Pre-filtered Blocks

For environments that are resource constrained, receiving and processing all transaction data may not be feasible. LDK handles this case by signaling back which transactions and outputs it is interested in. This information can then be used to filter blocks prior to sending them to your node.

For example, if your block source is an Electrum client, you can pass along this information to it. Or, if you are making use of a BIP 157 client, you can check if a block contains relevant transactions before fetching it.

So how does this work in practice? ChainMonitor is parameterized by an optional type that implements chain::Filter:

• Rust
• Java

impl chain::Filter for Blockchain {
	fn register_tx(&self, txid: &Txid, script_pubkey: &Script) {
		// <insert code for you to watch for this transaction on-chain>
	}

	fn register_output(&self, output: WatchedOutput) -> Option<(usize, Transaction)> {
		// <insert code for you to watch for any transactions that spend this
		// output on-chain>
		// If you are fetching pre-filtered blocks, and do not fetch in-block
		// descendants of transactions, return any in-block spend of the given
		// output.
		// Otherwise return None.
	}
}

Filter tx_filter = Filter.new_impl(new Filter.FilterInterface() {
	@Override
	public void register_tx(byte[] txid, byte[] script_pubkey) {
		// <insert code for you to watch for this transaction on-chain>
	}

	@Override
	Option_C2Tuple_usizeTransactionZZ register_output(WatchedOutput output) {
		// <insert code for you to watch for any transactions that spend this
		// output on-chain>
		// If you are fetching pre-filtered blocks, and do not fetch in-block
		// descendants of transactions, return any in-block spend of the given
		// output.
		// Otherwise return Option_C2Tuple_usizeTransactionZZ.none().
	}
});

When this is provided, ChainMonitor will call back to the filter as channels are opened and blocks connected. This gives the opportunity for the source to pre-filter blocks as desired.

Regardless, when a block is connected, its header must be processed by LDK.