Bitcoin Technical Learning Guide

For Future Contributors to Bitcoin Core / Bitcoin Knots

Author: Michel Laclé (personal study plan)

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✅ 1. Essential Primary Resources

Bitcoin Whitepaper

https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
Foundational, but only the beginning. Focus on Sections 4–7.

Bitcoin Developer Reference (Bitcoin.org)

https://developer.bitcoin.org/reference/
Key reference for: - Transaction & block structures
- P2P messages
- Script opcodes
- Consensus rules
- Networking details

Bitcoin Core Developer Documentation

https://bitcoincore.org/en/doc/
Contains: - RPC API reference
- Internal architecture
- Build system
- Wallet internals
- Mempool, P2P, validation logic
- C++ testing framework overview

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✅ 2. Deep Internals: Bitcoin Core / Knots Tools

Bitcoin Core Contributor Handbook

https://bitcoincore.reviews
Learn how Core developers think:
- Weekly PR review notes
- Reasons PRs are accepted/rejected
- Standards for contributions

Bitcoin Knots Repository

https://github.com/bitcoinknots/bitcoin
Areas to explore: - src/policy/
- src/validation.*
- src/net_processing.*
- Knots patches in contrib/

Knots adds: - Extra policy checks
- Extra privacy/hardening features
- Additional relay logic

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✅ 3. Protocol-Level Understanding

Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs)

https://github.com/bitcoin/bips

Important BIPs to prioritize: - BIP 32 — HD wallets
- BIP 39 — Mnemonics
- BIP 141 — SegWit
- BIP 340–342 — Taproot
- BIP 68/112/113 — Locktimes, CSV
- BIP 125 — Replace-By-Fee
- BIP 133 — Feefilter
- BIP 152 — Compact block relay
- BIP 37 — Bloom filters (legacy)
- BIP 157/158 — Neutrino

Mastering Bitcoin (book)

https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook

Focus on: - Ch.5 Transactions
- Ch.6 Blockchain
- Ch.7 Networking
- Ch.8 Mining
- Ch.9 Consensus
- Ch.10 Bitcoin Script

Mastering the Lightning Network (optional)

https://github.com/lnbook/lnbook
Useful for Layer 2 understanding.

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✅ 4. Code Navigation & Internal Architecture

James Chiang — Notes on Bitcoin Core Architecture

https://github.com/jamesob/bitcoincore-notes
Annotated insights into:
- Validation pipeline
- Block/UTXO structures
- Script execution
- Mempool behavior
- P2P processing

Chaincode Labs — Bitcoin Core Dev Onboarding Curriculum

https://github.com/chaincodelabs/bitcoin-core-dev
Topics:
- UTXO model
- Consensus & networking
- Test framework
- RPC system
- Block validation

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✅ 5. Testing, Security & Hardening (Important for Knots)

Bitcoin Core Testing Guide (Chaincode)

https://github.com/chaincodelabs/bitcoin-core-onboarding/blob/main/5.%20Testing.md

Understand: - Functional tests: test/functional/
- Unit tests: src/test/
- Fuzz tests: src/test/fuzz/

Bitcoin P2P Message Reference

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_documentation
Useful for low-level network comprehension.

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🎯 Recommended 4-Week Study Plan

Week 1 — Protocol Foundations

• Read Bitcoin Whitepaper
• Mastering Bitcoin Ch. 1–7
• Watch Jan Møller: “How Bitcoin Works”
• Explore Developer Reference basics

Week 2 — Script, Consensus, Mempool

• Study Script & transactions
• Read key BIPs (32, 39, 141, 68/112/113)
• Review mempool documentation
• Understand consensus rule flow

Week 3 — Codebase Structure

• Chaincode Dev Curriculum
• Read James Chiang’s architecture notes
• Watch codebase walkthrough videos
• Study these directories:
• src/validation/
• src/net_processing/
• src/consensus/
• src/script/

Week 4 — Testing + First Contribution

• Learn test harness (functional + unit + fuzz)
• Choose an “up-for-grabs” issue
• Write tests first
• Build and run the entire suite locally
• Submit a patch to Bitcoin Knots / Core

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🛠 Additional Tools to Set Up Locally

• Clang or GCC with sanitizer support
• Ninja + CMake
• clang-tidy static analysis
• VS Code or CLion with C++ index
• Bitcoin Core build with:
• --enable-debug
• --with-sanitizers=address,undefined
• Python 3.11+ for functional tests

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🚀 Optional Next Steps

I can generate any of the following if requested:

• A printable PDF version of this guide
• A checklist version (for tracking progress)
• A Trello board or Notion workspace for studying
• Local dev environment bootstrap script
• Flashcards for all important BIPs
• A diagram pack explaining:
• Block validation
• Script execution
• Mempool acceptance
• P2P message lifecycle

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✔️ End of Document