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name: bitcoin-testing-nigiri description: | Nigiri: regtest stack with Bitcoin + Esplora + electrs + Liquid + optional LN. CLI-based, fast iteration, includes faucet. USE WHEN: regtest with explorer dependency, full-stack E2E testing, dev environment with Esplora API. allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob

Nigiri

Single-command regtest stack. Includes Bitcoin Core + electrs + Esplora frontend + optional Liquid + optional LN.

Repo: github.com/vulpemventures/nigiri.

Quickstart

nigiri start         # spin up bitcoind + electrs + esplora
nigiri faucet bcrt1q...   # send test BTC
nigiri rpc getblockchaininfo
nigiri logs chopsticks     # logs takes a service name
nigiri stop

Features

• All in one: nigiri start runs bitcoind, electrs, the Esplora frontend, and Chopsticks (a JSON HTTP proxy that re-serves the Esplora REST API and adds /faucet + auto-mining on POST /tx).
• Esplora web explorer at localhost:5000; the Esplora-compatible REST API is Chopsticks at localhost:3000 (as of v0.5.17, May 2026).
• Faucet for instant BTC.
• Liquid support via nigiri start --liquid.
• Lightning via nigiri start --ln - starts Core Lightning, LND and the Taproot Assets daemon (tapd), not a single impl.
• Ark via nigiri start --ark (arkd + explorer).
• Flag memory: --remember persists the chosen flags; nigiri forget clears them.

Use cases

• Wallet integration that needs Esplora API.
• End-to-end testing with realistic explorer queries.
• Demos with full Bitcoin + explorer view.

Compared

Aspect	Nigiri	Polar	Manual regtest
GUI	no	yes	no
Explorer	Esplora	none	manual
LN support	optional	primary	manual
Liquid	yes	no	manual
Setup time	<1 min	<1 min	minutes-hours

Common issues

• Docker required; resource cost (~2-4 GB RAM).
• Port conflicts: bitcoind uses 18443, electrs 50000 (Electrum) and 30000 (HTTP), Chopsticks 3000, Esplora UI 5000. On macOS Monterey and later, AirPlay Receiver already holds 5000 - disable it or remap the port in docker-compose.yml under the Nigiri datadir.
• Liquid stack adds significant resource use.

See also

• regtest/SKILL.md
• polar/SKILL.md
• ../infrastructure/esplora/SKILL.md
• ../l2/liquid/SKILL.md