Set up an Ark server with Docker Compose

Docker Compose runs captaind alongside PostgreSQL, Bitcoin Core, and optionally Core Lightning with Boltz’s hold plugin on regtest. All dependencies are included and configured automatically.

This path runs on regtest, a local-only test network. If you’d prefer to run on signet with each component installed individually, see the manual setup guide instead.

The Compose file handles boot-time dependencies and initializations using depends_on and health checks.

Start the server

Clone the repository

git clone https://gitlab.com/ark-bitcoin/bark
cd bark

Start all services

docker compose -f contrib/docker/docker-compose.yml up

Verify services are running

Once everything is up, you can run commands against the containers:

# bark
docker compose -f contrib/docker/docker-compose.yml run --rm bark bark ark-info

# bitcoin-cli
docker compose -f contrib/docker/docker-compose.yml run --rm bitcoind \
  bitcoin-cli -regtest -rpcuser=second -rpcpassword=ark \
  -rpcconnect=bitcoind getblockchaininfo

# captaind
docker compose -f contrib/docker/docker-compose.yml run --rm captaind \
  captaind --config /root/captaind/captaind.toml get-mnemonic

# Core Lightning
docker compose -f contrib/docker/docker-compose.yml exec cln \
  lightning-cli --regtest getinfo

Shared volumes

captaind — persistent data for captaind
postgres — PostgreSQL database files
bark — data for bark
bitcoind — Bitcoin Core blockchain and wallet data
cln — Core Lightning node data

Fund the server

Generate some regtest blocks and send bitcoin to the server:

# Get the server's funding address
export CAPTAIND_ADDRESS=$(docker compose -f contrib/docker/docker-compose.yml run --rm captaind \
  captaind --config /root/captaind/captaind.toml rpc wallet | jq -r '.rounds.address')

# Generate blocks
docker compose -f contrib/docker/docker-compose.yml run --rm bitcoind \
  bitcoin-cli -regtest -rpcuser=second -rpcpassword=ark \
  -rpcconnect=bitcoind -generate 106

# Send bitcoin to the server
docker compose -f contrib/docker/docker-compose.yml run --rm bitcoind \
  bitcoin-cli -regtest -rpcuser=second -rpcpassword=ark \
  -rpcconnect=bitcoind sendtoaddress $CAPTAIND_ADDRESS 1

Documentation

Bark SDK

Barkd

Run an Ark server

Set up an Ark server with Docker Compose

Start the server

Fund the server

​Start the server

​Fund the server

Start the server

Fund the server