---

name: bitcoin-libraries-libwally description: | libwally-core: Blockstream's C library for wallet primitives. BIP32/39, PSBT, Liquid Confidential Transactions, BIP143, Schnorr. Bindings to Python, JS, Java, Swift. USE WHEN: building cross-language wallets via libwally bindings, integrating Liquid CT. allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob

libwally-core

Blockstream's C library focused on wallet primitives (vs full node code).

Repo: github.com/ElementsProject/libwally-core.

Features

• BIP32 HD derivation.
• BIP39 mnemonic.
• BIP38 password-encrypted private keys.
• PSBT (BIP174).
• Bitcoin Tx serialization.
• Liquid Confidential Transactions.
• Schnorr (BIP340).
• BIP85.

Bindings

• Python: wallycore.
• JavaScript: libwally-core-js (WebAssembly).
• Java: wally-android, wally-jvm.
• Swift: native bindings for iOS.
• C (native).

Quick example (Python)

import wallycore as wally

seed = wally.bip39_mnemonic_to_seed512("abandon abandon ... about", "")
master = wally.bip32_key_from_seed(seed, wally.BIP32_VER_MAIN_PRIVATE)
account = wally.bip32_key_from_parent_path(master,
    [84 + 0x80000000, 0 + 0x80000000, 0 + 0x80000000])
xpub = wally.bip32_key_to_base58(account, wally.BIP32_FLAG_KEY_PUBLIC)

Use cases

• Blockstream Green Wallet (uses libwally extensively).
• Cross-platform wallet libraries (one C core, many bindings).
• Liquid integrations.

Compared

Aspect	libwally	rust-bitcoin	bitcoinj
Language	C (with bindings)	Rust	Java
Liquid CT	Yes	No	No
HW wallet	No	No	No
Performance	Best (C)	Best	Acceptable

Common pitfalls

• C API is stateful; clean up with wally_*_free functions.
• Build with --enable-elements for Liquid CT support.
• Bindings sometimes lag C library version.

See also

• secp256k1-c/SKILL.md
• ../../l2/liquid/SKILL.md
• ../../infrastructure/specter-desktop/SKILL.md