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Quickstart

Get up and running with Bark in just a few minutes. This guide will walk you through creating a wallet, boarding funds, and making your first Ark payment on signet.
Use signet for testing. Do not use mainnet—Bark is experimental software.

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Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:
  • Bark CLI installed (see Installation)
  • Basic familiarity with Bitcoin and command-line tools

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Step 1: Create your wallet

Create a new Ark wallet on signet:
1

Create a new wallet

bark --signet create
This will generate a new mnemonic seed phrase and create a wallet.
2

Save your mnemonic

Write down your mnemonic seed phrase! This is the only way to recover your funds. Store it securely and never share it.
The mnemonic is displayed once during wallet creation. Make sure you save it somewhere safe.
3

Verify wallet creation

Check your wallet balance:
bark --signet balance
Output:
Ark balance: 0 sats
On-chain balance: 0 sats

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Step 2: Get some signet bitcoin

You’ll need some signet bitcoin to board funds into Ark.
1

Generate an on-chain address

bark --signet onchain address
This displays a Bitcoin signet address where you can receive funds.
2

Get signet coins from a faucet

Visit the Second signet faucet and paste your address to receive test bitcoin.
Alternatively, use any signet faucet like bitcoin-signet.dev.
3

Wait for confirmation

Check your on-chain balance:
bark --signet onchain balance
Wait until the transaction confirms (usually 1-2 minutes on signet).

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Step 3: Board funds to Ark

Move your on-chain bitcoin into Ark to enable instant, low-cost payments.
1

Board all funds

bark --signet board-all
This creates a board transaction that moves your on-chain balance into Ark.
2

Wait for the next round

Boarding requires waiting for the next Ark round. Check the status:
bark --signet history
You’ll see a pending board transaction. Rounds typically occur every 5 minutes on signet.
3

Verify your Ark balance

Once the round completes:
bark --signet balance
Output:
Ark balance: 100000 sats
On-chain balance: 0 sats
Your funds are now in Ark and ready for instant payments!

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Step 4: Make your first payment

Now send an instant Ark payment to another address.
1

Get a recipient address

For testing, create a second wallet or use a friend’s Ark address. Or try the Second test store.To generate your own address:
bark --signet address
2

Send an Ark payment

Send 10,000 sats to an Ark address:
bark --signet send <ark_address> 10000
The payment is instant—no waiting for confirmations!
3

Check transaction history

View your payment history:
bark --signet history
You’ll see your sent payment along with the boarding transaction.

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Step 5: Receive a payment

1

Generate a receiving address

bark --signet address
Share this address with someone who wants to send you Ark payments.
2

Sync to receive

After someone sends you payment, sync your wallet:
bark --signet sync
This checks the mailbox for incoming payments.
3

Check your balance

bark --signet balance
Your Ark balance will reflect the received payment.

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What you can do next

Now that you have a working Ark wallet, explore more features:

Pay Lightning invoices

bark --signet pay <bolt11_invoice>
Pay any Lightning invoice directly from your Ark balance.

Send to on-chain addresses

bark --signet send <btc_address> <amount>
Send to regular Bitcoin addresses (offboard).

Create Lightning invoices

bark --signet lightning invoice 5000
Receive Lightning payments into your Ark balance.

Exit to on-chain

bark --signet exit start
Unilaterally exit your funds to on-chain Bitcoin.

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Using the REST API (barkd)

For programmatic access, use the barkd daemon:
1

Start barkd

barkd --signet --port 3000
2

Make API requests

# Check balance
curl http://localhost:3000/api/v1/wallet/balance

# Send payment
curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/v1/wallet/send \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"address": "<ark_address>", "amount": 10000}'
See the REST API documentation for all available endpoints.

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Configuration

You can configure your wallet with a config.toml file: 
# ~/.bark/signet/config.toml
server_address = "https://ark.signet.2nd.dev"
esplora_address = "https://esplora.signet.2nd.dev"
See Configuration for all available options.

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Next steps

Core concepts

Learn how Ark works under the hood

CLI reference

Explore all bark CLI commands

Wallet integration

Integrate Bark into your application

Run a server

Set up your own captaind server

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Troubleshooting

Try manually syncing:
bark --signet sync
Make sure you’re connected to the internet and the server is reachable.
Check if you need to wait for the next round:
bark --signet history
Rounds occur every 5 minutes. If it’s been longer, check server status.
Check both balances:
bark --signet balance
bark --signet onchain balance
Make sure you’ve boarded funds to Ark before trying to send Ark payments.
For more help, visit the community forum or check the FAQ.

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