# Install bcoin with Homebrew

Javascript bitcoin library for node.js and browsers. Version 2.2.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-09.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:bcoin
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install bcoin
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:bcoin
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 2.2.0
- **Source summary:** Javascript bitcoin library for node.js and browsers
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/bcoin-org/bcoin>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/bcoin-org/bcoin>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-09T19:01:12+09:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- bcoin (alias)
- bcoin-cli (alias)
- bcoin-node (alias)
- bcoin-spvnode (alias)
- bwallet (alias)
- bwallet-cli (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 2.2.0
## Project history and usage

bcoin is an alternative Bitcoin protocol implementation written for Node.js, with full-node, SPV-node, wallet, mining-backend, layer-2-backend, and library use cases.

### Project history

The GitHub repository was created in 2014. The README describes bcoin as an alternative implementation of the Bitcoin protocol in JavaScript and C/C++ for Node.js, aware of known consensus rules and usable as a production consensus backend and wallet system.

The project reached a 1.0.0 tag after a beta series and later published 2.x releases, while retaining command-line entry points such as bcoin, bcoin-cli, bcoin-node, bwallet, and bwallet-cli.

### Adoption history

bcoin's adoption is more specialized than general Bitcoin Core tooling. Its README names Purse.io as a production user and frames bcoin as a library/backend for services that want Bitcoin protocol behavior inside a Node.js stack.

In package-manager terms, Homebrew packaging made the node and wallet CLIs easy to install on developer workstations, but the supplied package facts show a narrower package-manager footprint than older Unix utilities.

### How it is used

Developers use bcoin as a full node, SPV node, wallet backend, mining backend with getblocktemplate support, layer-2 backend, or general-purpose Bitcoin library.

Configuration and API credentials are commonly placed in bcoin and wallet config files under ~/.bcoin, including network-specific subdirectories.

### Why package nerds care

bcoin is package-nerd interesting because it packages a cryptocurrency full-node stack as a Node.js developer tool, rather than as the canonical C++ Bitcoin Core lineage.

It represents a period when alternative protocol implementations mattered for ecosystem diversity, service integration, and testing assumptions against more than one codebase.

### Timeline

- 2014: GitHub repository created.
- 2017: README copyright range includes Christopher Jeffrey through 2017 and documents production use.
- 2018: v1.0.0-era release tags established after beta tags.
- 2020s: v2.x tags published; Homebrew continues to package the CLI.

### Related projects

- Bitcoin Core is the canonical Bitcoin implementation that bcoin contrasts with as an alternative implementation.
- Node.js and npm-style application stacks are the natural integration environment.
- Wallet, SPV, mining, and Lightning/layer-2 systems are listed upstream as bcoin use cases.

### Sources

- <https://bcoin.io/api-docs>
- <https://bcoin.io/docs>
- <https://github.com/bcoin-org/bcoin>
- <https://github.com/bcoin-org/bcoin/blob/master/README.md>
- source_facts.package-manager


## Security Notes

library-like package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- library-like package without higher-risk signals


## Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.


## Configuration files

- Unix: ~/.bcoin/bcoin.conf, ~/.bcoin/wallet.conf, ~/.bcoin/<network>/bcoin.conf, ~/.bcoin/<network>/wallet.conf

## Credential files

- Unix: ~/.bcoin/bcoin.conf, ~/.bcoin/wallet.conf, ~/.bcoin/<network>/bcoin.conf, ~/.bcoin/<network>/wallet.conf

## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/bcoin.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/bcoin.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph