getmonero.org / Library

getmonero.org / Library is the official Monero project documentation — the canonical starting point for anyone learning about Monero, comprising the Moneropedia glossary (every Monero concept defined clearly), the User Guides (wallet setup, mining, running a node), the Resources section (community, contributors, FAQ), and the About pages (history, philosophy, governance). Listed at Grade A · editor's pick because the Monero project documentation is the reference that every other Monero-adjacent reference defers to — newcomers should walk Moneropedia + "About" before reading any third-party source, and seasoned users return to verify protocol behaviour as the codebase evolves.

Background. getmonero.org is the official website of the Monero Project — the open-source cryptocurrency project that has been operating since April 2014, forked from the original CryptoNote reference codebase. The documentation library at getmonero.org/library/ has been maintained continuously by the Monero community. Open source — the website source is at github.com/monero-project/monero-site under permissive licensing; community contributors propose updates via standard Pull Request workflow. Multi-language: 30+ languages supported via community translators, with the English original as the canonical version. Tor onion mirror at monerotoruzizulg5ttgat2emf4d6fbmiea25detrmmy7erypseyteyd.onion/library/ — the canonical onion address for the Monero Project's official documentation. No commercial entity — the Monero Project is a decentralised contributor-community; the Monero Community Crowdfunding System (CCS) funds specific work via community-voted proposals.

What you trust. Monero Project as the canonical source — the contributors who maintain the documentation are the same people who write the Monero protocol code. The protocol-level technical reference (block sizes, ring sizes, RingCT mathematics, FCMP++ research) is authoritative here. Community-edited via PR review — proposed documentation changes go through pull-request review by named maintainers; the edit history is transparent (git log) and contestable. Moneropedia — the canonical glossary of Monero-specific terminology (subaddresses, view keys, spend keys, payment IDs, ring signatures, stealth addresses, RingCT, Bulletproofs+, etc.). When you don't know what a term means, Moneropedia is the answer. No advertising, no tracking, no analytics — the site doesn't include third-party trackers; the Monero Project's editorial commitment is to non-commercial open documentation. Tor onion — canonical onion mirror at the verified address (cross-referenced in multiple Monero documentation sources). What you don't trust: third-party documentation that hasn't been verified — many Monero-adjacent guides exist (some great, some outdated, some misleading); when in doubt, cross-reference against getmonero.org/library/. Some documentation pages lag protocol changes — the Monero protocol evolves; documentation updates happen via community PR, with typical lag of weeks to a few months for major changes. For the very latest protocol details, monitor Monero Research Lab + the GitHub repos.

Operational specs. Domain: getmonero.org (clearnet) + the canonical Tor onion mirror. Sections: About (what is Monero, philosophy, governance, FAQ), Library (Moneropedia glossary, user guides, mining guides, developer documentation), Resources (downloads, community links, contributors, GitHub), Get Started (wallet recommendations, where to buy XMR, basic operations), Developer (RPC API documentation, protocol specs, contribution guidelines). Languages: 30+ via community translators; English is the canonical baseline. Static site: works on Tor Browser including "Safest" mode (no JavaScript required for documentation reading); mobile-responsive. Search: site-level search built in. GitHub repository: monero-site for documentation source; protocol code at monero-project/monero (the C++ core daemon). Updates: PRs reviewed by maintainers; merged updates deploy to the live site shortly after. No accounts, no signups, no email collection — the site is pure documentation, not a service. Cross-listed in essentially every Monero reference — when other resources cite Monero documentation, they cite getmonero.org/library/.

Philosophy. getmonero.org/library's editorial differentiator is the canonical reference posture. The privacy-tooling ecosystem has many high-quality Monero resources (this directory, Privacy Guides, KYCnot, web3privacy, Monerica, Sethforprivacy's blog, community wikis), but they all defer to getmonero.org for protocol-level authoritative statements. The Monero Project's commitment to open documentation under permissive license + community-edited via PR + multi-language translation means the canonical source is itself open and contestable — anyone can propose corrections, anyone can verify the edit history, anyone can fork the documentation if the official project's editorial decisions become objectionable. This is the same governance pattern as the protocol itself: decentralised, community-edited, contestable.

Grade rationale. Grade A and editor's pick reflect: maintained by the Monero Project itself (the canonical operator); 11+ years of operational continuity (since 2014); open-source documentation source under permissive licensing; community-PR-reviewed edits; Moneropedia as the canonical Monero terminology glossary; 30+ language translations from community translators; static-site architecture (Tor-friendly, no JavaScript required for reading); canonical Tor onion mirror; no advertising / no tracking / no analytics; cross-listed in essentially every Monero-adjacent reference; the documentation source for protocol-level technical detail in the Monero ecosystem. Last verified 2026-05-11.

Useful when. You're new to Monero — read the "About" pages + Moneropedia before reading anything else; gets the mental model right in ~30 minutes. You need to look up a specific Monero term — Moneropedia is the canonical glossary. You're setting up a wallet or running a node — the User Guides cover Monero GUI, monerod, the CLI wallet, hardware wallets. You're a developer building on Monero — the Developer section has RPC API documentation, protocol specs, contribution guidelines. You want to verify a Monero claim you read elsewhere — cross-reference against getmonero.org/library/; this is the authoritative source. You want a Tor-friendly Monero reference that works on Tor Browser's strictest mode — the static-site architecture is amongst the most-Tor-compatible documentation in the privacy-tooling space. You're translating Monero content into another language — the documentation source is open under permissive licensing, making it a reasonable starting point for translation work.

Caveats. Documentation lag — the Monero protocol evolves (Bulletproofs+, Carrot, Seraphis, FCMP++); documentation updates happen via community PR with typical lag of weeks to months for major changes. For the very latest protocol details, monitor Monero Research Lab (mrl.com / IRC + Matrix rooms) and the GitHub repos. Style is encyclopedic, not narrative — Moneropedia is glossary-style; the User Guides are step-by-step; the About pages are reference-style. For narrative explanations of Monero's history and significance, supplement with community sources like Sethforprivacy's blog, Mastering Monero (the book), or community podcasts. Multi-language quality varies — the English baseline is well-maintained; some language translations lag by months or have community-translation quality variance. No tutorial-style on-ramping — the documentation assumes some technical aptitude; absolute newcomers may find the Moneropedia entries dense. For very-beginner content, supplement with Cake Wallet's in-app guides or Mastering Monero. Cross-reference is your responsibility — even though getmonero.org is canonical, individual pages can have errors (community-edited content); cross-reference important claims against the Monero Project's GitHub source code for definitive answers. No "what's new this month" feed — the documentation doesn't track recent protocol changes prominently; for changes-since-last-quarter, monitor the Monero Research Lab and the monero-project/monero GitHub releases. The site itself can occasionally be slow — community-maintained infrastructure with bursty traffic during Monero-related news cycles. The Tor onion mirror is sometimes faster. Permissive license means anyone can fork — most forks of getmonero.org documentation are well-intentioned (translation, regional adaptation), but verify the canonical version before relying on any specific fork's content. Doesn't cover non-protocol Monero topics — questions about specific Monero wallets (Cake, Monerujo, Feather) are covered at the project level here but specific wallets have their own documentation; for wallet-specific bug reports or feature questions, go to the wallet's own docs.