Terminal block explorer for Blocknet, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency.

Built with ratatui. Connects to Blocknet via its REST API and can auto-start an embedded daemon on localhost.

Views

Dashboard (1)

Chain stats, wallet balance, mempool sparklines with history, and mining controls with a plasma visualizer that reacts to hashrate. Shockwave animation on block discovery.

Grid (2)

Top-down block field showing the last 500 blocks. Each block is color-coded by transaction count (white = empty, green = busy). Selected block is pulled out and rendered as a spinning 3D wireframe cube whose rotation speed reflects how fast it was mined relative to the 5-minute target. Row gutter shows block heights for orientation.

Keybindings

Key	Action
1	Dashboard view
2	Grid view
j / k	Navigate blocks (newer / older)
J / K	Jump one row (newer / older)
m	Toggle mining
+ / -	Adjust mining threads
q	Quit

Requirements

• For local default use: no manual daemon setup required (embedded daemon autostarts).
• For remote/custom setups: reachable Blocknet API + matching cookie file.

Embedded daemon binaries

bntui embeds every file placed under binaries/ at build time and picks the best match for the current OS/arch at runtime.

Install

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install obselate/tap/bntui

AUR (Arch Linux)

yay -S bntui

Chocolatey (Windows)

choco install bntui

Cargo (any platform)

cargo install bntui

From release binaries

Download the latest binary for your platform from Releases.

chmod +x bntui
./bntui

From source

Requires Rust 1.85+.

git clone https://github.com/obselate/bntui.git
cd bntui
cargo build --release
./target/release/bntui

Usage

bntui can run zero-config locally. If no cookie/daemon is found and you use localhost:8332, it auto-starts the embedded daemon with --api --daemon:

# auto-detect (checks cwd, then platform default)
bntui

bntui searches for data/api.cookie in the following order:

1. Explicit argument or BLOCKNET_DIR env var
2. Existing cookie directory (./data/api.cookie, then platform default)
3. Platform default path (created if missing):
   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Blocknet
   • Linux: ~/.blocknet
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Blocknet

$ bntui --help
Terminal block explorer for Blocknet privacy blockchain

Usage: bntui [OPTIONS] [BLOCKNET_DIR]

Arguments:
  [BLOCKNET_DIR]  Path to blocknet directory [auto-detected if omitted]

Options:
      --host <HOST>      API host to connect to [default: localhost]
      --port <PORT>      API port to connect to [default: 8332]
      --cookie <COOKIE>  Path to API cookie file (default: {blocknet_dir}/data/api.cookie)
  -h, --help             Print help
  -V, --version          Print version

# Optional: pass the directory explicitly
bntui /path/to/blocknet

# Or set the environment variable
export BLOCKNET_DIR=/path/to/blocknet
bntui

# Connect to a remote daemon
bntui --host 192.168.1.100 --port 8332 --cookie /path/to/api.cookie

# Disable embedded daemon autostart (debug/manual mode)
BNTUI_SKIP_EMBEDDED_DAEMON=1 bntui

Docker

If running Blocknet in Docker, make sure the data directory is bind-mounted:

volumes:
  - ./data:/data

Then point bntui at the directory containing the data/ folder.

API Endpoints Used

Endpoint	Method	Purpose
/api/status	GET	Chain height, peers, sync state
/api/mempool	GET	Mempool stats
/api/wallet/balance	GET	Wallet balance
/api/mining	GET	Mining status and hashrate
/api/mining/start	POST	Start mining
/api/mining/stop	POST	Stop mining
/api/mining/threads	POST	Set thread count
/api/block/{height}	GET	Block data by height

All endpoints require Bearer token authentication via the cookie file.

License

MIT