BitcoinKernel.NET

.NET bindings and high-level library for libbitcoinkernel, providing access to Bitcoin Core's consensus and validation logic. ⚠️🚧 This library is still under contruction. ⚠️🚧

This library uses libbitcoinkernel which is in an experimental state, do not use for production purposes.

Overview

BitcoinKernel.NET brings Bitcoin Core's robust consensus engine to .NET applications through a clean, idiomatic C# API. Built on top of libbitcoinkernel, it provides everything from low-level P/Invoke bindings to high-level abstractions for common Bitcoin operations.

Packages

Package	Version	Description
BitcoinKernel	0.1.0	High-level API with fluent builder pattern
BitcoinKernel.Core	0.1.0	Managed wrappers and native bindings

Quick Start

Installation

dotnet add package BitcoinKernel

or

dotnet add package BitcoinKernel.Core

Architecture

The library is organized in three layers:

1. BitcoinKernel.Interop - P/Invoke bindings to libbitcoinkernel (bundled, not published separately)
2. BitcoinKernel.Core - Managed C# wrappers with automatic memory management
3. BitcoinKernel - High-level facade with fluent API

┌─────────────────────────────┐
│      BitcoinKernel          │  ← Fluent API, simple usage
│      (Facade Layer)         │
└─────────────┬───────────────┘
              │
┌─────────────▼───────────────┐
│   BitcoinKernel.Core        │  ← Managed wrappers, IDisposable
│   (Wrapper Layer)           │
└─────────────┬───────────────┘
              │
┌─────────────▼───────────────┐
│  BitcoinKernel.Interop      │  ← P/Invoke bindings
│  (Binding Layer)            │
└─────────────┬───────────────┘
              │
┌─────────────▼───────────────┐
│    libbitcoinkernel         │  ← Native C library
│    (Bitcoin Core)           │
└─────────────────────────────┘

Examples

Explore the examples directory for complete working samples:

• BasicUsage - Getting started with the high-level API
• BlockProcessing - Block validation and chain management

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• .NET 9.0 SDK or later

Build

git clone https://github.com/janb84/BitcoinKernel.NET.git
cd BitcoinKernel.NET
dotnet build

Run Tests

dotnet test

Native Library

This package includes pre-built libbitcoinkernel binaries for:

• macOS (x64, ARM64)
• others will follow

For other platforms, for now, you'll need to build libbitcoinkernel from the Bitcoin Core repository.

Documentation

• API Documentation (coming soon)
• libbitcoinkernel Documentation
• Bitcoin Core Developer Documentation

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built on libbitcoinkernel from Bitcoin Core

Note: This library provides access to Bitcoin Core's consensus engine. The libbitcoinkernel and this package is stil experimental and not ready for production use.