The bark CLI is a self-custodial wallet for making fast, low-cost payments on Ark. It supports boarding funds, sending to Ark addresses, Lightning invoices, and on-chain addresses.
Installation See the Installation guide for installation instructions.
Global Options These options are available for all commands:
Option Description --datadir <PATH>The datadir of the bark wallet (default: ~/.bark) -v, --verboseEnable verbose logging -q, --quietDisable all terminal logging --helpPrint help information --versionPrint version information
Creating a Wallet Create New Wallet Create a new bark wallet with configuration:
Signet (default backend)
Mainnet
Regtest
With bitcoind cookie
bark create --signet --ark https://ark.signet.2nd.dev
Options
--mainnet - Use bitcoin mainnet--signet - Use the official signet network--regtest - Use regtest network--mutinynet - Use mutinynet--force - Force re-create the wallet (any funds will be lost)--ark <URL> - The address of your Ark server--esplora <URL> - The address of the Esplora HTTP server--bitcoind <URL> - The address of the bitcoind RPC server--bitcoind-cookie <PATH> - Path to the bitcoind RPC cookie file--bitcoind-user <USER> - The bitcoind RPC username--bitcoind-pass <PASS> - The bitcoind RPC password--mnemonic <WORDS> - Recover a wallet with an existing mnemonic--birthday-height <HEIGHT> - The wallet’s birthday blockheight (required with —mnemonic and —bitcoind)
Recover Wallet from Mnemonic Recover an existing wallet using your 12-word mnemonic:
bark create --signet \ --ark https://ark.signet.2nd.dev \ --esplora https://esplora.signet.2nd.dev \ --mnemonic "word1 word2 word3 ... word12"
Recovering from mnemonic currently only supports recovering on-chain funds. Off-chain VTXOs cannot be recovered.
View Configuration Print the configuration of your bark wallet:
Example output:
{ "server_address" : "https://ark.signet.2nd.dev" , "esplora_address" : "https://esplora.signet.2nd.dev/" , "bitcoind_address" : null , "bitcoind_cookiefile" : null , "bitcoind_user" : null , "bitcoind_pass" : null , "vtxo_refresh_expiry_threshold" : 12 , "vtxo_exit_margin" : 12 , "htlc_recv_claim_delta" : 18 , "fallback_fee_rate" : "0.25 sat/vB" , "round_tx_required_confirmations" : 1 }
Ark Server Info Print information about the connected Ark server:
Get Address Get an Ark address to receive VTXOs:
Get a specific address by index:
Check Balance Get the wallet balance:
Example output:
{ "offchain" : "250000 sats" , "onchain" : "100000 sats" , "total" : "350000 sats" }
Skip syncing before checking balance:
List VTXOs List the wallet’s VTXOs (Virtual Transaction Outputs):
List all VTXOs regardless of their state:
Skip syncing:
Transaction History List the wallet’s payment history:
Alias:
Boarding & Offboarding Board Funds Board from the on-chain wallet into the Ark:
Specific amount
All funds
Skip sync
Example output:
{ "txid" : "a1b2c3..." , "amount" : "100000 sats" , "status" : "pending" }
Offboard Funds Turn VTXOs into UTXOs (on-chain funds):
All VTXOs
Specific VTXOs
To specific address
Sending Payments Send to Ark Address Send an Ark payment to another Ark address:
bark send ark1q... 50000sat
Send to Lightning Invoice Pay a BOLT11 Lightning invoice:
With amount in invoice
Override amount
Wait for completion
Send to Lightning Address Pay a Lightning address ([email protected]
With comment:
Send to BOLT12 Offer Pay a BOLT12 offer:
bark send lno1... 30000sat
Send On-Chain Send from your VTXOs to an on-chain address (requires waiting for a round):
bark send-onchain bc1q... 100000sat
Skip sync:
bark send-onchain bc1q... 100000sat --no-sync
Refresh VTXOs Refresh expiring VTXOs to extend their lifetime:
Default threshold
Custom block threshold
Custom time threshold
Refresh all
Specific VTXOs
Delegated mode
Counterparty VTXOs
On-Chain Wallet The built-in on-chain wallet manages bitcoin UTXOs:
On-Chain Balance Get On-Chain Address Send On-Chain bark onchain send bc1q... 50000sat
Send to Multiple Addresses bark onchain send-many \ --destination bc1pfq...:10000sat \ --destination bc1pke...:20000sat
Immediate send (skip confirmation):
bark onchain send-many \ --destination bc1p...:10000sat \ --immediate
Drain Wallet Send all on-chain funds to an address:
bark onchain drain bc1q...
List UTXOs List Transactions bark onchain transactions
Lightning Commands Manage Lightning payments:
Pay Invoice BOLT11 invoice
BOLT12 offer
Lightning address
With comment
Wait for settlement
bark lightning pay lnbc1...
Alias:
Create Invoice Create a BOLT11 invoice:
bark lightning invoice 50000sat
Wait for payment:
bark lightning invoice 50000sat --wait
With authentication token:
bark lightning invoice 50000sat --token auth_token_here
Check Invoice Status By payment hash
By invoice
By preimage
bark lightning status payment_hash_here
List Invoices List all generated invoices:
Claim Payment Claim the receipt of a Lightning payment:
Specific invoice
By payment hash
All pending
Wait for completion
With token
bark lightning claim lnbc1...
Exit Commands Perform unilateral exits from the Ark:
Start Exit Exit all VTXOs
Exit specific VTXOs
Progress Exit Progress the exit until it completes:
Wait until completion:
bark exit progress --wait
With custom fee rate (in sat/kvB):
bark exit progress --fee-rate 5000
Exit Status Check the status of an exit:
With detailed history:
bark exit status vtxo_id --history
With transactions:
bark exit status vtxo_id --transactions
List Exits List all exits (in-progress, completed, and failed):
With history and transactions:
bark exit list --history --transactions
Claim Exited VTXOs Claim exited VTXOs to an on-chain address:
Claim all
Claim specific VTXOs
bark exit claim bc1q... --all
Round Management Manage Ark rounds:
Cancel Round Cancel specific round
Cancel all rounds
bark round cancel --round 123
Progress Rounds Keep progressing until finished:
bark round progress --continue
Maintenance Run wallet maintenance tasks:
This includes:
On-chain sync
Off-chain sync
Registering boards with the server
Syncing Lightning VTXOs
Syncing exits
Refreshing soon-to-expire VTXOs
Delegated mode:
bark maintain --delegated
Environment Variables All global options can be set via environment variables:
Variable Description BARK_DATADIRSet the datadir path BARK_VERBOSEEnable verbose logging BARK_QUIETDisable all terminal logging
Example:
export BARK_DATADIR = "/custom/path" export BARK_VERBOSE = 1 bark balance
All commands output JSON by default for easy parsing and automation:
bark balance | jq '.total'
Logging Debug logs are stored in $DATADIR/debug.log.
Enable verbose logging:
Disable all output: