Getting Started

Getting Started

Two fast paths: one for people who just want to trade, one for developers who want to run the engine. Pick yours.

Status — live; v1 (HTLC) and v2 (Taproot/MuSig2 adaptor) are reviewed and running on mainnet. You alone hold your keys.

For users (the desktop app)

1. Download Satchel. Grab the bundle for your OS from the releases page and launch it. The app bundles and supervises the swap engine for you — there is nothing else to install.
2. Create a merchant + seed. On first run, Satchel walks you through creating a merchant (one trading identity = one seed = one data dir). Write down the recovery phrase, then choose No passphrase (simplest) or Encrypt (a passphrase you'll type each session).
3. Connect at least two coin nodes. Satchel will not let you trade until two coins are live (e.g. a BTCX node and a BTC backend). For each, point Satchel at its RPC and let it validate the genesis hash. See Configuring Coins.
4. Browse the Corkboard. The board is a two-sided order-book ladder of open offers. Pick a price level, read the terms (amounts, safety timelocks, swap type).
5. Take an offer. Confirm the dialog and the engine drives the swap to completion, auto-refunding if the counterparty walks away. Follow progress on the Swaps page and the active-swaps dock.

Full walkthrough: the Satchel User Handbook — https://github.com/PoC-Consortium/satchel/tree/master/docs/handbook-satchel. See also Satchel User Guide, Configuring Coins, and Private Offers.

For developers (the engine)

cd pact
cargo build && cargo test            # unit + protocol-vector tests (v1 + v2)

# run the daemon on regtest and drive it with the CLI
cargo run -p pactd -- --network regtest \
  --coin btcx=<rpc-url> --coin btc=<rpc-or-electrum-url>
cargo run -p pact-cli -- getinfo

# end-to-end on regtest
python harness/test_swap_e2e.py      # full BTCX↔BTC v1 swap
python harness/test_adaptor_swap.py  # v2 adaptor swap end to end

One-shot regtest playground (regtest nodes + headless counterparties + Satchel):

./tools/playground-cork.ps1     # over a Corkboard
./tools/playground-nostr.ps1    # over a local Nostr relay

Each script builds the whole stack, brings it up, and blocks on the Satchel window — close it and everything tears down (-Down force-tears a stale run).

Details: Running pactd · pact-cli · JSON-RPC API · Building from Source. Deep reference is the Pact Developer Handbook — https://github.com/PoC-Consortium/satchel/tree/master/docs/handbook-pact.