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Lightning Network Service

npm version

Overview

The core of this project is a gRPC interface for node.js projects, available through npm.

The project can be run alone to create a REST interface on top of LND that exposes functionality to client applications.

It is recommended to not expose the REST interface directly to the dangerous internet as that gives anyone control of your node.

Installation Instructions

The service can run in two modes:

  1. As a library that can be used directly with GRPC against LND
  2. A standalone REST service that uses a simplified authentication for RPC calls.

The direct GRPC mode is recommended.

Install LND and/or your Bitcoin Chain Daemon

https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/blob/master/docs/INSTALL.md

If using Bitcoin Core, the following ~/.bitcoin/bitcon.conf configuration is recommended:

assumevalid= // plug in the current best block hash
daemon=1
datadir=/blockchain/.bitcoin/data
dbcache=3000
disablewallet=1
maxuploadtarget=1000
nopeerbloomfilters=1
peerbloomfilters=0
permitbaremultisig=0
rpcpassword= // make a strong password
rpcuser=bitcoinrpc
server=1
testnet=1 // Set as applicable
txindex=1
zmqpubrawblock=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332
zmqpubrawtx=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332

Sample LND configuration options (~/.lnd/lnd.conf)

[Application Options]
externalip=IP
maxpendingchannels=10
minchansize=250000
rpclisten=0.0.0.0:10009
tlsextraip=IP

[autopilot]
autopilot.active=1
autopilot.maxchannels=10
autopilot.minchansize=250000
autopilot.allocation=0.8

[Bitcoin]
bitcoin.active=1
bitcoin.feerate=1000
bitcoin.node=bitcoind
bitcoin.testnet=1

[bitcoind]
bitcoind.rpcpass= // Password for bitcoind
bitcoind.rpcuser=bitcoinrpc
bitcoind.zmqpath=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332

Export Credentials (if using GRPC direct mode)

base64 ~/.lnd/admin.macaroon

base64 ~/.lnd/tls.cert

You will need these variables to authenticate with LND.

Make sure:

  • If you are accessing the LND remotely that you added the external IP in conf
  • If you added the external IP in the conf after starting LND regen the files (stop LND and then move or delete the files and LND will regen)
  • Don't include newline artifacts in your base64 values

Using as an npm package

You can install the service via npm -

$ npm install ln-service

You can then interact with your LND node directly -

const lnService = require('ln-service');

const lnd = lnService.lightningDaemon({
  host: 'localhost:10009'
});

lnService.getWalletInfo({lnd}, (error, result) => {
  console.log(result);
});

NOTE: You will need to make sure you Set the Environment Variables unless you want to pass in base64 encoded values to the lightningDaemon for the cert and macaroon.

If you have encoded the values, use them to instantiate the lightningDaemon object.

const lnd = lnService.lightningDaemon({
  cert: 'base64 encoded tls.cert'
  host: 'localhost:10009'
  macaroon: 'base64 encoded admin.macaroon'
});

Using as a stand-alone REST API

PREREQUISITES:

Please have git installed, and have a working github account, preferably with SSH access. Please also make sure that you have node.js / npm installed, too. The best way to install it for personal use is NVM. Willingness to report bugs?

$ git clone https://github.com/alexbosworth/ln-service.git
$ cd ln-service
$ npm install

Configuring Environment Variables

In NPM installed direct GRPC mode only GRPC_SSL_CIPHER_SUITES environment variable is needed

Linux -

Make sure your .bashrc contains the following environment variables -

export GRPC_SSL_CIPHER_SUITES='HIGH+ECDSA'
export LNSERVICE_LND_DIR='~/.lnd/'
export LNSERVICE_SECRET_KEY=REPLACE!WITH!SECRET!KEY

Make sure to $ source ~/.bashrc in the window you are running the service from

OSX -

Make sure your .bash_profile contains the following environment variables -

export GRPC_SSL_CIPHER_SUITES='HIGH+ECDSA'
export LNSERVICE_LND_DIR="$HOME/Library/Application Support/Lnd/"
export LNSERVICE_SECRET_KEY=REPLACE!WITH!SECRET!KEY

Make sure to $ . ~/.bash_profile in the window you are running the service from

Running REST API

$ npm start

Making HTTP requests to the REST API

ln-service uses Basic Authentication currently. Make sure that the request has an authorization header that contains Base64 encoded credentials.

Basic example of an authorization header -

Authorization: Basic {{TOKEN_GOES_HERE_WITHOUT_BRACES}}

To generate the Base64 encoded credentials in Chrome for example in the console you can -

> let username = 'test';
> let password = '1m5secret4F';
> btoa(`${username}:${password}`);
// dGVzdDoxbTVlY3JldDRG

And then set the value of the Authorization header to the returned value dGVzdDoxbTVlY3JldDRG.

And copy the result as the token in the above example

Running the tests

$ npm test