chore: release v1.7.48-alpha

Hotfix: archipelago.service ExecStartPre now mkdirs /run/containers and
/var/lib/containers before the unit's mount-namespace setup tries to bind
them. Without this, fresh nodes that don't have /run/containers (e.g.
nodes provisioned without a prior podman session) fail at the namespace
step with:

  Failed to set up mount namespacing: /run/containers: No such file or directory
  Failed at step NAMESPACE spawning /bin/bash: No such file or directory

Existing nodes don't pick up systemd unit changes via OTA — they need a
one-time `systemctl edit archipelago` adding the same mkdir. ISO installs
from this version forward have the fix baked in.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## v1.7.48-alpha (2026-04-29)
+
+- archipelago.service no longer fails to start with "Failed to set up mount namespacing: /run/containers: No such file or directory" on nodes where /run/containers wasn't pre-created. ExecStartPre now creates it. Existing nodes need a one-time `systemctl edit archipelago` to add the mkdir; ISO installs from this version forward have the fix baked in.
+
+## v1.7.47-alpha (2026-04-29)
+
+- Bitcoin Knots/Core sync is now significantly faster. The container now uses every available core for script verification (was capped at 2) and has 8GB of memory instead of 4GB so its 4GB UTXO cache has headroom for the mempool and peer connections. Existing nodes pick up the new limits on next install/update; freshly-installed nodes start at full speed.
+- ElectrumX initial indexing is faster too. Its container memory bumped from 1GB to 2GB and its internal cache is now 2GB (default was 1.2GB).
+
 ## v1.7.46-alpha (2026-04-29)
 
 - Health monitor no longer pages "Auto-restart failed" for orphaned containers. After a variant switch (bitcoin-core ↔ bitcoin-knots) the previous variant's container could survive uninstall and the health monitor would try restarting it forever. Now skipped silently with a debug log.

apps/bitcoin-core/manifest.yml

@@ -12,11 +12,16 @@ app:
     network: archy-net
     entrypoint: ["sh", "-lc"]
     custom_args:
+      # Sync-speed flags: -par=0 uses every core (was capped at 2 by
+      # --cpus=2, now removed for bitcoin/electrumx). -dbcache sized to
+      # the IBD sweet spot — 4GB on full nodes, 1GB on pruned. Container
+      # --memory=8g (config.rs::get_memory_limit) leaves headroom for
+      # mempool + connections.
       - >-
         if [ "${DISK_GB:-0}" -lt 1000 ]; then
-          exec bitcoind -server=1 -prune=550 -rpcallowip=0.0.0.0/0 -rpcbind=0.0.0.0:8332 -listen=1 -bind=0.0.0.0:8333 -dbcache=512 -rpcuser="${BITCOIN_RPC_USER}" -rpcpassword="${BITCOIN_RPC_PASS}";
+          exec bitcoind -server=1 -prune=550 -rpcallowip=0.0.0.0/0 -rpcbind=0.0.0.0:8332 -listen=1 -bind=0.0.0.0:8333 -dbcache=1024 -par=0 -maxconnections=125 -rpcuser="${BITCOIN_RPC_USER}" -rpcpassword="${BITCOIN_RPC_PASS}";
         else
-          exec bitcoind -server=1 -txindex=1 -rpcallowip=0.0.0.0/0 -rpcbind=0.0.0.0:8332 -listen=1 -bind=0.0.0.0:8333 -dbcache=4096 -rpcuser="${BITCOIN_RPC_USER}" -rpcpassword="${BITCOIN_RPC_PASS}";
+          exec bitcoind -server=1 -txindex=1 -rpcallowip=0.0.0.0/0 -rpcbind=0.0.0.0:8332 -listen=1 -bind=0.0.0.0:8333 -dbcache=4096 -par=0 -maxconnections=125 -rpcuser="${BITCOIN_RPC_USER}" -rpcpassword="${BITCOIN_RPC_PASS}";
         fi
     derived_env:
       - key: DISK_GB

core/Cargo.lock

@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ checksum = "a23eb6b1614318a8071c9b2521f36b424b2c83db5eb3a0fead4a6c0809af6e61"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "archipelago"
-version = "1.7.46-alpha"
+version = "1.7.48-alpha"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "archipelago-container",

core/archipelago/Cargo.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "archipelago"
-version = "1.7.46-alpha"
+version = "1.7.48-alpha"
 edition = "2021"
 description = "Archipelago Bitcoin Node OS - Native backend"
 authors = ["Archipelago Team"]

core/archipelago/src/api/rpc/package/config.rs

@@ -244,13 +244,19 @@ pub(super) fn get_health_check_args(app_id: &str, _rpc_pass: &str) -> Vec<String
 /// Get per-app memory limit.
 pub(super) fn get_memory_limit(app_id: &str) -> &'static str {
     match app_id {
-        // Heavy apps
-        "bitcoin" | "bitcoin-core" | "bitcoin-knots" => "4g",
+        // Heavy apps. Bitcoin: dbcache uses ~4GB; the daemon also needs
+        // headroom for mempool + connection buffers + script-verifier
+        // memory + I/O. 4g caused OOM-cascades during IBD. 8g is the
+        // floor; ideally this would be host-RAM aware (next pass).
+        "bitcoin" | "bitcoin-core" | "bitcoin-knots" => "8g",
+        // ElectrumX: bumped from 1g to 2g so its CACHE_MB has somewhere
+        // to live during initial blockchain indexing. CACHE_MB=2048 in
+        // env vars below requires this much.
+        "electrumx" | "mempool-electrs" | "electrs" => "2g",
         "cryptpad" => "512m",
         "ollama" => "4g",
         // Medium apps
         "lnd" => "512m",
-        "electrumx" | "mempool-electrs" | "electrs" => "1g",
         "nextcloud" => "1g",
         "immich_server" | "immich" => "1g",
         "btcpay-server" | "btcpayserver" => "1g",
@@ -497,6 +503,16 @@ pub(super) async fn get_app_config(
             // only what's in bitcoin.conf + argv. The shared bitcoin.conf
             // carries rpcauth; we inject the networking flags as CLI args so
             // RPC is reachable from the bitcoin-ui companion container.
+            //
+            // Sync-speed flags:
+            //   -dbcache=4096 — UTXO set cache; 4GB is the sweet spot before
+            //     diminishing returns. Container has --memory=8g now so
+            //     there's headroom for mempool + connections.
+            //   -par=0       — use all available cores for script
+            //     verification (defaults to NCPU-1 capped at 16). Was
+            //     effectively pinned at 2 by --cpus=2 (now removed).
+            //   -maxconnections=125 — default but explicit, so ops can
+            //     tune downward on bandwidth-constrained nodes.
             Some(vec![
                 "-server=1".to_string(),
                 "-rpcbind=0.0.0.0".to_string(),
@@ -504,6 +520,9 @@ pub(super) async fn get_app_config(
                 "-rpcport=8332".to_string(),
                 "-printtoconsole=1".to_string(),
                 "-datadir=/home/bitcoin/.bitcoin".to_string(),
+                "-dbcache=4096".to_string(),
+                "-par=0".to_string(),
+                "-maxconnections=125".to_string(),
             ]),
         ),
         "bitcoin" | "bitcoin-knots" => (
@@ -597,6 +616,13 @@ pub(super) async fn get_app_config(
                     "COIN=Bitcoin".to_string(),
                     "DB_DIRECTORY=/data".to_string(),
                     "SERVICES=tcp://:50001,rpc://0.0.0.0:8000".to_string(),
+                    // Sync-speed: bigger LRU/write cache during initial
+                    // history index. Default is 1200MB, container now
+                    // gets 2g (config.rs::get_memory_limit) so 2048 fits.
+                    "CACHE_MB=2048".to_string(),
+                    // Block-fetcher concurrency — defaults are conservative
+                    // for shared hosts; 4 is plenty for one bitcoind backend.
+                    "MAX_SEND=10000000".to_string(),
                 ],
                 None,
                 None,

core/archipelago/src/api/rpc/package/install.rs

@@ -567,7 +567,18 @@ impl RpcHandler {
         let memory_limit = get_memory_limit(package_id);
         let mem_arg = format!("--memory={}", memory_limit);
         run_args.push(&mem_arg);
-        run_args.push("--cpus=2");
+        // Bitcoin (and friends) need every core they can get during initial
+        // blockchain download — script verification is parallelizable and
+        // the limiting factor on most home boxes. --cpus=2 was halving sync
+        // speed for 4-8 core machines. ElectrumX likewise scales with cores
+        // during its initial reorg/indexing phase.
+        let cpu_capped = !matches!(
+            package_id,
+            "bitcoin" | "bitcoin-core" | "bitcoin-knots" | "electrumx" | "electrs" | "mempool-electrs"
+        );
+        if cpu_capped {
+            run_args.push("--cpus=2");
+        }
 
         // Uptime Kuma image entrypoint (`extra/entrypoint.sh`) attempts
         // `setpriv --clear-groups` and fails under our rootless + cap-drop

image-recipe/configs/archipelago.service

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Environment="ARCHIPELAGO_BIND=127.0.0.1:5678"
 # DEV_MODE disabled in production — enabled via override.conf on dev servers
 Environment="XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000"
 # + prefix runs these as root (needed for chown/mkdir outside ReadWritePaths)
-ExecStartPre=+/bin/bash -c 'mkdir -p /run/user/1000 && chown archipelago:archipelago /run/user/1000 && chmod 700 /run/user/1000'
+ExecStartPre=+/bin/bash -c 'mkdir -p /run/user/1000 /run/containers /var/lib/containers && chown archipelago:archipelago /run/user/1000 && chmod 700 /run/user/1000'
 ExecStartPre=+/bin/bash -c 'mkdir -p /var/lib/archipelago && chown archipelago:archipelago /var/lib/archipelago && echo "ARCHIPELAGO_HOST_IP=$(hostname -I 2>/dev/null | awk "{print $$1}")" > /var/lib/archipelago/host-ip.env && chown archipelago:archipelago /var/lib/archipelago/host-ip.env'
 ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/archipelago
 Restart=on-failure

neode-ui/package.json

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "neode-ui",
   "private": true,
-  "version": "1.7.46-alpha",
+  "version": "1.7.48-alpha",
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {
     "start": "./start-dev.sh",