lit-node-express

Monorepo for the Lit Protocol node stack: shared core libraries, the Lit Actions execution engine, and the HTTP API server.

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Projects

1. lit-core

Shared Rust workspace used by the API server and Lit Actions.

Crate	Description
lit-core	Core utilities, config, encoding, and platform support (e.g. unix for socket paths).
lit-api-core	API primitives: server/client helpers (Rocket, Hyper), error types, shared request/response types.
lit-core-derive	Procedural macros for lit-core.
lit-logging	Logging setup and filters.
lit-observability	OpenTelemetry metrics and tracing.

Location: lit-core/

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2. lit-actions

Runs Lit Action JavaScript in a sandboxed Deno environment. Exposes execution over gRPC; the API server connects as a client to run actions on demand.

Crate	Description
lit-actions-server	Deno-based JS runtime: executes code, handles op requests (sign, encrypt, fetch, etc.), enforces limits.
lit-actions-grpc	Protobuf definitions and gRPC client/server glue for the execute stream.
lit-actions-ext	Deno extension / bindings used by the server.
cli	CLI for running or testing actions.
snapshot / tests	Snapshots and test utilities.

Location: lit-actions/

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3. lit-api-server

Rocket HTTP API server that exposes Lit node operations and higher-level features. Serves static JavaScript SDKs and demo dApps.

• Core API (/core/v1/) — Handshake, get API key, mint PKP, sign with PKP, encrypt/decrypt, combine signature shares, Lit actions, ledger balance.
• Transfer API (/transfer/v1/) — Chain metadata (EVM/non-EVM, mainnet/testnet), balance by API key and chain, PKP native transfer.
• Swaps API (/swaps/v1/) — Swap intents: token list, quote lifecycle, attempt swap (QuoteStorage contract).
• Static — JS SDKs (js_core_sdk.js, js_transfer_sdk.js, js_swaps_sdk.js) and demo dApps (Solver, Swps PKP wallet).

Dependencies: Uses lit-core for config and utilities and lit-actions-grpc to talk to the Lit Actions server over gRPC (Unix socket or TCP).

Location: lit-api-server/
Details: See lit-api-server/README.md.

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Dependency overview

lit-api-server  ──► lit-core (lit-core, lit-api-core, etc.)
                ──► lit-actions-grpc

lit-actions    ──► lit-core (lit-core, lit-api-core, lit-logging, lit-observability)

Build and run the API server from the repo root (ensure Lit Actions server is available on the configured socket if using actions):

cd lit-api-server && cargo run

By default the API is at http://localhost:8000; static files and dApps are served from /.

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Phala CVM deployment

A GitHub Actions workflow deploys both lit-api-server and lit-actions binaries to a Phala CVM (tdx.large):

• Workflow: .github/workflows/deploy-phala.yml — triggers on push to main or manual dispatch
• Docker: Dockerfile.phala — multi-stage build producing both binaries
• Compose: docker-compose.phala.yml — two services sharing a Unix socket for gRPC

Required secrets: PHALA_CLOUD_API_KEY, DOCKER_REGISTRY_USERNAME, DOCKER_REGISTRY_PASSWORD, DOCKER_IMAGE, PHALA_APP_NAME

See docs/deployment.md for full documentation and architecture diagrams.

Orchestration: Development uses the simulator; released builds use either Phala Cloud (pcloud) or DeRoT on Base (derot) via Cargo feature flags.