Part 3. Installing Mempool Explorer

Prerequisites.

• Completed “Dojo Node Guide,” Parts 1, 2.
• Fulcrum synchronization completed.

Introduction #

The Mempool Visual Explorer is a valuable tool for looking up detailed information about blocks, addresses, balances & transactions.

Hosting your instance locally is preferable to entering personal transaction details into websites you don’t control.

Install Docker #

Before installing Mempool, Docker is required.

Add Docker’s official GPG key.

sudo apt update

sudo apt install ca-certificates gnupg -y

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings

torsocks curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

Add the Docker repository to Apt sources.

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt update

Install the Docker packages.

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y

Add the user to the docker group.

sudo usermod -aG docker satoshi

Log out.

exit

Log back in as “satoshi” again. This re-evaluates the user’s new membership to the Docker group.

Install Mempool #

Clone the Mempool repository.

git clone https://github.com/mempool/mempool.git

Enter the Mempool Docker directory.

cd mempool/docker

Open the “docker-compose.yml” file.

nano docker-compose.yml

Edit the following lines.

####change
ports:
  - 80:8080

##to
ports:
  - 4080:8080

####change
MEMPOOL_BACKEND: "none"

##to
MEMPOOL_BACKEND: "electrum"

####edit to your nodes local ip
CORE_RPC_HOST: "172.27.0.1"

####edit to your core rpc username & password
CORE_RPC_USERNAME: "mempool"
CORE_RPC_PASSWORD: "mempool"

####change all 3 instances of
restart: on-failure

##to
restart: always

Add the following lines below “STATISTICS_ENABLED,” editing “ELECTRUM_HOST” to include the node’s local IP.

ELECTRUM_HOST: "192.xxx.x.xx"
ELECTRUM_PORT: "50002"
ELECTRUM_TLS_ENABLED: "true"

Paste the following block at the bottom of the file on the next available free line. Ensure the spacing is exactly as shown.

networks:
  default:
    driver: bridge
    ipam:
      config:
        - subnet: 172.16.57.0/24

Save and exit the file.

Now, initialize Mempool.

docker compose up -d

Open a web browser, and in the address bar, type your node’s IP address, followed by “:4080” to visit the local Mempool instance.

As a fresh install, it may take time before Mempool fully populates, so don’t be concerned if the dashboard is incomplete.

Tor Connections #

A Tor Browser can access The local Mempool installation from anywhere worldwide. A unique onion address is required for this functionality.

Open the “torrc” file.

sudo nano /etc/tor/torrc

Add the following lines to the bottom of the file, then save and exit.

# Hidden Service Mempool
HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/mempool/
HiddenServiceVersion 3
HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:4080

Restart the Tor service.

sudo systemctl restart tor

Mempool’s Tor address can be requested with the following command.

sudo cat /var/lib/tor/mempool/hostname