lightning/doc/lightningd-config.5.txt

LIGHTNINGD-CONFIG(5)
====================
:doctype: manpage

NAME
----
lightningd-config - Lightning daemon configuration file

SYNOPSIS
--------
*~/.lightningd/config*

DESCRIPTION
-----------

When lightningd(8) starts up, it reads a configuration file.  By
default that is 'config' in the *.lightning* subdirectory of the home
directory (if it exists), but that can be changes by the
'--lightning-dir' or '--conf' options on the lightningd(8) command
line.

Configuration file options are processed first, then command line
options: later options override earlier ones except 'addr' options
which accumulate.

All these options are mirrored as commandline arguments to
lightningd(8), so '--foo' becomes simply 'foo' in the configuration
file, and '--foo=bar' becomes 'foo=bar' in the configuration file.

Blank lines and lines beginning with '#' are ignored.

DEBUGGING
---------

'--help' will show you the defaults for many options; they vary with
network settings so you can specify '--network' before '--help' to see
the defaults for that network.

The lightning-listconfigs(7) command will output a valid configuration
file using the current settings.

OPTIONS
-------

General options:

*allow-deprecated-apis*='BOOL'::
    Enable deprecated options, JSONRPC commands, fields, etc.  It
    defaults to 'true', but you should set it to 'false' when testing
    to ensure that an upgrade won't break your configuration.

*help*::
    Print help and exit.  Not very useful inside a configuration file, but
    fun to put in other's config files while their computer is unattended.

*version*::
    Print version and exit.  Also useless inside a configuration file,
    but putting this in someone's config file may convince them to
    read this man page.

Bitcoin control options:

*network*='NETWORK'::
    Select the network parameters ('bitcoin', 'testnet', or 'regtest').

*testnet*::
    Alias for 'network=testnet'.

*mainnet*::
    Alias for 'network=bitcoin'.

*bitcoin-cli*='PATH'::
    The name of 'bitcoin-cli' executable to run.

*bitcoin-datadir*='DIR'::
    '-datadir' argument to supply to bitcoin-cli(1).

*bitcoin-rpcuser*='USER'::
    The RPC username for talking to bitcoind(1).

*bitcoin-rpcpassword*='PASSWORD'::
    The RPC password for talking to bitcoind(1).

*bitcoin-rpcconnect*='HOST'::
    The bitcoind(1) RPC host to connect to.

*bitcoin-rpcport*='PORT'::
    The bitcoind(1) RPC port to connect to.

*rescan*='BLOCKS'::
    Number of blocks to rescan from the current head, or absolute blockheight
    if negative. This is only needed if something goes badly wrong.

Lightning daemon options:

*lightning-dir*='DIR'::
    Sets the working directory. All files (except '--conf' on the command
    line) are relative to this.

*pid-file*='PATH'::
    Specify pid file to write to.

*log-level*='LEVEL'::
    What log level to print out: options are io, debug, info, unusual, broken.

*log-prefix*='PREFIX'::
    Prefix for log lines: this can be customized if you want to merge logs with
    multiple daemons.

*log-file*='PATH'::
    Log to this file instead of stdout.  Sending lightningd(1) SIGHUP will cause
    it to reopen this file (useful for log rotation).

*rpc-file*='PATH'::
    Set JSON-RPC socket (or /dev/tty), such as for lightning-cli(1).

*daemon*::
    Run in the background, suppress stdout and stderr.

*conf*='PATH'::
    Sets configuration file (default: *lightning-dir*/'config' ).  If this is
    a relative path, it is relative to the starting directory, not
    *lightning-dir* (unlike other paths).  'PATH' must exist and be readable
    (we allow missing files in the default case).
    Using this inside a configuration file is meaningless.

*plugin*='PATH'::
    Specify a plugin to run as part of c-lightning. This can be specified
    multiple times and may enable additional configuration options and JSON-RPC
    methods, depending on the plugin.

Lightning node customization options:

*rgb*='RRGGBB'::
    Your favorite color as a hex code.

*alias*='NAME'::
    Up to 32 UTF-8 characters to tag your node.  Completely silly, since anyone
    can call their node anything they want.  The default is an
    NSA-style codename derived from your public key, but "Peter Todd"
    and "VAULTERO" are good options, too.

*fee-base*='MILLISATOSHI'::
    The base fee to charge for every payment which passes through.  Note that
    millisatoshis are a very, very small unit!

*fee-per-satoshi*='MILLIONTHS'::
    This is the proportional fee to charge for every payment which passes
    through.  As percentages are too coarse, it's in millionths, so 10000
    is 1%, 1000 is 0.1%.

*ignore-fee-limits*='BOOL'::
    Allow nodes which establish channels to us to set any fee they
    want.  This may result in a channel which cannot be closed, should
    fees increase, but make channels far more reliable since we never
    close it due to unreasonable fees.

*commit-time*='MILLISECONDS::
    How long to wait before sending commitment messages to the peer: in
    theory increasing this would reduce load, but your node would have to be
    extremely busy node for you to even notice.

Lightning channel and HTLC options:

*watchtime-blocks*='BLOCKS'::
    How long we need to spot an outdated close attempt: on opening a channel
    we tell our peer that this is how long they'll have to wait if they perform
    a unilateral close.

*max-locktime-blocks*='BLOCKS'::
    The longest our funds can be delayed (ie. the longest *watchtime-blocks*
    our peer can ask for, and also the longest HTLC timeout we will accept).
    If our peer asks for longer, we'll refuse to create a channel, and if an
    HTLC asks for longer, we'll refuse it.

*funding-confirms*='BLOCKS'::
    Confirmations required for the funding transaction when the other side
    opens a channel before the channel is usable.

*commit-fee*='PERCENT'::
    The percentage of 'estimatesmartfee 2' to use for the bitcoin
    transaction which funds a channel: can be greater than 100.

*commit-fee-min*='PERCENT'::
*commit-fee-max*='PERCENT'::
    Limits on what onchain fee range we'll allow when a node opens a
    channel with us, as a percentage of 'estimatesmartfee 2'.  If
    they're outside this range, we abort their opening attempt.  Note
    that *commit-fee-max* can (should!) be greater than 100.

*cltv-delta*='BLOCKS'::
    The number of blocks between incoming payments and outgoing payments:
    this needs to be enough to make sure that if we have to, we can close
    the outgoing payment before the incoming, or redeem the incoming once
    the outgoing is redeemed.

*cltv-final*='BLOCKS'::
    The number of blocks to allow for payments we receive: if we have to,
    we might need to redeem this on-chain, so this is the number of blocks
    we have to do that.

Invoice control options:

*autocleaninvoice-cycle*='SECONDS'::
    Perform cleanup of expired invoices every 'SECONDS' seconds, or
    disable if 0.  Usually unpaid expired invoices are uninteresting,
    and just take up space in the database.

*autocleaninvoice-expired-by*='SECONDS'::
    Control how long invoices must have been expired before they are
    cleaned (if 'autocleaninvoice-cycle' is non-zero).

Networking options:

Note that for simple setups, the implicit 'autolisten' option does the
right thing: it will try to bind to port 9735 on IPv4 and IPv6, and
will announce it to peers if it's seems like a public address.

You can instead use 'addr' to override this (eg. to change the port),
or precisely control where to bind and what to announce with the
'bind-addr' and 'announce-addr' options.

*addr*='[IPADDRESS[:PORT]]|autotor:TORIPADDRESS[:TORPORT]'::

    Set an IP address (v4 or v6) or automatic Tor address to listen on
    and (maybe) announce as our node address.

    An empty 'IPADDRESS' is a special value meaning bind to IPv4 and/or
    IPv6 on all interfaces, '0.0.0.0' means bind to all IPv4
    interfaces, '::' means 'bind to all IPv6 interfaces'.  If 'PORT' is
    not specified, 9735 is used.  If we can determine a public IP
    address from the resulting binding, and no other addresses of the
    same type are already announced, the address is announced.

    If the argument begins with 'autotor:' then it is followed by the
    IPv4 or IPv6 address of the Tor control port (default port 9051),
    and this will be used to configure a Tor hidden service for port
    9735.  The Tor hidden service will be configured to point to the
    first IPv4 or IPv6 address we bind to.

    This option can be used multiple times to add more addresses, and
    its use disables autolisten.  If necessary, and 'always-use-proxy'
    is not specified, a DNS lookup may be done to resolve 'IPADDRESS'
    or 'TORIPADDRESS'.

*bind-addr*='[IPADDRESS[:PORT]]|SOCKETPATH'::

    Set an IP address or UNIX domain socket to listen to, but do not
    announce.  A UNIX domain socket is distinguished from an IP address
    by beginning with a '/'.

    An empty 'IPADDRESS' is a special value meaning bind to IPv4 and/or
    IPv6 on all interfaces, '0.0.0.0' means bind to all IPv4
    interfaces, '::' means 'bind to all IPv6 interfaces'.  'PORT' is
    not specified, 9735 is used.

    This option can be used multiple times to add more addresses, and
    its use disables autolisten.  If necessary, and 'always-use-proxy'
    is not specified, a DNS lookup may be done to resolve 'IPADDRESS'.

*announce-addr*='IPADDRESS[:PORT]|TORADDRESS.onion[:PORT]'::

    Set an IP (v4 or v6) address or Tor address to announce; a Tor address is
    distinguished by ending in '.onion'.  'PORT' defaults to 9735.

    Empty or wildcard IPv4 and IPv6 addresses don't make sense here.
    Also, unlike the 'addr' option, there is no checking that your
    announced addresses are public (e.g. not localhost).

    This option can be used multiple times to add more addresses, and
    its use disables autolisten.  The spec says you can't announce
    more that one address of the same type (eg. two IPv4 or two IPv6
    addresses) so `lightningd` will refuse if you specify more than one.

    If necessary, and 'always-use-proxy' is not specified, a DNS
    lookup may be done to resolve 'IPADDRESS'.

*offline*::
    Do not bind to any ports, and do not try to reconnect to any peers.
    This can be useful for maintenance and forensics, so is usually
    specified on the command line.  Overrides all 'addr' and 'bind-addr'
    options.

*autolisten*='BOOL'::
    By default, we bind (and maybe announce) on IPv4 and IPv6 interfaces if
    no 'addr', 'bind-addr' or 'announce-addr' options are specified.  Setting
    this to 'false' disables that.

*proxy*='IPADDRESS[:PORT]'::
    Set a socks proxy to use to connect to Tor nodes (or for all connections if
    *always-use-proxy* is set).

*always-use-proxy*='BOOL'::
    Always use the *proxy*, even to connect to normal IP addresses (you
    can still connect to Unix domain sockets manually).  This also disables
    all DNS lookups, to avoid leaking information.

*disable-dns*::
    Disable the DNS bootstrapping mechanism to find a node by its node ID.

*tor-service-password*='PASSWORD'::
    Set a Tor control password, which may be needed for 'autotor:' to
    authenticate to the Tor control port.

BUGS
----
You should report bugs on our github issues page, and maybe submit a
fix to gain our eternal gratitude!

AUTHOR
------
Rusty Russell <rusty@rustcorp.com.au> wrote this man page, and much
of the configuration language, but many others did the hard work
of actually implementing these options.

RESOURCES
---------
Main web site: https://github.com/ElementsProject/lightning

COPYING
-------
Note: the modules in the ccan/ directory have their own licenses, but
the rest of the code is covered by the BSD-style MIT license.