# Introduction

Welcome to the **Nexus Developer Documentation** — your gateway to building on the leading decentralized exchange infrastructure for **Bitcoin-native assets**.

***

## What is Nexus?

Nexus is a trustless, non-custodial trading protocol built specifically for the Bitcoin ecosystem. By leveraging **Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBTs)**, **multi-signature wallets**, and **UTXO-based liquidity models**, Nexus empowers users to swap Bitcoin-native assets directly — without wrapped tokens, centralized custodians, or smart contracts.

At its core is **Nexus**, a coordination layer and liquidity aggregator that enables self-hosted market makers to contribute to a unified order flow while retaining full control of their funds.

***

## What Can Developers Do?

Nexus offers a robust, modular developer stack for integrating, building, and contributing to Bitcoin-native DeFi:

| Use Case                       | Description                                                                 |
| ------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Run a Nexus Node**           | Set up your own node to act as a liquidity provider or custom market maker. |
| **Market Making API**          | Programmatically manage your liquidity intentions and trading strategies.   |
| **Swap Integration**           | Integrate swap capabilities into your dApp, wallet, or frontend.            |
| **Custom Protocol Extensions** | Build on top of Nexus primitives (e.g. LP pools, channels, limit orders).   |
| **Query APIs**                 | Access pool data, trading history, and swap quotes via open endpoints.      |

***

## Tools & Resources

* **Open-source SDKs** for JavaScript and TypeScript
* **RESTful APIs** for pool data, quotes, and swap generation
* **Dockerized node templates** for rapid Nexus deployment
* **Signature templates** for handling PSBT signing flows
* **GitBook Docs** for architecture, flows, and examples

***

## System Requirements

Running a Nexus node requires:

* A public IP address or domain
* A server or VPS with Docker installed
* Bitcoin Core node (recommended in pruned mode)
* Basic familiarity with JSON and HTTP APIs

***

## Join the Ecosystem

Whether you’re building a wallet, launching a token, or operating a market-making bot, Nexus provides the tools and primitives to innovate securely on Bitcoin. With a growing ecosystem and developer-first focus, we invite you to:

* Fork our open-source templates
* Launch your liquidity strategy
* Extend Nexus with your own logic
* Contribute to protocol improvement proposals

Telegram: <https://t.me/NexusGroup>

Discord: <https://discord.gg/HR8hksbcQs>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.on.nexus/dotswap/developers/introduction-and-quickstart/readme.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.
