Quick Start

bPanel is still in alpha, so while we wish there was a one click install (and it is on the road map), there is a small amount of setup required to get things running first.

Easy Setup

First, download the project files with the link below:

Download bPanel

Configuration for the quick start with docker is all done with the local docker-compose.yml file.

If you don't have docker installed locally, download and install here:

Get Docker

To spin up a bPanel http server, a bcoin node on regtest, and mine some blocks (and generate lots of fake Satoshis for you to play with), navigate to the project repo in your terminal and run:

$ npm install && docker-compose up

The first run can take a while since there are a few packages that need to be downloaded and built. Please be patient. Once everything is done, you should be able to see bPanel running in your browser at http://localhost:5000

default previewYou should see something like this once you're set up

Installing Plugins

The initial build of bPanel isn't particularly useful. Plugins are the real workhorses of the bPanel system though so let's start installing some plugins to play with.

Back in your terminal, install bpanel-cli:

$ npm install -g @bpanel/bpanel-cli

Once installed, you can see all the available commands by typing

$ bpanel-cli --help

List currently installed plugins with bpanel-cli list, search for new plugins with bpanel-cli search and install new plugins with with bpanel-cli.

Let's install some useful plugins to get you started. Copy and paste the following into your terminal:

$ bpanel-cli install @bpanel/simple-mining @bpanel/simple-wallet @bpanel/recent-blocks @bpanel/mempool-widget

You can even change how bPanel looks by installing a new skin:

$ bpanel-cli install @bpanel/bdark-theme

Once the plugins have been downloaded and installed, reload the page and you'll see how your bPanel has been transformed!

plugins previewbPanel with some extra plugins and a new theme

You can read more about plugins here and about developing your own here.

Advanced Setup

This is primarily a setup for development purposes (though it could be used in production with some modification).

Running with docker

To start the application, clone the repository and navigate to the root of the project.

  1. Run npm install to setup dependencies and configuration directories.
  2. Run docker-compose up -d
  3. Navigate to http://localhost:5000 or https://localhost to see your webapp (might take a few minutes if running for the first time).

This will build the web application, start the http server, reverse proxy, bcoin node and wallet server in containers.

Persistent DBs

To persist your bcoin node information (and skip the setup if the walletdb is persisted), uncomment and edit the volumes in the bcoin service (this should be uncommented by default). This is useful if you're working on testnet or mainnet and don't want to wait for a full sync to happen every time you create a new container.

Running without docker

If you want to run bPanel outside of the container, e.g. for development purposes:

  1. Run npm install
  2. Run docker-compose up -d bcoin to run just the bcoin service as a background daemon
  3. For mac users, run npm run start:poll otherwise run npm run start:dev. Add -- --client-id=_docker to the end of the command to indicate you want to connect to the docker container.
  4. Navigate to http://localhost:5000 to see your webapp.

Requests to /bcoin are routed to the bcoin node. Requests to /bwallet are routed to the bcoin wallet server.

Connecting to your own node

bPanel can be run entirely independent of any local bcoin node. This can be using configuration files. If you already have configuration files setup in ~/.bpanel/clients, just pass in the id of the conf file when starting up bPanel

npm run start:poll -- --client-id=my-conf

Read more about bPanel configuration here.

Extending bPanel

The bPanel UI is built entirely around plugins. All visual elements can be extended or overridden via the plugin system including the header, footer, sidebar, and main panel/view element. To get started making your own plugin, use the bPanel-cli

Server extensions

The simplest thing to do, is to create your own server file that includes server/index.js.

const bpanel = require('./index.js')({
  network: 'main', // Put bPanel configs here (optional)
});
const app = require('express')();
app.use( /* Put your own middleware here */ );
app.use( bpanel );
app.listen();
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