performance and internet performance. Don't be surprised if the time fluctuates up and down this is normal.

12. Have patinece, have some pizza, read the next guide to setup Ord Client in the mean time, or read Ordinals and Runes Guide Book, learn about UTXO management, and engage with the Pizza Ninja community in Discord.

13. Once the node is synced you will see the following window, do not create a wallet here.

    

14. The next step is setting up the ord client. I am linking to a recent guide here, and will be updating with specific feedback over the next few days.