I patched together a fun application tool that serves as an educational tool for users and newcomers to understand some of the mechanics behind a bitcoin transaction. These days, bitcoin transactions are sent via a simple click of a ‘send’ button in a wallet software app. To “build” one’s own transaction, one can go a layer down from merely clicking a “send” button.
Access the Build It Yourself Bitcoin Transaction application below:https://build-it-yourself-bitcoin.herokuapp.com/*If you are viewing the application on a small screen, it is suggested to zoom out in the browser for better viewing experience. This responsive design is part of the future improvement considerations listed below.
The application guides a user through some simple steps on building and broadcasting out a transaction.
It’s meant to be educational, informative, simple, and fun.Some notes to point out before starting:1.A proper security audit has not been ran on this application, therefore it is highly advised you use a private/public key pair that you do not intend to use in the future.
2.Due to the above’s recommendation for a private/public key one-time-use, this application will only accept 1 TXIN and 1 TXOUT output transaction. In other words, 1 UTXO in and 1 UTXO out. No change address option is provided.
3.This will only support P2PKH and P2WPKH transactions.
4.If you would like to create some private/public key pairs to use during the process, you can create your own at
www.rawbitcoinkeys.com (this is another educational tool that teaches how a basic legacy (P2PKH) bitcoin address is made from a private key).
If you would like to improve this tool, feel free to add a pull request to the repository here:https://github.com/jiamijiang/build-it-yourself-bitcoinTo view some screenshots of the application, check out this link below:https://medium.com/tuoyuanresearch/build-your-own-bitcoin-transaction-8eb6f0117d2aHopefully this application can help you learn some of the nuts and bolts behind a bitcoin transaction. Because you never know, one of these days, you might need to send out bitcoin transactions the raw way.