Bitcoin TUI
A terminal interface for monitoring and interacting with your Bitcoin Core node
WHAT IS IT
A keyboard-driven terminal UI that connects to Bitcoin Core via JSON-RPC and displays live node data across six tabbed views. Written in C++20 using the FTXUI library. Single binary, zero runtime dependencies.
THE GAP IT FILLS
Sits between
bitcoin-cli (manual, one-shot commands) and Bitcoin Core Qt (full GUI needing a display server). Perfect for headless servers and SSH sessions.DETAILS
Author: janb84
License: MIT
Version: v0.8.1
Age: ~1 month (first commit Feb 27)
Notable PR: ajtowns contributed connection-failed handling
License: MIT
Version: v0.8.1
Age: ~1 month (first commit Feb 27)
Notable PR: ajtowns contributed connection-failed handling
Six Views, One Terminal
Dashboard
Block height, difficulty, sync progress, network status, mempool summary
Mempool
TX count, vsize, total fees, min relay fee, memory usage gauge, animated block fill
Search
Press
/ to search by txid — drill into blocks, inputs, outputsNetwork
Connection counts, client version, protocol version, soft-fork tracking table
Peers
Live peer table: address, network type (IPv4/IPv6/Tor/I2P), direction, ping, bytes, tip height
Tools
Broadcast raw transactions, private broadcast queue, shutdown Bitcoin Core with
[Q]CONNECTION
Supports cookie authentication (auto-detected from datadir) or explicit
rpcuser/rpcpassword. Works with local or remote nodes. Supports mainnet, testnet, regtest, and signet. Can even launch bitcoind from within the TUI if the node isn't running.Why It Matters
RAPID DEVELOPMENT
From first commit to v0.8.1 in roughly one month. Already has 46 stars and contributions from Anthony Towns (Bitcoin Core developer), who submitted PR #18 improving pre-launch and connection-failed handling.
ZERO DEPENDENCY PHILOSOPHY
cmake -B build && cmake --build build produces a single binary. Only build-time dependencies are FTXUI (terminal rendering) and Catch2 (testing), both fetched via CMake. No package managers at runtime.NODE OPERATOR TOOLING
Think
btop for Bitcoin Core. Node operators running headless servers or monitoring via SSH finally get a live, interactive dashboard without needing to install a GUI stack. The peer table alone is worth the install — real-time visibility into your node's P2P connections.