Q:

Building a small block explorer for fun, stuck with node

Im trying to build a small btc block explorer for fun.
The problem where i am stuck is that im trying to setup a node.
I got a Ubuntu VPS running and i have bitcoind installed, but what now?
Can someone help me with this? I have read that you need to run the node in txindex mode or something.
Thanks in advance!

A:

You want to use the RPC Protocol to get blockchain info. RPC is usually disabled by default, so you need to enable it. You can do this in the bitcoin.conf file in .bitcoin folder where you've installed the daemon.  Alternatively, you can run the daemon with the -server flag, see  command line arguments. Now, you will also need to set RPC authentication in the conf file as well. The -txindex flag will allow you to search for any tx by hash using getrawtransaction command, which may be useful depending on how you utilizar the RPC protocol.
Example bitcoin.conf
The line to add is:
server=1

How to use:
RPC documentation

