Running Your Own Mostro Node

Mostro v0.16.3 — Community Guide · February 2026

1. What is Mostro and Why Should Your Community Run One?

Mostro is a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange that lets people buy and sell Bitcoin using local currencies (dollars, euros, pesos — any currency) without needing to provide identity documents (KYC). Think of it as a decentralized marketplace where buyers and sellers can trade directly.

It works using two technologies:

• Lightning Network — a fast, low-cost Bitcoin payment layer (think of it as Bitcoin's express lane for small, quick payments)
• Nostr — a censorship-resistant communication protocol (think of it as a messaging system that nobody can shut down)

Mostro acts as an escrow coordinator — it holds the seller's Bitcoin in a temporary "lock box" (called a hold invoice) until the buyer confirms they've sent the local currency payment. Mostro never actually controls anyone's funds; it just holds them briefly during the trade.

Why Would Your Community Want to Run a Mostro Node?

• Fee Income — Every trade earns you a fee (default 0.6%). If your community does $10,000 in monthly trades, that's ~$60/month in fees.
• P2P Trading Without KYC — Your community members can buy and sell Bitcoin without providing identity documents.
• Disputes in Your Language — When a trade goes wrong, your community resolves it, in your language.
• Independence — No company can shut down your exchange. No government can pressure a single operator to close it.
• Customization — You choose which currencies to support, what payment methods to allow, and what fees to charge.

How Mostro Works (Simplified)

1. Alice wants to SELL Bitcoin for $50 USD → She creates an order on Mostro
2. Bob wants to BUY Bitcoin with $50 USD → He sees Alice's order and takes it
3. Mostro creates a "lock box" (hold invoice) → Alice sends her Bitcoin into the lock box
4. Bob sends $50 to Alice via bank transfer, Zelle, cash, etc. → Bob clicks "Fiat Sent"
5. Alice confirms she received the $50 → She clicks "Release"
6. Mostro releases the Bitcoin from the lock box to Bob → Trade complete! ✓

If something goes wrong, either party can open a dispute, and your community's assigned arbiters investigate and resolve it.

2. Prerequisites — What You Need Before Starting

2.1 A Server (VPS)

A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a computer in a data center that runs 24/7. You'll rent one to host your Mostro node.

Estimated monthly cost: $10–$24/month.

Popular VPS providers:

• Hostinger — from ~$7/month · Accepts Bitcoin
• Hetzner — €3.49-8/month (good value, EU-based)
• Digital Ocean — $24/month
• Lunanode — Accepts Bitcoin payments

2.2 A Lightning Network Node (LND)

To run Mostro, you need an LND node (Lightning Network Daemon) — the specific Lightning software that Mostro works with.

What you need from your LND node:

• The tls.cert file (a security certificate)
• The admin.macaroon file (an authentication token)
• The gRPC address (typically https://127.0.0.1:10009)

2.3 Lightning Liquidity

To facilitate trades, your Lightning node needs channels with Bitcoin in them.

2.4 Nostr Keys

Your Mostro node needs its own identity on the Nostr network.

Generating secure Nostr keys locally with rana:

# Install Rust (if not already installed)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source ~/.cargo/env

# Install rana - local Nostr key generator
cargo install rana

# Generate a new key pair
rana

3. Step-by-Step Setup

All installation options share the same first steps. Then choose your preferred option:

• Option A (Docker Hub): Fastest. No compiling, no cloning. Recommended for most.
• Option B (Docker Build): Build the image locally from the repository.
• Option C (Native Build): More control, better for experienced sysadmins.

Common Steps (for all 3 options)

Step 1: Connect to your VPS

ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP_ADDRESS

Step 2: Update the system

# Download the latest package information
apt update

# Install all available updates
apt upgrade -y

Step 3: Install Docker and Docker Compose

# Install Docker using the official convenience script
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh

# Verify Docker is installed
docker --version

# Verify Docker Compose
docker compose version

Step 4: Install additional tools

apt install -y git make

✅ Common steps completed. Now choose your installation option:

Option A: Docker Hub (Fastest — Recommended)

Run Mostro directly from Docker Hub without cloning the repository or compiling.

Step 5: Create configuration directory

mkdir -p ~/mostro-config/lnd

Step 6: Get the configuration template

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MostroP2P/mostro/v0.16.3/settings.tpl.toml \
  -o ~/mostro-config/settings.toml

Step 7: Copy LND credentials

cp /path/to/your/tls.cert ~/mostro-config/lnd/tls.cert
cp /path/to/your/admin.macaroon ~/mostro-config/lnd/admin.macaroon

Step 8: Edit the configuration

nano ~/mostro-config/settings.toml

Required changes:

[lightning]
lnd_cert_file = '/config/lnd/tls.cert'
lnd_macaroon_file = '/config/lnd/admin.macaroon'
lnd_grpc_host = 'https://host.docker.internal:10009'

[database]
url = "sqlite:///config/mostro.db"

[nostr]
nsec_privkey = 'YOUR_NSEC_KEY_HERE'
relays = ['wss://relay.mostro.network', 'wss://nos.lol']

[mostro]
fee = 0.006
max_order_amount = 1000000
min_payment_amount = 100
fiat_currencies_accepted = ['USD', 'EUR']

Step 9: Fix permissions

sudo chown -R 1000:1000 ~/mostro-config
chmod 700 ~/mostro-config
chmod 600 ~/mostro-config/settings.toml
chmod 600 ~/mostro-config/lnd/admin.macaroon

Step 10: Run the container

If LND is on the same VPS:

docker run -d --name mostro \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  --add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway \
  -v ~/mostro-config:/config \
  mostrop2p/mostro:v0.16.3

If LND is on a different server:

docker run -d --name mostro \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -v ~/mostro-config:/config \
  mostrop2p/mostro:v0.16.3

Step 11: Check the logs

docker logs -f mostro

Look for these messages:

• Settings correctly loaded — Configuration is valid
• Connected to LND — Lightning connection successful
• Connected to relay — Nostr relay established

🎉 Congratulations! If you see successful connections in the logs, your Mostro node is running!

Updating (Docker Hub)

export MOSTRO_TAG=v0.16.3
docker pull mostrop2p/mostro:$MOSTRO_TAG
docker stop mostro
docker rm mostro
docker run -d --name mostro \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  --add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway \
  -v ~/mostro-config:/config \
  mostrop2p/mostro:$MOSTRO_TAG

Option B: Docker Build (Build image locally)

Step 5: Download Mostro

cd /opt
git clone https://github.com/MostroP2P/mostro.git
cd mostro

Step 6: Set up configuration files

cd docker
mkdir -p config
cp ../settings.tpl.toml config/settings.toml

Step 7: Edit the configuration file

nano config/settings.toml

Edit the same settings as Option A, Step 8.

Step 8: Build the Docker image

cd ..
LND_CERT_FILE=/root/.lnd/tls.cert \
LND_MACAROON_FILE=/root/.lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/admin.macaroon \
make docker-build

Step 9: Set Database Password (Optional)

# Create docker/.env file
echo "MOSTRO_DB_PASSWORD='YourStrongPassword'" > docker/.env

Step 10: Start Mostro

make docker-up

# Check if running
docker compose -f compose.yml ps

# View logs
docker compose -f compose.yml logs -f mostro

🎉 Congratulations! If you see successful connections, your Mostro node is running!

Option C: Native Build (For Technical Operators)

Step 5: Install Rust

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source /root/.cargo/env
rustc --version
cargo --version

Step 6: Install build dependencies

apt install -y cmake build-essential libsqlite3-dev libssl-dev \
  pkg-config git sqlite3 protobuf-compiler

Step 7: Download and compile Mostro

cd /opt
git clone https://github.com/MostroP2P/mostro.git
cd mostro
cargo build --release

fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
swapon /swapfile

Step 8–10: Install, initialize, and clean

install target/release/mostrod /usr/local/bin
cargo install sqlx-cli --version 0.6.2
./init_db.sh
cargo clean  # Saves 2+ GB

Step 11–12: Create user and configure

adduser --disabled-login mostro
mkdir -p /opt/mostro
cp settings.tpl.toml /opt/mostro/settings.toml
nano /opt/mostro/settings.toml

Edit the same settings as Option A, Step 8.

Step 13–15: Test, permissions, and systemd service

# Test run
/usr/local/bin/mostrod -d /opt/mostro

# Set permissions
chown -R mostro:mostro /opt/mostro

Create the systemd service:

# /etc/systemd/system/mostro.service
[Unit]
Description=Mostro daemon
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=mostro
WorkingDirectory=/home/mostro
Environment=RUST_LOG=info
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/mostrod -d /opt/mostro
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable mostro.service
systemctl start mostro.service
systemctl status mostro.service

🎉 Congratulations! Your Mostro node is running as a system service!

4. Configuration In Depth

4.1 Fees — How You Earn Revenue

[mostro]
fee = 0.006
dev_fee_percentage = 0.30

Trading fee (fee): Percentage charged per trade, split between buyer and seller.

• 0.006 = 0.6% (each party pays 0.3%)
• 0.01 = 1.0% (each party pays 0.5%)
• 0 = free (good for growing your user base)

Development fee (dev_fee_percentage): A percentage of your fee earnings that goes to Mostro development.

• 0.30 = 30% (default) — out of 600 sats, 180 go to dev fund
• Minimum: 10%, Maximum: 100%
• All payments publicly auditable via Nostr events (kind 8383)

4.2 Order Limits and Currencies

[mostro]
max_order_amount = 1000000
min_payment_amount = 100
fiat_currencies_accepted = ['USD', 'EUR', 'ARS', 'CUP']

4.3 Node Profile (Optional but Recommended)

[mostro]
name = "LatAm Mostro"
about = "P2P Bitcoin exchange for Latin America. Spanish support."
picture = "https://example.com/your-logo.png"
website = "https://your-community-site.com"

4.4 Timing and Expiration

[mostro]
expiration_hours = 24        # How long an order stays open
expiration_seconds = 900     # Time for taker to complete (15 min)
hold_invoice_expiration_window = 300  # Hold invoice validity (5 min)

4.5 Anti-Spam

[mostro]
pow = 0  # 0 = disabled; 10-20 = moderate. Start with 0.

5. Operating Your Mostro Node

5.1 How Disputes Work

Disputes are your most important operational responsibility.

When do disputes happen?

• Buyer claims they sent payment, seller says they didn't receive it
• Seller refuses to release Bitcoin after receiving payment
• Either party becomes unresponsive

The dispute process:

1. User opens a dispute — Either party clicks "Dispute" in their client
2. Mostro flags the order — Status changes to "Dispute", funds remain locked
3. Arbiter takes the case — An admin assigned to your node investigates
4. Investigation — Communicates with both parties, requests evidence
5. Resolution — Arbiter decides: settle to buyer, or refund to seller

5.2 Mostrix — Your Admin Tool

Mostrix is a terminal-based (TUI) client for dispute resolution. If you run a Mostro node, you need Mostrix.

# Install dependencies
sudo apt install -y cmake build-essential pkg-config

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/MostroP2P/mostrix.git
cd mostrix
cargo build --release
cargo run

Configure Mostrix for admin mode in ~/.mostrix/settings.toml:

mostro_pubkey = "YOUR_MOSTRO_PUBKEY_HEX"
nsec_privkey = "nsec1your_personal_key"
admin_privkey = "nsec1your_admin_key"
relays = ["wss://relay.mostro.network", "wss://nos.lol"]
currencies = ["USD", "EUR", "ARS"]
user_mode = "admin"

5.3 mostro-watchdog — Dispute Notifications

mostro-watchdog monitors your Mostro node for disputes and sends instant alerts to Telegram. Essential for fast response times.

git clone https://github.com/MostroP2P/mostro-watchdog.git
cd mostro-watchdog
cargo build --release
cp config.example.toml config.toml
nano config.toml

[mostro]
pubkey = "YOUR_MOSTRO_PUBKEY"

[nostr]
relays = ["wss://relay.mostro.network", "wss://nos.lol"]

[telegram]
bot_token = "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
chat_id = "YOUR_CHAT_ID"

./target/release/mostro-watchdog

🎉 You're all set! Welcome to the Mostro network.