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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.

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Start the server

1

Clone the repository

git clone https://gitlab.com/ark-bitcoin/bark
cd bark
2

Start all services

docker compose -f contrib/docker/docker-compose.yml up
3

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
  • 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

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Fund the server

Generate some regtest blocks and send funds 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 funds 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