lightning/doc/lightningd-config.5.md

lightningd-config -- Lightning daemon configuration file
========================================================

SYNOPSIS
--------

**~/.lightning/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 changed 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*.

 **signet**
Alias for *network=signet*.

 **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.

 **bitcoin-retry-timeout**=*SECONDS*
Number of seconds to keep trying a bitcoin-cli(1) command. If the
command keeps failing after this time, exit with a fatal error.

 **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* and
*--lightning-dir* 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(8) 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.

### Lightning node customization options

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

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*
Default: 1000. The base fee to charge for every payment which passes
through. Note that millisatoshis are a very, very small unit! Changing
this value will only affect new channels and not existing ones. If you
want to change fees for existing channels, use the RPC call
lightning-setchannelfee(7).

 **fee-per-satoshi**=*MILLIONTHS*
Default: 10 (0.001%). 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%. Changing this value will only
affect new channels and not existing ones. If you want to change fees
for existing channels, use the RPC call lightning-setchannelfee(7).

 **min-capacity-sat**=*SATOSHI*
Default: 10000. This value defines the minimal effective channel
capacity in satoshi to accept for channel opening requests. If a peer
tries to open a channel smaller than this, the opening will be rejected.

 **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.

 **max-concurrent-htlcs**=*INTEGER*
Number of HTLCs one channel can handle concurrently in each direction.
Should be between 1 and 483 (default 30).

 **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 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. These will **disable** the
*autolisten* logic, so you must specifiy exactly what you want!

 **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.

### Lightning Plugins

lightningd(8) supports plugins, which offer additional configuration
options and JSON-RPC methods, depending on the plugin. Some are supplied
by default (usually located in **libexec/c-lightning/plugins/**). If a
**plugins** directory exists under *lightning-dir* that is searched for
plugins along with any immediate subdirectories). You can specify
additional paths too:

 **plugin**=*PATH*
Specify a plugin to run as part of c-lightning. This can be specified
multiple times to add multiple plugins.

 **plugin-dir**=*DIRECTORY*
Specify a directory to look for plugins; all executable files not
containing punctuation (other than *.*, *-* or *\_) in 'DIRECTORY* are
loaded. *DIRECTORY* must exist; this can be specified multiple times to
add multiple directories.

 **clear-plugins**
This option clears all *plugin* and *plugin-dir* options preceeding it,
including the default built-in plugin directory. You can still add
*plugin-dir* and *plugin* options following this and they will have the
normal effect.

 **disable-plugin**=*PLUGIN*
If *PLUGIN* contains a /, plugins with the same path as *PLUGIN* are
disabled. Otherwise, any plugin with that base name is disabled,
whatever directory it is in.

BUGS
----

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

AUTHOR
------

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

SEE ALSO
--------

lightning-listconfigs(7) lightning-setchannelfee(7) lightningd(8)

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.