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Wallets

Wallets are the core of Vigil's monitoring system. This section covers everything you need to know about adding, managing, and understanding wallet configurations.

Wallet Types

Vigil supports multiple wallet types to accommodate different Bitcoin setups:

Type Best For Address Discovery
Extended Public Key Hardware wallets, HD software wallets Automatic derivation
Descriptor Multisig, complex scripts, Taproot Miniscript parsing
Static Addresses Simple monitoring, legacy setups Manual list
Caravan Import Collaborative custody JSON configuration

How Wallet Monitoring Works

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│  Your Wallet    │────▶│  Vigil Server   │────▶│  Bitcoin Node   │
│  (xpub/desc)    │     │  Derives addrs  │     │  Mempool scan   │
└─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘
                                │
                                ▼
                        ┌─────────────────┐
                        │  Alert System   │
                        │  Email/Nostr/WH │
                        └─────────────────┘
  1. Address Derivation - Vigil derives addresses from your public key or descriptor
  2. Mempool Monitoring - We continuously scan the Bitcoin mempool
  3. Detection - When a transaction involving your addresses is found, we detect it instantly
  4. Notification - Alerts are sent through your configured channels

Network Support

Vigil supports all major Bitcoin networks:

  • Mainnet - Production Bitcoin network
  • Testnet - For testing without real funds
  • Signet - For development and testing

The network is automatically detected from your wallet data (e.g., xpub = mainnet, tpub = testnet).

Learn more about networks →

Wallet Security

Non-Custodial Design

Vigil never has access to your private keys. We only use watch-only data:

  • Extended public keys (xpub/ypub/zpub)
  • Output descriptors (without private keys)
  • Individual addresses

Your private keys remain on your hardware wallet or signing device at all times.

In This Section

Next: Creating Wallets →