Interacting with Monero

You can interact with Monero via desktop GUI, commandline interface, and programming API.

On top of that, Monero nodes interact with each other in a peer-to-peer network.

Installation directory overview

Once unpacked you will see several executable files. You will also find a nice PDF guide for the GUI wallet.

Monero project nicely decouples network node logic from wallet logic. Wallet logic is offered through three independent user interfaces - the GUI, the CLI, and the HTTP API.

# cd monero-gui-v0.17.1.9

# ---- guide to Monero GUI ----

monero-gui-wallet-guide.pdf

# ---- main executable files -----------

monerod
monero-wallet-gui

# ---- extra executable files -----------

extras/monero-wallet-cli
extras/monero-wallet-rpc

extras/monero-blockchain-prune
extras/monero-gen-trusted-multisig
extras/monero-gen-ssl-cert

extras/monero-blockchain-export
extras/monero-blockchain-import

# ---- don't bother with these ----------

extras/monero-blockchain-stats
extras/monero-blockchain-mark-spent-outputs
extras/monero-blockchain-prune-known-spent-data
extras/monero-blockchain-usage
extras/monero-blockchain-ancestry
extras/monero-blockchain-depth

Executables

Executable	Description
`monerod`	The full node daemon. Does not require a wallet. Documentation.
`monero-wallet-gui`	Wallet logic and graphical user interface. Requires `monerod` running.
`monero-wallet-cli`	Wallet logic and commandline user interface. Requires `monerod` running.
`monero-wallet-rpc`	Wallet logic and HTTP API (JSON-RPC protocol). Requires `monerod` running.
`monero-blockchain-prune`	Prune existing local blockchain. This saves 2/3 of disk space (down to 31GB as of Jan 2021). This is preferable over `monerod --prune-blockchain` which only logically releases space inside the file while the file remains large. The `monero-blockchain-prune` creates a shrinked copy of the blockchain file. See tutorial1, tutorial2.
`monero-gen-ssl-cert`	Generate 4096 bit RSA private key and self signed TLS certificate for use with `monerod` RPC interface. Note, Monero daemon automatically generates TLS certificate on each restart. Manual generation with this tool is only useful if you want to pin TLS certificate fingerprint in your monero wallet. See the pull request.
`monero-gen-trusted-multisig`	Tool to generate a set of multisig wallets. See chapter on multisignatures.
`monero-blockchain-export`	Tool to export blockchain to `blockchain.raw` file.
`monero-blockchain-import`	Tool to import blockchain.raw - ideally your own trusted copy.

Executables - legacy

You most likely should not bother with these legacy or very specialized tools.

Executable	Description
`monero-blockchain-stats`	Generate stats like tx/day, blocks/day, bytes/day based on your local blockchain.
`monero-blockchain-mark-spent-outputs`	Advanced tool to mitigate potential privacy issues related to Monero forks. You normally shouldn’t be concerned with that. See the commit and pull request.
`monero-blockchain-prune-known-spent-data`	Previous limited pruning tool to prune select “known spent” transaction outputs (from the before RCT era). Nowadays prefer `monero-blockchain-prune`. This only saves ~200 MB. See the commit.
`monero-blockchain-usage`	Advanced tool to mitigate potential privacy issues related to Monero forks. You normally shouldn’t be concerned with that. See the commit and the pull request.
`monero-blockchain-ancestry`	Advanced research tool to learn ancestors of a transaction, block or chain. Irrelevant for normal users. See this pull request.
`monero-blockchain-depth`	Advanced research tool to learn depth of a transaction, block or chain. Irrelevant for normal users. See this commit.

Interacting

There are quite a few ways you can interact with Monero software. Perhaps the most surprising for newcomers is that monerod daemon accepts interactive keyboard commands while it is running.

Also, please note that HTTP API is split across monerod and monero-wallet-rpc. You need to run and call both daemons to explore the full API. This follows the node-logic vs wallet-logic split mentioned earlier.

All wallet implementations depend on the monerod running.

Executable	p2p network	node commands via keyboard	node HTTP API	wallet commands via keyboard	wallet HTTP API	wallet via GUI
`monerod`	✔	✔	✔
`monero-wallet-cli`				✔
`monero-wallet-rpc`					✔
`monero-wallet-gui`						✔

Data directory

This is where the blockchain, log files, and p2p network memory are stored.

By default data directory is at:

$HOME/.bitmonero/ on Linux and macOS
C:\ProgramData\bitmonero\ on Windows

Please mind:

data directory is hidden as per OS convention
the bitmonero directory name is historical artefact from before Monero forked away from Bitmonero, about 2000 years Before Christ

Data directory contains:

lmdb/ - the blockchain database directory
p2pstate.bin - saved memory of discovered and rated peers
bitmonero.log - log file

It can also contain subdirectories for stagenet and testnet, mirroring the same structure:

stagenet/ - data directory for Stagenet
testnet/ - data directory for Testnet