Decentralized Protocol Specifications — Bitcoin, Lightning, Nostr, Mining & Mesh

Free, machine-readable references for the open specifications behind a sovereign Bitcoin stack: Bitcoin BIPs & SLIPs, Lightning BOLTs, Nostr NIPs & event kinds, the Stratum mining protocol, and Meshtastic radio presets — grouped by protocol family.

Quick answer

Open, decentralized systems run on open specifications — the documents that let independent software interoperate without a central authority. D-Central maintains free, machine-readable references for the ones that matter to a sovereign Bitcoiner: Bitcoin's BIPs and SLIPs, the Lightning BOLTs, Nostr's NIPs and event kinds, the Stratum mining protocol, and the Meshtastic radio presets. This hub gathers them in one place, grouped by protocol family — each a citable CSV / JSON + REST dataset under CC BY 4.0.

One place to look up any Bitcoin, Lightning, Nostr, mining or mesh specification — every reference is a free, filterable dataset, not just prose.

Bitcoin

The standards that define the Bitcoin protocol itself and the wallets built on it.

Bitcoin BIPs Reference212 Bitcoin Improvement Proposals by number, title, layer, type and status.SLIPs Reference25 SatoshiLabs Improvement Proposals — wallet & multicoin standards (SLIP-39 Shamir, SLIP-44 coin types).Soft-Fork Activation RegistryEvery consensus soft fork from P2SH to Taproot with activation mechanism, block height and date.Bitcoin Script Opcode ReferenceAll 113 Script opcodes with hex byte, decimal, category, status (enabled/disabled/reserved/Tapscript) and function.Address Types & Derivation PathsWhy an address starts with 1 / 3 / bc1q / bc1p — type, BIP, derivation path and xpub prefix.Bitcoin Core RPC ReferenceThe bitcoin-cli commands that matter for solo mining and running a node — all 6 Mining RPCs plus the node Blockchain and Network sets.bitcoin.conf ReferenceThe node-operator / solo-miner subset of bitcoin.conf options grouped by purpose — storage, network, RPC, wallet — with three ready configs.P2P Network Message ReferenceAll 36 wire messages in Bitcoin Core — version/verack handshake, inv/getdata relay, compact blocks, BIP37 and BIP157 filters — with introducing BIPs.Output Script DescriptorsEvery descriptor expression in BIP-380..392 — pk/wpkh/wsh/tr/multi_a, musig(), multipath, silent-payment sp() — with output script, nesting and BIP status.PSBT Key-Type ReferenceAll 58 PSBT key types across the global / input / output maps with type bytes, v0-vs-v2 rules and BIP-371 taproot fields.Miniscript Reference (BIP-379)The 23 Miniscript fragments with the Bitcoin Script each compiles to, the 10 wrappers, the B/V/K/W type system and resource limits.Transaction Size ReferencevBytes by input and output type — how P2PKH / P2WPKH / P2TR / multisig sizes drive the fee you pay.

Lightning Network

The specifications that define Bitcoin's Lightning Network.

Lightning BOLTs ReferenceThe 11 Basis of Lightning Technology specs (BOLT 11 invoices, BOLT 12 Offers, channels, onion routing).BOLT11 Invoice FormatThe lnbc invoice format field by field — prefixes, amount multipliers, timestamp / tagged-fields / signature, all 11 tagged fields with defaults and reader rules.BOLT 9 Feature BitsEvery assigned Lightning feature bit — even/odd pair, name, contexts and dependencies — with the it's-ok-to-be-odd rule.

Nostr

The complete Nostr protocol data layer — specs, event kinds, and the software that speaks them.

Nostr NIPs Reference94 Nostr Implementation Possibilities with status and plain-English summaries.Nostr Event Kinds Reference174 defined event kinds with their NIP and NIP-01 storage class.Nostr Standardized Tags ReferenceEvery core standardized tag (e/p/a/d, threading e-markers, q, k, t, r, content-warning, expiration, imeta...) with JSON structure and defining NIP -- the third leg of the NIP-01 data model.Nostr Relay Implementations23 open-source relay servers by language, storage backend and license.Nostr Clients Comparison19 client apps across iOS, Android, web and desktop by platform and key model.Nostr Relay Protocol (NIP-01)The 8 client<->relay wire messages (EVENT / REQ / CLOSE up, EVENT / OK / EOSE / CLOSED / NOTICE down), the REQ filter fields and the standardized OK / CLOSED prefixes.

Mining protocols

How miners and pools talk to each other.

Stratum Error-Code ReferenceWhy a miner rejects shares — V1 reject codes 20-25 and V2 error reasons, each with cause and fix.Stratum V1 / V2 Support MatrixWhich pools and firmware support Stratum V1, V2 and template negotiation.

Mesh networking

Off-grid, license-free radio protocols.

Meshtastic LoRa Modem PresetsThe 9 named radio presets (Short Turbo to Long Slow) by bandwidth, spreading factor and range.Mesh & Off-Grid Protocol ComparisonMeshtastic, Reticulum, LoRaWAN, Helium, goTenna, APRS, Briar and Bridgefy compared by topology, encryption, governance and token-vs-free.

Every reference here is also in the Open Data Hub (all 54 datasets) and the machine-readable DCAT catalog. Free to use and cite under CC BY 4.0.

Related products, repair, and setup paths

Last reviewed June 20, 2026.