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Bitcoin Protocol Tools

A collection of Python tools for querying and analyzing a local Bitcoin node. These tools complement the guide — every concept discussed in the chapters can be verified using these scripts against your own node.

Install

pip install bitcoinlib-rpc

Requirements: A fully synced Bitcoin Core or Bitcoin Knots node with server=1 and txindex=1, Python 3.10+.

Source: github.com/Bortlesboat/bitcoinlib-rpc

The Toolkit

Tool What It Does Related Chapter
Mempool Analyzer Real-time mempool snapshot with fee buckets and congestion analysis Ch 10: Mining
Transaction Decoder Decode any transaction: script types, fee rate, inscription detection Ch 1: UTXOs, Ch 2: Script
Block Analyzer Analyze any block: pool ID, SegWit/Taproot adoption, fee distribution Ch 3: SegWit, Ch 10: Mining
Fee Tracker Fee estimation for multiple confirmation targets, CSV logging Ch 10: Mining
Next Block Predictor What a miner would mine right now: revenue, fee composition Ch 10: Mining

Quick Start

pip install bitcoinlib-rpc

# CLI tools (auto-detect node via cookie authentication)
bitcoin-status
bitcoin-mempool
bitcoin-block 939290
bitcoin-tx a1075db55d416d3ca199f55b6084e2115b9345e16c5cf302fc80e9d5fbf5d48d
bitcoin-fees --once
bitcoin-nextblock

Python API

from bitcoinlib_rpc import BitcoinRPC
from bitcoinlib_rpc.mempool import analyze_mempool
from bitcoinlib_rpc.blocks import analyze_block

rpc = BitcoinRPC()  # auto-detects cookie auth

mempool = analyze_mempool(rpc)
print(f"Congestion: {mempool.congestion}")
print(f"Next block min fee: {mempool.next_block_min_fee:.1f} sat/vB")

block = analyze_block(rpc, 939290)
print(f"Mined by: {block.pool_name}")
print(f"Taproot adoption: {block.taproot_pct:.1f}%")

Architecture

All tools share a common RPC client (rpc.py) that handles authentication via Bitcoin's cookie file. The tools are read-only — they query the node but never send transactions or modify state.

┌─────────────────────┐
│   Your Bitcoin Node  │
│  (Core or Knots)     │
│  server=1, txindex=1 │
└──────────┬──────────┘
           │ JSON-RPC (port 8332)
           │ Cookie authentication
           ▼
┌─────────────────────┐
│      rpc.py          │ ← Shared RPC client
└──────────┬──────────┘
     ┌─────┼─────┬──────────┬──────────┐
     ▼     ▼     ▼          ▼          ▼
  mempool  tx   block    fee_tracker  next_block

Ecosystem

These tools are part of a larger Bitcoin product suite:

  • bitcoinlib-rpc — The pip-installable Python library powering these tools (available now)
  • bitcoin-mcp — MCP server: 20 tools for AI agents to query your node (available now)
  • Bitcoin Fee Observatory — A Streamlit dashboard for fee market analytics (coming soon)