Setup Chronik

After downloading Chronik, you need to run it to set up an instance.

Warning

This tutorial covers running a bitcoind instance with Chronik enabled. That needs a decent server and can take days to sync. It is aimed at advanced users. You can use one of our pre-synced public endpoints instead:

If you want to use chronik-client in your eCash apps, follow Install chronik-client.

Getting started

Make sure you downloaded Bitcoin ABC Chronik in the previous step. You should have a bitcoind executable.

To enable Chronik, pass -chronik on the command line:

./bitcoind -chronik

Or set it in bitcoin.conf:

chronik=1

Note

If you had a previously synced node without a Chronik index, Chronik will first re-sync with your node, which can take a long time (often around 2–3 days).

When syncing from genesis, Chronik slows initial sync by roughly 2–3× depending on hardware. Use a fast SSD when possible. We are continually improving initial sync performance.

Debug info

Turn on extra logging while you verify your setup:

./bitcoind -chronik -debug=chronik

chronik=1
debug=chronik

`-chronikbind`

On mainnet Chronik defaults to port 8331 on 127.0.0.1 (IPv4) and ::1 (IPv6). To change that, use -chronikbind, for example port 10000 on IPv4 only:

./bitcoind -chronik -chronikbind=127.0.0.1:10000

chronik=1
chronikbind=127.0.0.1:10000

You can repeat -chronikbind for multiple listeners, e.g. IPv4 and IPv6 on port 10000:

./bitcoind -chronik -chronikbind=127.0.0.1:10000 -chronikbind=[::1]:10000

chronik=1
chronikbind=127.0.0.1:10000
chronikbind=[::1]:10000

Unlike the RPC interface, Chronik is designed to be reachable on the open internet. At this stage of development there is no built-in username/password, bearer token, cookie, or IP whitelist.

`-chroniktokenindex=0`

By default Chronik indexes SLP/ALP tokens. If you do not need token indexing, disable it with -chroniktokenindex=0:

./bitcoind -chronik -chroniktokenindex=0

Danger

If you previously had a token index, -chroniktokenindex=0 will wipe it immediately. Restoring it requires -chronikreindex, which can take a long time.

Tip

Even for XEC-only apps, keeping token indexing enabled is strongly recommended: Chronik adds burns checks when broadcasting transactions and similar protections for tokens that have real value.

`-chronikreindex`

Re-index only Chronik (for example after database corruption) without touching the rest of the node:

./bitcoind -chronik -chronikreindex

Danger

This wipes the Chronik database immediately and cannot be undone. You will need to wait for the index to sync again.

Tip

Since the first stable Chronik release, database upgrades for newer versions run automatically at startup — you should rarely need this flag.

`-chronikperfstats`

Help the team optimize Chronik by collecting performance stats under <datadir>/perf during a resync:

chronik=1
chronikperfstats=1