Crate brk_reader 

brk_reader

Streams Bitcoin blocks from Bitcoin Core’s raw blk*.dat files in chain order.

Requirements

A running Bitcoin Core node with RPC access. The reader needs:

• The blocks/ directory (for blk*.dat files)
• RPC connection (to resolve block heights and filter orphan blocks)

Quick Start

let bitcoin_dir = Client::default_bitcoin_path();
let client = Client::new(
    Client::default_url(),
    Auth::CookieFile(bitcoin_dir.join(".cookie")),
)?;
let reader = Reader::new(bitcoin_dir.join("blocks"), &client);

// Stream the entire chain
for block in reader.read(None, None) {
    println!("{}: {}", block.height(), block.hash());
}

// Or a specific range (inclusive)
for block in reader.read(Some(Height::new(800_000)), Some(Height::new(850_000))) {
    // ...
}

What You Get

Each ReadBlock gives you access to:

Field	Description
block.height()	Block height
block.hash()	Block hash
block.header	Block header (timestamp, nonce, difficulty, …)
block.txdata	All transactions
block.coinbase_tag()	Miner’s coinbase tag
block.metadata()	Position in the blk file
block.tx_metadata()	Per-transaction blk file positions

Reader is thread-safe and cheap to clone (Arc-backed).

How It Works

Three-thread pipeline connected by bounded channels:

blk*.dat ──► File Reader ──► Parser Pool ──► Orderer ──► Receiver<ReadBlock>
              1 thread        up to 4         1 thread

1. File reader binary-searches to the starting blk file, scans for magic bytes, segments raw blocks
2. Parser pool XOR-decodes and deserializes blocks in parallel, skips out-of-range blocks via header timestamp, filters orphans via RPC
3. Orderer buffers out-of-order arrivals, validates prev_blockhash continuity, emits blocks sequentially

Structs

Reader

Bitcoin BLK file reader

ReaderInner

Receiver

The receiving side of a channel.

XORBytes

XORIndex

Constants

XOR_LEN