lightning-nix

A collection of nix packages and modules for running a Bitcoin Lightning node

Intro

My node is running lnd and bitcoind on a Raspberry Pi 4. More resources regarding operating a lightning node can be found in the Lightning network node operator's guide. How to install NixOS on a Raspberry is documented on nix.dev.

You might want to check out nix-bitcoin too. It's a really great project. I have to admit I've "stolen" quite a bit of stuff from there, but since then the code diverged a bit.

The difference is more philosophical in a sense that this is using Nix Flakes to be sort of a library of resources that you can use instead of directly being an application. (Which means you will have to write some Nix code. However there are some dummy nixosConfigurations in flake.nix - examples how to configure your own machines)

Update: just found out they have merged flake support. So there is no big difference anymore. Except that nix-bitcoin is more mature. This is sort of what I needed to hack together in order to run my own 2+ year old node, so a lot of modules are a bit different. But with flakes you don't need to think of it as competition, just select the parts that you need (or inspect the code to learn something new). Eventually the proper way is probably to really upstream all the useful stuff to nixpkgs. I am really glad I don't have to tinker with Btcpayserver support on NixOS anymore for instance.

Also I am a bit more biased towards Lightning Labs solutions (but this doesn't mean I am againt including c-lightning or something else - it's just that the current node is running lnd and I support that implementation).

Sure the "not invented here syndrome" probably also plays a role here. But at least I've learned a lot about Nix and the lightning network.

!Warning: this is more of DIY experiment with Nix!

Simple alternatives for running a node using Raspberry Pi are RaspiBlitz and Umbrel.

Usage

First install Nix2.4+ (with flake support)

If you don't have Nix yet:

# Interactively install the latest version of Nix
if ! type -p nix; then
    sh <(curl -L https://github.com/numtide/nix-flakes-installer/releases/latest/download/install)
fi

# Configure Nix
mkdir -p ~/.config/nix
if ! test -f ~/.config/nix/nix.conf || ! grep -q experimental-features ~/.config/nix/nix.conf; then
    echo 'experimental-features = ca-references flakes nix-command' >>~/.config/nix/nix.conf
fi

if you are already running Nix just make sure to have latest unstable Nix command version (and again enable experimental featues as described above):

nix-env -f '<nixpkgs>' -iA nixUnstable

On NixOS you might want to put this into configuration.nix:

{ pkgs, ... }: {
  nix = {
    package = pkgs.nixUnstable;
    extraOptions = ''
      experimental-features = ca-references flakes nix-command
    '';
   };
}

Then you can do:

nix flake show

to check what is included.

With

nix profile install 'github:fiksn/lightning-nix#lnd'
nix profile install 'github:fiksn/lightning-nix#bitcoind'

you can install relatively new versions of software.

With

nixos-rebuild switch --flake 'github:fiksn/lightning-nix#node'

you can switch to the example machine configuration.

More flake examples

Support

Feel free to use this in any way you wish. Contributions are also welcome. I am also more than happy to help you or open a channel with you. Note however that I am not liable for any damages. If you install this on your Raspberry and it explodes or your use this to install latest LND but there is some nasty bug and you lose funds I am not responsible.