deriveaddresses

deriveaddresses is a Bitcoin Core JSON-RPC method that turns an output descriptor into the concrete BTC address (or addresses) it represents. A descriptor is a compact string that captures a key, a script type, and a derivation path, and this call expands it into the on-chain addresses that would receive funds — all without unlocking or touching any wallet. Because Bitcoin uses a UTXO model with no accounts, descriptors are the standard way to describe a family of receive scripts, and deriveaddresses is the read-side tool that resolves them. Send the request as a positional-parameter call to https://bitcoin.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY.

Use cases

• Derive the next BTC receive address from an xpub-based descriptor such as wpkh([fingerprint/84h/0h/0h]xpub.../0/*).
• Expand a ranged descriptor (one containing a *) into a batch of addresses over a [begin, end] index range so you can watch them all for incoming payments.
• Generate addresses from a descriptor as a pure read operation, without creating, loading, or holding any wallet or private key on the node.

Parameters

Response

Example request

1curl https://bitcoin.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY \
2  -X POST \
3  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
4  -d '{
5  "jsonrpc": "1.0",
6  "id": "therpc",
7  "method": "deriveaddresses",
8  "params": [
9    "wpkh([d34db33f/84h/0h/0h]xpub.../0/*)#checksum",
10    ""
11  ]
12}'

Errors & troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

• The descriptor must include a valid checksum (the #xxxxxxxx suffix). If you assembled the descriptor by hand, run it through getdescriptorinfo first to obtain the correct checksum, otherwise the call fails with an invalid-parameter error.
• A ranged descriptor (one that contains a *) requires the range parameter — pass a single index or a [begin, end] pair. Omitting range on a ranged descriptor, or passing range for a fixed descriptor, is rejected.

Supported networks

• Mainnet
• Testnet

See also

• validateaddress
• decodescript