user61573: I want to try and compile and run bitcoin-cli locally. Do I need to download the entire blockchain first?

user13866: You can use Bitcoin-CLI with only a partial copy of the blockchain. Obviously it will be limited in what it can do.

user121614: For testing, you can run your node on testnet or signet which have much smaller blockchains, or run on regtest where there is no blockchain to download. If you need to run on mainnet but don't want to download the blockchain, you can disable all connections on your node. Of course, most CLI commands will be useless that way.

61573: <p>I want to try and compile and run bitcoin-cli locally. Do I need to download the entire blockchain first?</p>
 13866: <p>You can use Bitcoin-CLI with only a partial copy of the blockchain. Obviously it will be limited in what it can do.</p>
 121614: <p>For testing, you can run your node on testnet or signet which have much smaller blockchains, or run on regtest where there is no blockchain to download. If you need to run on mainnet but don't want to download the blockchain, you can disable all connections on your node. Of course, most CLI commands will be useless that way.</p>
