Practical overview
When it fits
Use Bwt when you need a self-hosted index of Bitcoin wallet activity backed by Bitcoin Core and want to expose that data to an Electrum client or an application through HTTP.
Who it is for
- Bitcoin users who want to index wallet activity against their own Bitcoin Core node.
- Developers building wallet backends, payment processors or applications that query Bitcoin wallet data.
- Electrum users seeking an Electrum-compatible server or the documented Bwt plugin.
Documented uses
- Index Bitcoin wallet history associated with xpubs, descriptors or standalone addresses.
- Serve wallet and blockchain data to clients using Electrum RPC or JSON HTTP endpoints.
- Receive wallet-related updates through Server-Sent Events or webhooks.
- Build a self-hosted wallet dashboard or monitoring application using Bwt as its indexing and data layer.
Requirements & limits
Bwt is open source under the MIT license. The documentation describes self-hosted installation through prebuilt binaries, source builds, Docker and an Electrum plugin.
- A synced Bitcoin Core node is the documented backend prerequisite for standalone use.
- The service supports xpubs, descriptors and standalone addresses for tracking.
- Electrum RPC and HTTP REST are distinct interfaces; the Electrum-only build disables the HTTP API.
- The index is held in memory rather than persisted.
- Pruned-node scanning is limited to retained blocks, affecting how far back wallet history can be scanned.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Set up Bwt to track an xpub
Build and start the documented Bwt service against a Bitcoin Core node to track an xpub.
Before you start
- A synced Bitcoin Core node.
- Rust and build-essential for the documented source-build route.
- An xpub to track.
Steps
Install Rust and build-essential.
Clone the Bwt repository and build it with the command below.
cargo build --releaseRun the resulting Bwt binary with
--xpub, configuring bitcoind connection options if needed.
Expected outcome
Bwt starts tracking the xpub through the Bitcoin Core node and provides its documented Electrum RPC and HTTP REST interfaces.
Guide limitations
- The index is managed in memory and is not persisted.
- A pruned node can scan only wallet-related transactions in blocks it still retains; the rescan date must be within that range or set to now.
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 16 October 2026
- Original website title
- bwt-dev/bwt · Official homepage title · retained in its source language

