doc: improvements to doc/descriptors.md #33986

pull sipa wants to merge 5 commits into bitcoin:master from sipa:202511_list_musig changing 1 files +35 −54
  1. sipa commented at 4:25 pm on December 1, 2025: member

    This brings doc/descriptors.md up to date:

    • Stop trying to exhaustively list all RPCs that involve descriptors. They’re used everywhere.
    • Stop trying to give the history of descriptor support, we have release notes for that.
    • Mention that wallets are now built around descriptors (especially with legacy wallets gone).
    • Mention musig() KEY expressions in the specification part.
    • Mention the miniscript expressions in the specification part.
    • Reference the relevant output descriptor BIPs in the text.
  2. DrahtBot added the label Docs on Dec 1, 2025
  3. DrahtBot commented at 4:25 pm on December 1, 2025: contributor

    The following sections might be updated with supplementary metadata relevant to reviewers and maintainers.

    Code Coverage & Benchmarks

    For details see: https://corecheck.dev/bitcoin/bitcoin/pulls/33986.

    Reviews

    See the guideline for information on the review process.

    Type Reviewers
    ACK achow101
    Concept ACK glozow, Sjors
    Stale ACK w0xlt, rkrux

    If your review is incorrectly listed, please copy-paste <!–meta-tag:bot-skip–> into the comment that the bot should ignore.

    Conflicts

    No conflicts as of last run.

    LLM Linter (✨ experimental)

    Possible typos and grammar issues:

    • “it does not affect the actual” -> “it does not affect the actual keys.” [Sentence fragment; currently incomplete and stops mid-thought, making the sentence unintelligible — needs a noun to complete the idea.]

    2026-02-28 15:45:56

  4. fanquake commented at 10:26 am on December 2, 2025: member
    cc @Sjors
  5. rkrux approved
  6. rkrux commented at 9:23 am on December 3, 2025: contributor
    lgtm ACK fc33626f66e7f93f39989fbbabfbf00222762071
  7. in doc/descriptors.md:82 in fc33626f66
    78@@ -79,18 +79,18 @@ Descriptors consist of several types of expressions. The top level expression is
    79 - Followed by the actual key, which is either:
    80   - Hex encoded public keys (either 66 characters starting with `02` or `03` for a compressed pubkey, or 130 characters starting with `04` for an uncompressed pubkey).
    81     - Inside `wpkh` and `wsh`, only compressed public keys are permitted.
    82-    - Inside `tr` and `rawtr`, x-only pubkeys are also permitted (64 hex characters).
    83+    - Inside [`tr`](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0387.mediawiki) and `rawtr`, x-only pubkeys are also permitted (64 hex characters).
    


    glozow commented at 4:44 pm on December 9, 2025:

    sipa commented at 1:52 pm on December 11, 2025:
    Fixed.
  8. glozow commented at 4:44 pm on December 9, 2025: member
    concept ACK fc33626f66e7f93f39989fbbabfbf00222762071
  9. Sjors commented at 4:53 pm on December 9, 2025: member

    Concept ACK

    I prefer to display the BIP numbers rather than “hide” them behind links.

    e.g.

    0Pay-to-witness-pubkey-hash scripts (P2WPKH, [BIP-141](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0141.mediawiki))
    
  10. sipa force-pushed on Dec 10, 2025
  11. sipa force-pushed on Dec 10, 2025
  12. DrahtBot added the label CI failed on Dec 10, 2025
  13. in doc/descriptors.md:63 in f0bae46213
    72+- `sh(SCRIPT)` (top level only): P2SH embed the argument, defined in [BIP 381](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0381.mediawiki).
    73+- `wsh(SCRIPT)` (top level or inside `sh` only): P2WSH embed the argument, defined in [BIP 382](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0382.mediawiki).
    74+- `pk(KEY)` (anywhere): P2PK output for the given public key, defined in [BIP 381](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0381.mediawiki).
    75+- `pkh(KEY)` (not inside `tr`): P2PKH output for the given public key (use `addr` if you only know the pubkey hash), defined in [BIP 381](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0381.mediawiki).
    76+- `wpkh(KEY)` (top level or inside `sh` only): P2WPKH output for the given compressed pubkey, defined in [BIP 382](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0382.mediawiki).
    77+- `combo(KEY)`  (top level only): an alias for the collection of `pk(KEY)` and `pkh(KEY)`, defined in [BIP 384][https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0384.mediawiki). If the key is compressed, it also includes `wpkh(KEY)` and `sh(wpkh(KEY))`.
    


    ajtowns commented at 10:57 pm on December 10, 2025:
    Wrong bracket for bip 384

    sipa commented at 1:50 pm on December 11, 2025:
    Fixed.
  14. DrahtBot removed the label CI failed on Dec 11, 2025
  15. sipa force-pushed on Dec 11, 2025
  16. sipa force-pushed on Dec 11, 2025
  17. sipa commented at 1:52 pm on December 11, 2025: member
    @Sjors Done.
  18. DrahtBot added the label CI failed on Dec 11, 2025
  19. sipa force-pushed on Dec 11, 2025
  20. DrahtBot removed the label CI failed on Dec 11, 2025
  21. in doc/descriptors.md:27 in b3aff41391
    55 - Raw hex scripts through the `raw` function.
    56-- Public keys (compressed and uncompressed) in hex notation, or BIP32 extended pubkeys with derivation paths.
    57-- [Miniscript](https://bitcoin.sipa.be/miniscript/) expressions in `wsh` (P2WSH) and `tr` (P2TR) functions.
    58+- Public keys (compressed and uncompressed) in hex notation, or [BIP 32](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawiki) extended pubkeys with derivation paths.
    59+- MuSig2 key aggregation, see [BIP 327](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0327.mediawiki).
    60+- Miniscript expressions in `wsh` (P2WSH) and `tr` (P2TR) functions, see [BIP 379](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0379.mediawiki).
    


    Sjors commented at 6:02 pm on December 12, 2025:
    Looks like this one only has a markdown version, link gives a 404.

    sipa commented at 2:51 pm on February 27, 2026:
    Fixed.
  22. in doc/descriptors.md:221 in b3aff41391
    216@@ -237,7 +217,7 @@ Instead, it should be written as `xpub.../1/*`, where xpub corresponds to
    217 `m/44'/0'/0'`.
    218 
    219 When interacting with a hardware device, it may be necessary to include
    220-the entire path from the master down. [BIP174](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0174.mediawiki) standardizes this by
    221+the entire path from the master down. [BIP 174](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0174.mediawiki) standardizes this by
    222 providing the master key *fingerprint* (first 32 bit of the Hash160 of
    


    maflcko commented at 1:54 pm on January 14, 2026:

    LLM nit, while touching this:

    first 32 bit -> first 32 bits [plural needed for "bit(s)"]
    

    sipa commented at 2:51 pm on February 27, 2026:
    Done.
  23. sipa force-pushed on Feb 27, 2026
  24. sipa commented at 3:02 pm on February 27, 2026: member
    Addressed comments, and added an extra commit that exhaustively lists all miniscript expressions inside the “Reference” section.
  25. DrahtBot added the label CI failed on Feb 27, 2026
  26. DrahtBot removed the label CI failed on Feb 27, 2026
  27. sipa commented at 3:10 am on February 28, 2026: member
    It’d be nice to get this into 31.
  28. maflcko added this to the milestone 31.0 on Feb 28, 2026
  29. rkrux commented at 10:53 am on February 28, 2026: contributor

    light crACK d86f3804c9e33a25192178cacde3123406a8871e

    I have not clicked & checked all the hyperlinks.

  30. DrahtBot requested review from Sjors on Feb 28, 2026
  31. DrahtBot requested review from w0xlt on Feb 28, 2026
  32. DrahtBot requested review from glozow on Feb 28, 2026
  33. doc: mention musig() in descriptors.md 65a8b6c2ef
  34. doc: do not list descriptor RPCs or history 8f2a869a19
  35. doc: reference descriptor BIPs in descriptors.md 708b84999b
  36. doc: fix typo in descriptors.md 771f7642bc
  37. doc: mention Miniscript expressions inside reference 37d49f5de6
  38. sipa force-pushed on Feb 28, 2026
  39. DrahtBot added the label CI failed on Feb 28, 2026
  40. DrahtBot removed the label CI failed on Mar 2, 2026
  41. achow101 commented at 4:41 pm on March 2, 2026: member
    ACK 37d49f5de6221aab90f99671413836479e6a71d1
  42. DrahtBot requested review from rkrux on Mar 2, 2026

github-metadata-mirror

This is a metadata mirror of the GitHub repository bitcoin/bitcoin. This site is not affiliated with GitHub. Content is generated from a GitHub metadata backup.
generated: 2026-03-04 03:13 UTC

This site is hosted by @0xB10C
More mirrored repositories can be found on mirror.b10c.me