Baseline Cash

Baseline Cash is a minimalist Bitcoin-style payments chain — but it ships with the stuff operators actually need built-in: fast blocks, Core-ish RPC, a native address index, and a turnkey pool server. No smart contracts, no token zoo, no bloat.

Quick Start

1. Install Python environment

Baseline Cash targets Python 3.12 or newer (3.12/3.13 verified). Confirm Python is available before continuing:

python --version || py -3 --version

If the first command fails on Windows, try py -3. Once you have a compatible interpreter, create the virtualenv:

python -m venv .venv
. .venv/Scripts/activate  # or source .venv/bin/activate on UNIX
pip install --upgrade pip

No extra pip packages are required; the stdlib is enough. The GUI uses Tkinter (bundled with official Windows/macOS installers); on Linux install your distro's Tk bindings if missing (e.g., sudo apt-get install python3-tk or sudo dnf install python3-tkinter) before running baseline-wallet-gui.

2. Install Baseline Cash

pip install -e .

This exposes the baseline-node, baseline-wallet, and baseline-wallet-gui executables in your virtual environment.

3. Set config values

A starter config.json lives at the repo root with reasonable defaults. Before launching your node, make these important changes:

• Pick RPC creds: Modify rpc.username and rpc.password in config.json and keep them secret.
• Set peers: In network.seeds, add reachable Baseline Cash nodes as a list to help your node find peers or leave it empty to start a private testnet. The current starter config.json has a seed node for the public Baseline Cash mainnet.

4. Launch the node

baseline-node --config config.json --log-level info

The runner initializes the append-only block store + SQLite chainstate, and starts P2P sync, wallet, and the authenticated JSON-RPC server. If a pool private key is configured it also spins up the payout tracker and Stratum listener. Use Ctrl+C (or SIGTERM) for graceful shutdown. Point a browser or curl at http://127.0.0.1:8832/ to view the built-in status panel (unauthenticated but rate-limited)-it summarizes height, peers, mempool size, and uptime at a glance.

TIP: Need to resync from scratch? Stop the node and run:

baseline-node --config config.json --reset-chainstate

This wipes blocks/chainstate/peers/logs while preserving wallets and payout data, then restarts the node with a clean slate.

Wallet

The node writes wallet/wallet.json under the data dir and exposes it over JSON-RPC. For friendlier use, run the CLI tool.:

# show commands
baseline-wallet --config config.json --help

Mining

1. Create the pool payout key

This key is separate from the wallet: it controls who receives block rewards from your Stratum pool. Generate one with:

baseline-wallet generate-key

It prints the 32-byte hex key and a WIF string. Replace mining.pool_private_key (which defaults to null) in config.json with the hex value. Keep both hex + WIF offline.

Import the WIF into any wallet (Baseline Cash Wallet or external) whenever you need to manually spend pool-held funds.

2. Start mining with Stratum

1. Launch the node with your configured payout key. The Stratum listener will come up automatically whenever that key is present.
2. Point miners:

   # Install baseline-miner (CPU Stratum miner)
   python -m pip install git+https://github.com/Baseline-Blockchain/baseline-miner.git
   
   # Local Solo Miner (connect to your own node's Stratum server)
   baseline-miner --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3333 --address YOURRECEIVERADDRESS --worker worker1
   
   # Public pool (replace pool.example.org, open TCP/3333, ensure config.json has stratum.host = 0.0.0.0)
   baseline-miner --host pool.example.org --port 3333 --address YOURRECEIVERADDRESS --worker worker1

   Workers are tracked by username for payouts; shares accrue until coinbase rewards mature (20 blocks), then the payout tracker crafts and broadcasts the payment transaction..

• Yes, you can already have community mining pools! Just point miners with proper addresses at a Baseline Cash node with Stratum enabled and the payouts will flow automatically.

Pool operator knobs (config.json):

• mining.pool_fee_percent: percent taken from mined subsidy before distributing to workers.
• mining.min_payout: minimum worker balance (in liners) before including them in a payout tx.
• stratum.*: vardiff/session tuning; see docs/mining-and-payouts.md and monitor data_dir/payouts/ledger.json.

Code Quality

Ruff enforces a strict lint profile defined in pyproject.toml. Install it and run checks before committing:

pip install ruff
ruff check .

The configuration enables pycodestyle/pyflakes, import sorting, naming rules, bugbear, pyupgrade, and security checks so issues surface early.