A dockerized Bitcoin + LND + BTCPay node

Something like Umbrel but lighter and portable. Something like RaspiBolt but easier and automated. Bitcoin/Lightning-Network oriented with no frills.

Awning doesn't install anything on your PC, making it lightweight, customizable and portable. It is a plain/vanilla Docker setup.

Disclaimer

This open-source project is provided 'as-is' without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The developers are not liable for any damages or losses arising out of the use of this software.

Please read the full disclaimer before using this project.

Prerequisites

• git
• docker
• docker-compose (or docker compose plugin)

$ sudo apt-get install -y docker.io docker-compose-v2 git

Run your BTC / LN / BTCPay node (the easy way):

1. Clone this repository
2. Run the awning.sh utility script

$ git clone https://github.com/giovantenne/awning.git
$ cd awning
$ ./awning.sh

You can run the ./awning.sh utility script every time you want to interact with your node.

awning.webm

... or manually setup your node instead:

If you want to have full control you can manually setup your node in 6 steps.

Please follow this guide if you don't want to preface the docker and the docker-compose commands with sudo. In this guide sudo will be always omitted. All the commands need to be run on the Awning root directory.

Here is the steps:

1. Clone this repository
2. Create a Github repository for storing the LND Static Channel Backups (SCB)
3. Edit and customize the .env file
4. Start the Docker containers
5. Authorize SCB to be uploaded on Github
6. Create o restore a LND wallet

You can also add your BTCPay Server eventually.

Before you begin

Clone or download this repository and enter the project directory.

$ git clone https://github.com/giovantenne/awning.git
$ cd awning

LND channel backups preparation

The Static Channels Backup (SCB) is a feature of LND that allows for the on-chain recovery of lightning channel balances in the case of a bricked node. Despite its name, it does not allow the recovery of your LN channels but increases the chance that you'll recover all (or most) of your off-chain (local) balances.

Awning will automatically upload a copy of your channel.backup every time it changes on a Github repository you own, so you will need to create one and provide upload credential later.

Create a GitHub repository

• Go to GitHub, sign up for a new user account, or log in with an existing one.

• Create a new repository: https://github.com/new

  • Choose a repository name (eg. remote-lnd-backup)
  • Select "Private" (rather than the default "Public")
  • Click on "Create repository"
  • Annotate your SSH repository address. You will need this later.

Edit and understand the .env file

The .env file contains some Awning setup parameters that you can/need to customize. Just make a copy of the sample file and edit it.

$ cp .env.sample .env

Parameter	Description
UID	The uid (user id) of your current user. Use this command to retrieve it: id -u.
GID	The gid (group id) of your current user. Use this command to retrieve it: id -g.
NODE_ALIAS	The alias your LND node will use
BITCOIN_ARCH	Here you need to choose your computer CPU architecture. Write aarch64 for ARM (Raspberry Pi, etc) or x86_64 for Intel or AMD.
LND_ARCH	Write arm64 for ARM (Raspberry Pi, etc) or amd64 for Intel or AMD.
RTL_PASSWORD	Choose the password for accessing the "Ride The Lightning" web interface. You can change it any time but don't forget to restart the RTL container afterwards with docker-compose restart rtl.
LND_PASSWORD	Choose the password to automatically protected and unlock the LND wallet (write moneyprintergobrrr if you are migrating from Umbrel). You will need to use this password again here. Changing this after the first setup will have no effect.
SCB_REPO	Paste here the address of your new created Github repository. It should be something like git@github.com:giovantenne/remote-lnd-backup.git.
BITCOIN_CORE_VERSION	Bitcoin Core version
LND_VERSION	LND version
ELECRTS_VERSION	Electrs version

How to begin

The docker-compose.yml file contains the Awning docker services that your node will run.

Since you are not using the ./awning.sh utility script, just make a copy of the sample file.

$ cp docker-compose-sample.yml docker-compose.yml

Run the following command:

$ docker-compose up -d --build

This will spin-up the following services/containers in background:

• Bitcoin Core
• Electrs
• LND
• RTL (Ride The Lightning)
• TOR
• Nginx (used as reverse-proxy)
• SCB (Automatic static channel backups)

The first time it will take some time to build all the images from scratch (especially compiling the Electrs binary can take up to one hour).

After all the images are built, “bitcoind” should start, begin to sync and validate the Bitcoin blockchain. If you already downloaded the blockchain somewhere else, you can just copy the data to the ./data/bitcoin directory before the docker-compose up -d --build command.

Check the status of the bitcoin daemon that was started with the following command. Exit with Ctrl-C

$ docker logs -f awning_bitcoin

Those services open the following TCP ports on your host:

Port	Service	SSL	Description
50002	Electrs	✅	Electrs
8080	LND	✅	Rest API for LND
8081	RTL	✅	RTL web interface
8082	RTL	⬜	RTL web interface
8083	BTCPay Server (optional)	✅	BTCPay server web interface
8084	BTCPay Server (optional)	⬜	BTCPay server web interface

Finish the setup

Once you first start the containers there are still a couple of steps to complete:

Authorize SCB to be uploaded on Github

Run this command:

$ docker logs awning_scb 2> /dev/null | grep -o 'ssh-rsa.*' | head -1

• Go back to the GitHub repository webpage
• Click on "Settings", then "Deploy keys", then "Add deploy key"
• Type a title (e.g., "SCB")
• In the "Key" box, copy/paste the string generated above starting (e.g. ssh-rsa 5678efgh... scb@28ba58e278da)
• Tick the box "Allow write access" to enable this key to push changes to the repository
• Click "Add key"

Create or restore the LND wallet

If you are migrating from Umbrel or from an existing LND node just copy your data to the ./data/lnd directory before the docker-compose up -d --build command and skip the rest of this step, otherwise run this command:

$ docker exec -it awning_lnd lncli create

Enter your password as wallet password (it must be exactly the same you stored in .env as LND_PASSWORD).

To create a a new wallet, select n when asked if you have an existing cipher seed. Just press enter if asked about an additional seed passphrase, unless you know what you’re doing. A new cipher seed consisting of 24 words is created.

These 24 words is all that you need to restore the Bitcoin on-chain wallet. The current state of your channels, however, cannot be recreated from this seed.

🚨 This information must be kept secret at all times.

Write these 24 words down manually on a piece of paper and store it in a safe place.

Use Electrs (via TOR)

Run the following command from the Awning root directory to retrieve the Electrs TOR address to use in your wallet:

$ echo `cat ./data/tor/hidden_service_electrs/hostname`:50001

Accessing RTL web interface (local)

Ride The Lightining is accessible on both http and https with a self signed SSL certificate (so expect a warning message from your browser) using the password choosen on the .env file.

If you are running Awning on your PC you can access the web interface through these URLs:

• https://localhost:8081
• http://localhost:8082

Replace localhost with the IP of your node if you are running Awning on a different PC.

Connect Zeus to your node (via TOR)

• Download the Zeus app for your mobile phone.
• Open Zeus and tap on “GET STARTED”
• Tap on “Connect a node” and then tap on the “+” at the top right to add your node
• Enter a Nickname for your node (e.g., AwningNode)
• Click on “SCAN LNDCONNECT CONFIG” and, if prompted, allow Zeus to use the camera
• Scan the QR code generated with the following command. It will be a big QR code, so maximize your terminal window and use CTRL+- to shrink the code further to fit the screen

$ URI=`cat ./data/tor/hidden_service_lnd_rest/hostname` && docker exec awning_lnd lndconnect --host $URI --port 8080

• Click on “SAVE NODE CONFIG”. Zeus is now connecting to your node, and it might take a while the first time.

Useful comands

Command	Description
docker ps	Lists the containers that are running on your host
docker logs -f awning_bitcoin	Stream the logs for the bitcoin/lnd/electrs container
docker exec -it awning_lnd bash	Connect to the lnd container so that you can use the lncli command (eg. lncli getinfo)
docker-compose restart bitcoin	Restart the bitcoin/lnd/electrs container
docker-compose build --no-cache	Rebuild all the containers from scratch (eg. after changing bitcoin version in .env)
docker-compose down	Stop all the containers
docker-compose up -d	Start all the containers
docker-compose up -d --build	Rebuild and start all the containers

Directories structure

├── awning.sh
├── configs
│   ├── bitcoin.conf
│   ├── electrs.toml
│   ├── lnd.conf
│   ├── nginx-reverse-proxy.conf
│   ├── rtl.json
│   └── torrc
├── data
│   ├── bitcoin
│   ├── btcpay
│   ├── electrs
│   ├── lnd
│   ├── nbx
│   ├── postgres
│   ├── rtl
│   ├── scb
│   └── tor
├── docker-compose-sample.yml
├── dockerfiles
│   ├── Dockerfile.bitcoin
│   ├── Dockerfile.electrs
│   ├── Dockerfile.lnd
│   ├── Dockerfile.nbx
│   ├── Dockerfile.nginx
│   ├── Dockerfile.rtl
│   ├── Dockerfile.scb
│   ├── Dockerfile.tor
│   ├── entrypoints
│   │   ├── lnd.sh
│   │   └── scb.sh
│   └── files
│       └── nginx.conf
├── .env.sample
├── fragments
│   ├── bitcoin.yml
│   ├── btcpay.yml
│   ├── electrs.yml
│   ├── lnd.yml
│   ├── nginx.yml
│   ├── rtl.yml
│   ├── scb.yml
│   └── tor.yml
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

Directory	Description
configs	Here you can find all the configuration files. Feel free to edit them as you like, but please be carefull to not mess-up with authentication method: Awning currently uses cookies authentication between services instead of RPC.
data	Here is where the data are persisted. The Bitcoin Blockchain, the Electrs indexes, the LND channels, etc. are all stored here.
dockerfiles	Here you can find and inspect all the files used to build the images. Don't trust, verify!
fragments	All the services that can be added to the docker-compose.yml during the setup tutorial with the awning.sh utility script

BTCPay Server (optional)

You can easily run your own self-hosted instance of BTCPay Server with Awning with just a few slight modification to a couple of files provided with this repository:

File	Modification
docker-compose.yml	Replace the depends_on directive under the nginx section with the one provided. Uncomment the ports 8083 and 8084 under the nginx section. Uncomment the btcpay, nbx and postgres services blocks.
configs/nginx-reverse-proxy.conf	Uncomment the upstream btcpay and 8083, 8084 server blocks.

Run docker-compose down and then docker-compose up -d again.

BTCPay server will run 3 additionals containers (requred files and directories are already present on this repository):

• Postgres
• NBXplorer
• BTCPay-server

How to update Bitcoin/LND/Electrs version

If you wish to update Bitcoin/LND/Electrs version just edit the .env file and run the following commands to stop and rebuild the containers:

$ docker-compose down
$ docker-compose up -d

How to update Awning

If you wish to update Awning to the last version just run the following commands:

$ docker-compose down
$ git stash
$ git pull
$ git stash apply

Resolve any git conflicts and run the following command:

$ docker-compose up -d --build

Support

For any questions or issues you can join our Telegram support channel or open a Github issue.

Donations/Project contributions

If you would like to contribute and help dev team with this project you can send a donation to the following LN address ⚡donate@btcpay.cryptogadgets.net⚡ or on-chain bc1qg2t8vnahzv5yy7e885l0a59ggagne9nxdvts4t

Enjoy!