gettxoutproof

gettxoutproof builds a hex-encoded Merkle proof showing that one or more given txids were included in a specific Bitcoin block. The proof is the small set of hashes a verifier needs to reconstruct the block's Merkle root from the listed transactions, which is how a light client confirms a BTC payment was actually mined without downloading the whole block. Pass the array of txids — and, on a node without -txindex, the block hash to look in — to https://bitcoin.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY. Hand the result to verifytxoutproof to check it.

Use cases

• Produce an SPV-style inclusion proof for a transaction without shipping the full block.
• Give a counterparty compact evidence that a BTC payment was mined into a particular block.
• Pair it with verifytxoutproof so the recipient can confirm inclusion in a trust-minimised way.

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": "gettxoutproof",
8  "params": [
9    [
10      "4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b"
11    ],
12    "000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f"
13  ]
14}'

Errors & troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

• On a node without -txindex you must pass the block hash, otherwise the node cannot locate the transaction and returns error -5.
• Every txid in the array must belong to the same block — you cannot prove transactions from different blocks in one proof.

Supported networks

• Mainnet
• Testnet

See also

• verifytxoutproof
• getrawtransaction
• gettxout