Struggling to Get mempool.space Working on Linux

Hey everyone! I've been trying to set up mempool.space on my Linux Mint laptop but can't get it to work. Got Bitcoin Core synced with Sparrow and Electrum server, but Docker seems stuck. Any ideas on what to do? The mempool page just hangs without loading data.

Check out the mempool.space GitHub. There’s a video that helped me get started with Docker. Can't remember the exact link but it's there. Honestly, I’ve set up a bunch of services on Linux, but this one has been the trickiest. Used to run it on a server years ago, but keeping it updated with node.js and nginx was such a hassle. Docker made life easier.

Are you using 'romanz/electrs' or 'Blockstream/electrs'? If it's Blockstream, make sure you set 'MEMPOOL_BACKEND:' in your docker-compose.yml to 'esplora'. Need more info from you to really help out, maybe share your settings and logs, but remove any sensitive info.

Totally agree. We need to see your docker-compose.yml and bitcoin.conf to help effectively. I'd set up bitcoin core, electrs, and mempool in one docker-compose.yml if I were you. This way, everything can talk to each other easily on the same network.

Alright, I’ve put together my bitcoin.conf and docker-compose.yml files as suggested. Following a YouTube series from Ministry of Nodes 2024, hope this helps! Here are the links to my files: https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/01/22/WknzN.png https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/01/22/WkQ0o.png I also added 'rpcauth:user/password' to the end of bitcoin.conf.

Just quoting to show the images.

I’m not super familiar with the mempool.space container setup. But from what I gather: Bitcoin Core is the main syncer, Electrs connects to it and acts as an SPV host, then mempool.space pulls data from both. Sounds right?

Hey! I ran the installation command and it looks like it's working. But when I try to start the containers, I get an Electrum error about hostname not found. Pretty new to all this, so I’m not sure what to make of it.

If you're getting an ENOTFOUND error, that's likely a DNS issue. Maybe check your electrum_host variable in your compose file. They usually use an IP for ELECTRUM_HOST, and disabling TLS can help too.

My Electrs setup is based on this YouTube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRLsyD4t4w8&list=PLCRbH-IWlcW0g0HCrtI06_ZdVVolUWr39&index=8 And mempool setup here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWhGMbutidI&list=PLCRbH-IWlcW0g0HCrtI06_ZdVVolUWr39&index=10 Guess I'm in over my head following these guides.

If there’s a docker-compose file already in the repository, shouldn't it work with just 'docker-compose up -d'? If it's not, then there’s probably some misconfiguration by the devs.

Still having issues. You’ve redacted your IPs in your yml, but double-check they’re correct. Make sure your CORE_RPC_HOST and ELECTRUM_HOST are set to the local IP given by your router.

That’s spot on. The setup requires Bitcoin Core and Electrs to be running first. Honestly, they should've included all services in one compose file instead of relying on separate ones.

I’ve checked both my local IPs and set them in the yml. I hope I did it right this time!

Let’s pause on Docker for a sec. Using Debian 12, I’d suggest checking your wired IP address for the settings. Make sure to set both CORE_RPC_HOST and ELECTRUM_HOST to that IP.

I did that, set both to my wired IP, but still seeing the mempool page load forever. Any other suggestions?

Good sign! Mempool might take a while to load, and the DB needs time to populate. If you don’t see errors, just be patient.

Turns out it was my firewall messing things up! Now, how do I give Docker access to Bitcoin and Electrs? Thanks for all the help, everyone!

I figured that might be the issue. If you need to allow Docker access, open ports 8332 and 50001 for the Docker container IP. If you’re using ufw, check its manual for instructions.

I thought I needed Docker's API IP and thankfully that worked! Can't believe my firewall held me up for days. Hoping this helps other newbies out there!