Elements code tutorial
Installing Elements
To run this tutorial, you will need to have the elements executables installed locally.
Elements can be installed from packages, or built and run locally from the source code.
Signed elements packages are published with each release on Github.
For this tutorial, you will need to download the latest .tar.gz or .zip file for your platform.
You should also download the SHA256SUMS.asc file, in order to verify the integrity of the package.
The file extensions for each platform are as follows:
| Platform | Package Extension |
|---|---|
| Linux 64-bit on Intel or AMD | -x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz |
| macOS (Intel and Apple Silion) | -osx-64.tar.gz |
| Windows 64-bit | -win64.zip |
| 64-bit Raspberry Pi and 64 bit ARM Linux | -aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.gz |
Note that if you are following this tutorial on a Windows computer, you will need to have a version of bash for Windows.
Once you have downloaded the package and the SHA256SUMS.asc file, verify the package hash. For example, on Linux:
$ sha256sum --ignore-missing --check SHA256SUMS.asc
elements-elements-0.21.0.2-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz: OK
sha256sum: WARNING: 19 lines are improperly formatted
You can verify the gpg signature of the hashes as follows:
$ gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys BD0F3062F87842410B06A0432F656B0610604482
gpg: key 2F656B0610604482: public key "Pablo Greco <pgreco@blockstream.com>" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: imported: 1
$ gpg --verify SHA256SUMS.asc
gpg: Signature made Mon 13 Apr 2026 06:06:31 PM CEST
gpg: using RSA key BD0F3062F87842410B06A0432F656B0610604482
gpg: Good signature from "Pablo Greco <pgreco@blockstream.com>" [unknown]
gpg: aka "Pablo Greco <psgreco@gmail.com>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg: There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: BD0F 3062 F878 4241 0B06 A043 2F65 6B06 1060 4482
Extract the archive, and copy the elementsd, elements-cli, and elements-qt executables to /usr/local/bin.
Check that you can run the packages, using the -version option:
$ elementsd -version
Elements Core version elements-0.21.0.2
...
$ elements-cli -version
Elements Core RPC client version elements-0.21.0.2
You are now ready to proceed with the tutorial.