LndHub.go

Wrapper for Lightning Network Daemon (lnd) ⚡

It provides separate accounts for end users. Live deployment at ln.getalby.com. API documentation

LndHub compatible API implemented in Go using relational database backends

• Using a relational database (PostgreSQL)
• Focussing only on Lightning (no onchain functionality)
• No runtime dependencies (simple Go executable)
• Extensible to add more features

Configuration

All required configuration is done with environment variables and a .env file can be used. Check the .env_example for an example.

cp .env_example .env
vim .env # edit your config

Available configuration

• DATABASE_URI: The URI for the database. (eg. postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/lndhub?sslmode=disable)
• JWT_SECRET: We use JWT for access tokens. Configure your secret here
• JWT_ACCESS_EXPIRY: How long the access tokens should be valid (in seconds, default 2 days)
• JWT_REFRESH_EXPIRY: How long the refresh tokens should be valid (in seconds, default 7 days)
• LND_ADDRESS: LND gRPC address (with port) (e.g. localhost:10009)
• LND_MACAROON_HEX: LND macaroon (hex-encoded contents of admin.macaroon or lndhub.macaroon, see below)
• LND_MACAROON_FILE: LND macaroon (provided as path on a filesystem)
• LND_CERT_HEX: LND certificate (hex-encoded contents of tls.cert)
• LND_CERT_FILE: LND certificate (provided as path on a filesystem)
• CUSTOM_NAME: Name used to overwrite the node alias in the getInfo call
• LOG_FILE_PATH: (optional) By default all logs are written to STDOUT. If you want to log to a file provide the log file path here
• SENTRY_DSN: (optional) Sentry DSN for exception tracking
• HOST: (default: "localhost:3000") Host the app should listen on
• PORT: (default: 3000) Port the app should listen on
• DEFAULT_RATE_LIMIT: (default: 10) Requests per second rate limit
• STRICT_RATE_LIMIT: (default: 10) Requests per second rate limit for resource-intensive APIs (e.g. sending a payment)
• BURST_RATE_LIMIT: (default: 1) Specifies the maximum number of requests that can pass at the same moment
• ENABLE_PROMETHEUS: (default: false) Enable Prometheus metrics to be exposed
• PROMETHEUS_PORT: (default: 9092) Prometheus port (path: /metrics)
• WEBHOOK_URL: Optional. Callback URL for incoming and outgoing payment events, see below.
• FEE_RESERVE: (default: false) Keep fee reserve for each user
• ALLOW_ACCOUNT_CREATION: (default: true) Enable creation of new accounts
• ADMIN_TOKEN: Only allow account creation requests if they have the header Authorization: Bearer ADMIN_TOKEN. Also required for endpoint for updating users login, password and (de)activation status.
• MIN_PASSWORD_ENTROPY: (default: 0 = disable check) Minimum entropy (bits) of a password to be accepted during account creation
• MAX_RECEIVE_AMOUNT: (default: 0 = no limit) Set maximum amount (in satoshi) for which an invoice can be created
• MAX_SEND_AMOUNT: (default: 0 = no limit) Set maximum amount (in satoshi) of an invoice that can be paid
• MAX_ACCOUNT_BALANCE: (default: 0 = no limit) Set maximum balance (in satoshi) for each account
• MAX_SEND_VOLUME: (default: 0 = no limit) Set maximum volume (in satoshi) for sending for each account
• MAX_RECEIVE_VOLUME: (default: 0 = no limit) Set maximum volume (in satoshi) for receiving for each account
• SERVICE_FEE: (default: 0 = no service fee) Set the service fee for each outgoing transaction in 1/1000 (e.g. 1 means a fee of 1sat for 1000sats - rounded up to the next bigger integer)
• NO_SERVICE_FEE_UP_TO_AMOUNT (default: 0 = no free transactions) the amount in sats up to which no service fee should be charged

Macaroon

There are two ways how to obtain hex-encoded macaroon needed for LND_MACAROON_HEX.

Either you hex-encode the admin.macaroon:

xxd -p -c 1000 ~/.lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/admin.macaroon

Or you bake a new macaroon with the following permissions and use that instead:

lncli bakemacaroon info:read invoices:read invoices:write offchain:read offchain:write

If you want to use a macaroon stored on a filesystem, you either set LND_MACAROON_FILE to a path pointing to admin.macaroon or use the following command to generate the lndhub.macaroon and setting the variable to path of that file.

lncli bakemacaroon --save_to=lndhub.macaroon info:read invoices:read invoices:write offchain:read offchain:write

Developing

To run the server

go run cmd/server/main.go

Building

To build an lndhub executable, run the following commands:

make

Development LND setup

To run your own local lightning network and LND you can use Lightning Polar which helps you to spin up local LND instances.

Alternatively you can also use the Alby simnetwork

Database

LndHub.go requires a PostgreSQL database backend.

Prometheus

Prometheus metrics can be optionally exposed through the ENABLE_PROMETHEUS environment variable. For an example dashboard, see https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/10913.

Webhooks

If WEBHOOK_URL is specified, a http POST request will be dispatched at that location when an incoming payment is settled, or an outgoing payment is completed. Example payload:

{
  "id": 721,
  "type": "incoming", //incoming, outgoing
  "user_id": 299,
  "amount": 1000,
  "fee": 0,
  "memo": "fill wallet",
  "description_hash": "",
  "payment_request": "lnbcrt10u1p38p4ehpp5xp07pda02vk40wxd9gyrene8qzheucz7ast435u9jwxejs6f0v5sdqjve5kcmpqwaskcmr9wscqzpgxqyz5vqsp56nyve3v5fw306j74nmewv7t5ey3aer2khjrrwznh4k2vuw44unzq9qyyssqv2wq9hn7a39x8cvz9fvpzul87u4kc4edf0t6jukzvmx8v5swl3jqg8p3sh6czkepczcjkm523q9x8yswsastctnsns3q9d26szu703gpwh7a09",
  "destination_pubkey_hex": "0376442c750766d5d127512609a5618d9aa82db2d06aae226084da92a3e133acda",
  "custom_records": {
    "5482373484": "YWY4MDhlZDUxZjNmY2YxNWMxYWI3MmM3ODVhNWI1MDE="
  }, //only set when keysend=true
  "r_hash": "305fe0b7af532d57b8cd2a083ccf2700af9e605eec1758d385938d9943497b29",
  "preimage": "3735363531303032626332356439376136643461326434336335626434653035",
  "keysend": false,
  "state": "settled",
  "created_at": "2022-05-03T09:18:15.15774+02:00",
  "expires_at": "2022-05-04T09:18:15.157597+02:00",
  "updated_at": "2022-05-03T09:18:19.837567+02:00",
  "settled_at": "2022-05-03T09:18:19+02:00"
}

Keysend

Both incoming and outgoing keysend payments are supported. For outgoing keysend payments, check out the API documentation.

For incoming keysend payments, we are using a custom TLV record with type 696969, which should contain the hex-encoded login of the receiving user's account. TLV records are stored as json blobs with the invoices and are returned by the /getuserinvoices endpoint.

The V2 API has an endpoint to make multiple keysend payments with 1 request, which can be useful for splitting value4value payments.

Ideas

• Using low level database constraints to prevent data inconsistencies
• Follow double-entry bookkeeping ideas (Every transaction is a debit of one account and a credit to another one)

Data model

                                              ┌─────────────┐
                                              │    User     │
                                              └─────────────┘
                                                     │
                           ┌─────────────────┬───────┴─────────┬─────────────────┐
                           ▼                 ▼                 ▼                 ▼
Accounts:          ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐
                   │   Incoming   │  │   Current    │  │   Outgoing   │  │     Fees     │
Every user has     └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘
four accounts

                    Every Transaction Entry is associated to one debit account and one
                                             credit account

                                          ┌────────────────────────┐
                                          │Transaction Entry       │
                                          │                        │
                                          │+ user_id               │
            ┌────────────┐                │+ invoice_id            │
            │  Invoice   │────────────────▶+ debit_account_id      │
            └────────────┘                │+ credit_account_id     │
                                          │+ amount                │
           Invoice holds the              │+ ...                   │
           lightning related              │                        │
           data                           └────────────────────────┘