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Run your own Bitcoin node with Umbrel

A node is your own copy of the Bitcoin rules and history. It checks every payment for you, so you stop trusting someone else's server. Umbrel makes it a home appliance you control from a web page.

Affiliate disclosure: SHATOSHI has applied for a paid affiliate relationship with Umbrel. If you use the Umbrel link on this page we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Everything here also works on hardware you already own. Read our full disclosure.

Why run a node?

• You check the rules yourself. Your node rejects fake coins, invalid blocks and anything that breaks the 21 million limit.
• Privacy. Without a node, your wallet asks someone else's server about your addresses, which can link them to your IP address.
• Independence. If a company's server goes down, your wallet still works.

A node does not hold your Bitcoin. Your keys stay on your hardware wallet. If the node dies, you lose nothing but sync time.

Hardware options

Storage: the full Bitcoin blockchain is about 780 GB (November 2026) and grows by roughly 75 to 100 GB a year, so use at least a 2 TB SSD. Hard drives with spinning disks make the first sync painfully slow. Memory: 8 GB or more is comfortable. Network: a wired Ethernet cable to your router is far more reliable than Wi-Fi.

Umbrel official site (link coming soon)

Install umbrelOS

1. Umbrel Home: plug it into power and your router. Skip to step 5.
2. Raspberry Pi or PC: download umbrelOS for your device from Umbrel's official site or GitHub. Check you are on the real domain.
3. Flash the image with a tool such as balenaEtcher or Raspberry Pi Imager. On a Pi, flash a microSD card for the system and attach the SSD by USB 3. On a PC, follow Umbrel's USB installer steps.
4. Connect the device to your router by cable and power it on. The first boot takes a few minutes.
5. On a computer on the same home network, open http://umbrel.local. If that fails, find the device's local IP address in your router's admin page and use that.
6. Create your account and a strong, unique password. Save it in a password manager.

Install Bitcoin and let it sync

1. Open the App Store in Umbrel and install Bitcoin Node (Bitcoin Core).
2. Leave it to run. The first sync, called initial block download, checks every block since 2009. Expect anywhere from a day to a week, depending mainly on your SSD and processor.
3. Keep it plugged in and on a cable. It is fine to pause; it resumes where it left off.
4. When the app shows 100%, your node is fully validating.

Tempted by pruning to save space? A pruned node keeps only recent blocks. It still checks everything, but most wallet servers, including Electrs and Fulcrum, need the full chain. For the wallet setup below, do not prune.

Connect your wallet

Most wallets talk to an Electrum server, which indexes your node so wallets can look up balances fast.

1. In the Umbrel App Store, install Electrs (lighter) or Fulcrum (faster lookups, more storage). Let it finish indexing, which can take several hours.
2. Open the app's page in Umbrel to see the connection details: a local address and port, and a Tor address.
3. Sparrow (recommended): Settings, Server, Private Electrum. Enter the local address and port, then Test Connection. Pair your Trezor, BitBox or Ledger in Sparrow as usual.
4. BitBoxApp and Trezor Suite both let you set a custom Electrum server in their settings, so their own apps can use your node too.
5. Away from home, use the Tor address with a Tor-enabled wallet rather than opening ports on your router.

Your hardware wallet still signs every transaction. The node only answers questions and broadcasts what you have already signed. Not sure which device to use? See Trezor vs BitBox vs Ledger.

Privacy and security

• Do not port-forward or expose Umbrel to the internet. Use Tor or a private network tool such as Tailscale for remote access.
• Turn on two-factor authentication for the Umbrel dashboard.
• Keep umbrelOS and your apps updated from inside the dashboard.
• Only install apps you need. Each app is more code running on your box.
• Your node is not a backup of your coins. Keep your recovery words safe and offline.
• Use a new receive address every time so your history is harder to link.
• Tell anyone who shares your home network that the box is not to be unplugged at random.

Lightning (optional)

Umbrel can run a Lightning node too. It is a step up in responsibility: funds in Lightning channels are hot, and you must keep channel backups. Get comfortable with the Bitcoin node first, then read Lightning basics.

Troubleshooting

Questions people ask

Not financial advice. General education only. Do your own research.