This is a fork and alternative implementation of the rest.bitcoin.com repository. The purpose of this code is to create a REST API server that provides a common interface for working with a Bitcoin Cash full node and various indexers.

This repository is intended to be paired with bch-js, an npm JavaScript library, and an alternative implementation of BITBOX SDK.

Both bch-api and bch-js are part of the full stack of BCH software.

API Documentation
Video: Basic Concepts
Video: Application Stack
bchjs.cash: Buy a turn-key REST API microserver.

Have questions? Need help? Join our community support Telegram channel

Features

The following features set this repository apart from rest.bitcoin.com:

Address balance and UTXO queries use the Blockbook indexer instead of Insight.
Fine grain access is controlled with a JWT token using this back end auth server and this front end.
Default rate limits are set to 3 RPM for anonymous connections, up to 100 RPM for a full-access JWT token is used.
Typescript removed and ES8 JavaScript used instead.
npm audit run on all dependencies.
Greenkeeper implemented for automatic dependency management and security updates.

Live Demo

You can test a live demo of the REST API by running the bch-js examples. Rate limits are 3 requests per minute, but you can increase them to 10 with a free account at account.bchjs.cash. This is fast enough to try out the examples but these servers are not intended as a freemium service. You can run your own REST server by purchasing the hard drive at bchjs.cash.

Mainnet REST API server: https://api.bchjs.cash/v3/
Testnet REST API server: https://tapi.bchjs.cash/v3/
Check server status: https://metrics.bchjs.cash

Installation

There are two installation paths, depending if you want a development or production environment. You'll also need to set up the underlying infrastructure described this page.

This code targets the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Linux OS.

Development

This is a standard node.js project. The installation is as follows:

Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/christroutner/bch-api && cd bch-api

Install dependencies:

npm install

Customize the start-dev-example.sh shell script to point to the required infrastructure. Start the bch-api REST API by running this script:

./start-dev-example.sh

Production

For a production environment, a Docker container is provided in the docker directory. One for mainnet and one for testnet. Again, these containers target the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Linux OS.

Install Docker and Docker Compose by following the commands on this Dev Ops page.
Customize the bash script for your installation.
Build the Docker container with:

docker-compose build --no-cache

Run the Docker container with:

docker-compose up

Support

Have questions? Need help? Join our community support Telegram channel

License

MIT