x86 Bitcoin Node Guide.

Part 3. Installing Mempool Explorer

2 min readSep 28, 2024

Part 3 of the x86 Dojo Bitcoin Full Node Guide by Kyc3. Installing Private Mempool Space Visual Explorer.

Prerequisites

Completed “x86 Bitcoin Node Guide”, Parts 1–2.
Fulcrum synchronization completed.

Introduction.

The Mempool Visual Explorer is a valuable tool for looking up detailed information about blocks, addresses, balances & transactions.

Hosting your instance locally is preferable to entering personal transaction details into websites you don’t control.

Installing Docker.

Before installing Mempool, Docker is required.

Add Docker’s official GPG key.

sudo apt update

sudo apt install ca-certificates gnupg -y

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings

torsocks curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

Add the Docker repository to Apt sources.

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt update

Install the Docker packages.

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y

Add the user to the docker group.

sudo usermod -aG docker satoshi

Log out.

exit

Log back in as “satoshi” again. This re-evaluates the user’s new membership to the Docker group.

Installing Mempool Explorer.

Clone the Mempool repository.

git clone https://github.com/mempool/mempool.git

Enter the Mempool Docker directory.

cd mempool/docker

Open the “docker-compose.yml” file.

nano docker-compose.yml

Edit the following lines.

####change
ports:
  - 80:8080

##to
ports:
  - 4080:8080

####change
MEMPOOL_BACKEND: "none"

##to
MEMPOOL_BACKEND: "electrum"

####edit to your nodes local ip
CORE_RPC_HOST: "172.27.0.1"

####edit to your core rpc username & password
CORE_RPC_USERNAME: "mempool"
CORE_RPC_PASSWORD: "mempool"

####change all 3 instances of
restart: on-failure

##to
restart: always

Add the following lines below “STATISTICS_ENABLED,” editing “ELECTRUM_HOST” to include the node’s local IP.

ELECTRUM_HOST: "192.xxx.x.xx"
ELECTRUM_PORT: "50002"
ELECTRUM_TLS_ENABLED: "true"

Paste the following block at the bottom of the file on the next available free line. Ensure the spacing is exactly as shown.

networks:
  default:
    driver: bridge
    ipam:
      config:
        - subnet: 172.16.57.0/24

Save and exit the file.

Now, initialize Mempool.

docker compose up -d

Open a web browser, and in the address bar, type your node’s IP address, followed by “:4080” to visit the local Mempool instance.

As a fresh install, it may take time before Mempool fully populates, so don’t be concerned if the dashboard is incomplete.

Mempool Tor Connections.

A Tor Browser can access The local Mempool installation from anywhere worldwide. A unique onion address is required for this functionality.

Open the “torrc” file.

sudo nano /etc/tor/torrc

Add the following lines to the bottom of the file, then save and exit.

# Hidden Service Mempool
HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/mempool/
HiddenServiceVersion 3
HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:4080

Restart the Tor service.

sudo systemctl restart tor

Mempool’s Tor address can be requested with the following command.

sudo cat /var/lib/tor/mempool/hostname

Continue to part 4, Installing a Dojo Server