Install Xcode Command Line Tools
$ xcode-select --installInstall Homebrew (a package manager for macOS)
$ /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"Install required packages
$ brew install build-essential libtool autotools-dev automake pkg-config bsdmainutils python3 libsqlite3-dev libminiupnpc-dev libnatpmp-dev systemtap-sdt-dev libqt5gui5 libqt5core5a libqt5dbus5 qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtwayland5 libqrencode-dev gcc-c++ libtool make autoconf pkgconf qrencode-devel automake libtool boost pkg-config libevent zeromq gnu-tar berkeley-db@4append BerkleyDB to the $PATH by appending ~/.zshrc with the following:
export PATH="/usr/local/opt/berkeley-db@4/bin:$PATH"install Go for Lightning Network
$ brew install go
For the sake of this tutorial we will assume that we work in the ~/work/ folder. We will create the following structure:
~/work
├── bitcoin
│ └── bitcoin source code
│
├── lnd
│ └── lightning network source code
│
├── locallnd
│ ├── .bitcoin
│ │  └── bitcoin.conf - bitcoin node configuration
│ │
│ ├── .lnd
│ │  ├── data
│ │  │  └── chain
│ │  │    └── bitcoin
│ │  │    └── regtest
│ │  │    └── admin.macaroon
│ │  ├── lnd.conf - lightning node configuration
│ │  └── tls.cert
│ │
│ ├── .lnd2
│ │  ├── data
│ │  │  └── chain
│ │  │    └── bitcoin
│ │  │    └── regtest
│ │  │    └── admin.macaroon
│ │  ├── lnd.conf - lightning node configuration
│ │  └── tls.cert
│ │
│ ├── .lnd3
│ │  ├── data
│ │  │  └── chain
│ │  │    └── bitcoin
│ │  │    └── regtest
│ │  │    └── admin.macaroon
│ │  ├── lnd.conf - lightning node configuration
│ │  └── tls.cert
│ │
│ ├── .secret
│ │  └── password.txt - lnd wallet unlock password
│ │
│ ├── .wallet - wallet configurations
│ │  ├── btctest.conf
│ │  ├── lndtest.conf
│ │  ├── lndwallettest.conf
│ │  ├── wallet.conf
│ │ ├── walletdata
│ │ │  ├── wallet.db-wal - wallet database
│ │ │  ├── wallet.db-shm - wallet database
│ │ │  └── wallet.db - wallet database
│ │  └── wallettest.conf
We will compile bitcoin from source code and use regtest network. Regtest is a local testing environment in which developers can almost instantly generate blocks on demand for testing events, and can create private satoshis with no real-world value.
$ git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.gitBuild Bitcoin Core and we dont need gui but we want to have wallet so we can top-up our LND nodes.
$ cd bitcoin
$ ./autogen.sh
$ ./configure --without-gui
$ make
$ make installNow we can configure out local node. We will set it in a bitstein receipe way [https://medium.com/@bitstein/setting-up-a-bitcoin-lightning-network-test-environment-ab967167594a]
First we nee to generate rpcauth string. We’ll use the username lnd and the password lightning to access the local bitcoin code over RPC.
$ ./share/rpcauth/rpcauth.py lnd lightning
String to be appended to bitcoin.conf:
rpcauth=lnd:f4cc00eef8b9dfd35f4df6e710ae3226$8db6ecb06da4786931f025661f7c29cb5b4ba3f83e6c9a1f5ecb3825c8dc3648
Your password:
lightningNow we create a bitcoin.conf configuration file. This file should be placed under ~/work/locallnd/.bitcoin/ folder. Remember to enter the proper rpcauth string into the configuration.
regtest=1
daemon=1
txindex=1
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
fallbackfee=0.0002
rpcauth=lnd:f4cc00eef8b9dfd35f4df6e710ae3226$8db6ecb06da4786931f025661f7c29cb5b4ba3f83e6c9a1f5ecb3825c8dc3648
zmqpubrawblock=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332
zmqpubrawtx=tcp://127.0.0.1:28333
[regtest]
rpcport=18332We use regtest mode, run as a daemon, and keep an index of all transactions, sets up RPC authentication and ZMQ ports for LND to use to communicate with the node. We are allso explicitly specyfing fallbackfee as we will not use a transaction fee discovery.
Now we need to setup some shortcuts that will allow us to work with bitcoin deamon and bitcoin-cli. We create aliases bitcoind-local for our configured bitcoind and bitcoin-local-cli for bitcoin-cli by appending ~/.zshrc with the following:
export BITCOIN_LOCAL_DIR="$HOME/work/locallnd/.bitcoin"
alias bitcoind-local="$HOME/work/bitcoin/src/bitcoind -datadir=$BITCOIN_LOCAL_DIR"
alias bitcoin-local-cli="$HOME/work/bitcoin/src/bitcoin-cli -datadir=$BITCOIN_LOCAL_DIR"Remember to source the ~/.zshrc after the modification
$ source ~/.zshrcNow, you can run your Bitcoin node from the terminal.
$ bitcoind-local
Bitcoin Core startingLater you can stop the node with
$ bitcoin-local-cli stop
Bitcoin Core stoppingWe need to create our testwallet
$ bitcoin-local-cli createwallet "testwallet"
{
"name": "testwallet"
}you can load this wallet with
$ bitcoin-local-cli loadwallet "testwallet"
{
"name": "testwallet"
}Coins are not spendable by miners until there are 100 confirmations, so we need to mine 101 blocks.
$ bitcoin-local-cli -generate 101
{
"address": "bcrt1qgp3ypd36cx2f8enkmj62hxdtk5ddf7k0me3ghk",
"blocks": [
"326ab3433812e028779c7740b47892d7c6386a117f922105c7bf7141dbc76268",
...
"6564de0b4d184a398ff4bc1a165bebf49fa3b85fc3f893e01bbf35fd33e791bc"
]
}Now you should see a positive balance:
$ bitcoin-local-cli getbalance
0.39062500Now you should be able to run and play with BTCTest program from the solution. To work with this programm you need to put btctest.conf configuration file under ~/work/locallnd/.wallet/
[Bitcoin]
AuthenticationString="lnd:lightning"
HostOrUri="127.0.0.1:18332"
Network="RegTest"
[User]
WalletName = "testwallet"And run it with:
$ dotnet ~/work/donttrustverify/apibtc/net/BTCTest/bin/Debug/net7.0/BTCTest.dll --basedir="$HOME/work/locallnd/.wallet/"
Number of blocks: 1262
Wallet ballance: 14876.06431636It displays the block-height and ballance of the local bitcoin wallet in Satoshis.
We will configure 3 local LND nodes that will be refering to our local bitcoin node.
graph BT
BTC(Bitcoind\non RegTest Network) -- RPC --- LND1(LND1)
BTC(Bitcoind\non RegTest Network) -- RPC --- LND2(LND2)
BTC(Bitcoind\non RegTest Network) -- RPC --- LND3(LND3)
First we need to clone the repo into our ~/work directory
$ git clone https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lndAnd build it with support of HODL invoices
$ cd lnd
$ make tags="signrpc walletrpc routerrpc invoicesrpc chainrpc" && make install
$ make checkNow we need to configure LND nodes.
Configure the first one by putting the lnd.conf file into ~/work/locallnd/.lnd/
[Application Options]
listen=0.0.0.0:9735
rpclisten=localhost:10009
restlisten=0.0.0.0:8080
[Bitcoin]
bitcoin.active=1
bitcoin.regtest=1
bitcoin.node=bitcoind
[Bitcoind]
bitcoind.rpchost=localhost
bitcoind.rpcuser=lnd
bitcoind.rpcpass=lightning
bitcoind.zmqpubrawblock=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332
bitcoind.zmqpubrawtx=tcp://127.0.0.1:28333Second one by putting the lnd.conf file into ~/work/locallnd/.lnd2/
[Application Options]
listen=0.0.0.0:9734
rpclisten=localhost:11009
restlisten=0.0.0.0:8180
[Bitcoin]
bitcoin.active=1
bitcoin.regtest=1
bitcoin.node=bitcoind
[Bitcoind]
bitcoind.rpchost=localhost
bitcoind.rpcuser=lnd
bitcoind.rpcpass=lightning
bitcoind.zmqpubrawblock=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332
bitcoind.zmqpubrawtx=tcp://127.0.0.1:28333Third one by putting the lnd.conf file into ~/work/locallnd/.lnd3/
[Application Options]
listen=0.0.0.0:9736
rpclisten=localhost:11010
restlisten=0.0.0.0:8181
[Bitcoin]
bitcoin.active=1
bitcoin.regtest=1
bitcoin.node=bitcoind
[Bitcoind]
bitcoind.rpchost=localhost
bitcoind.rpcuser=lnd
bitcoind.rpcpass=lightning
bitcoind.zmqpubrawblock=tcp://127.0.0.1:28332
bitcoind.zmqpubrawtx=tcp://127.0.0.1:28333This configures their GRPC/RPC and REST addresses and points them to our bitcoin node. Note the differences in port numbers.
We need to add aliases for our nodes by appending ~/.zshrc with the following:
export LND1_DIR="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd"
export LND2_DIR="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd2"
export LND3_DIR="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd3"
alias lnd1="$HOME/work/lnd/lnd-debug --lnddir=$LND1_DIR"
alias lnd2="$HOME/work/lnd/lnd-debug --lnddir=$LND2_DIR"
alias lnd3="$HOME/work/lnd/lnd-debug --lnddir=$LND3_DIR"
alias lncli1="$HOME/work/lnd/lncli-debug -n regtest --lnddir=$LND1_DIR"
alias lncli2="$HOME/work/lnd/lncli-debug -n regtest --lnddir=$LND2_DIR --rpcserver=localhost:11009"
alias lncli3="$HOME/work/lnd/lncli-debug -n regtest --lnddir=$LND3_DIR --rpcserver=localhost:11010"Remember to source the ~/.zshrc after the modification
$ source ~/.zshrcNow we can setup LND node wallets. Firts start the node:
$ lnd1And create the wallet. Use the password testertester.
$ lncli1 createDo the same for all three nodes.
Now we will configure the nodes for automatic wallet unlocking. This can be done by creating the textfile with password from above (testertester) and referring to this file when starting the node.
$ lnd1 --wallet-unlock-password-file=$HOME/work/locallnd/.secret/password.txt &This will start the node and unlock the wallet automatically. If the LND is not synched, we can speed it up with mining a few blocks.
$ bitcoin-local-cli -generate 6In the same way you should start both other nodes
$ lnd2 --wallet-unlock-password-file=$HOME/work/locallnd/.secret/password.txt &and
$ lnd3 --wallet-unlock-password-file=$HOME/work/locallnd/.secret/password.txt &LNDTest app allows you to play with LNDClient library. The app creates 3 instances of LNDClient for each of the LND nodes we have set up before.
graph BT
BTC(Bitcoind\non RegTest Network) -- RPC --- LND1(LND1)
BTC(Bitcoind\non RegTest Network) -- RPC --- LND2(LND2)
BTC(Bitcoind\non RegTest Network) -- RPC --- LND3(LND3)
LND1 -- LNDClient --- LNT(LNDTest)
LND2 -- LNDClient --- LNT(LNDTest)
LND3 -- LNDClient --- LNT(LNDTest)
To work with this 'LNDTest' you need to put lndtest.conf configuration file under ~/work/locallnd/.wallet/
[Bitcoin]
AuthenticationString="lnd:lightning"
HostOrUri="127.0.0.1:18332"
Network="RegTest"
WalletName = "testwallet"
[LndNodes]
NodeSections = ["Lnd1","Lnd2","Lnd3"]
[Lnd1]
MacaroonFile="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/regtest/admin.macaroon"
TlsCertFile="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd/tls.cert"
RpcHost = "localhost:10009"
ListenHost="localhost:9735"
MaxSatoshisPerChannel = 1000000
[Lnd2]
MacaroonFile="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd2/data/chain/bitcoin/regtest/admin.macaroon"
TlsCertFile="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd2/tls.cert"
RpcHost = "localhost:11009"
ListenHost="localhost:9734"
MaxSatoshisPerChannel = 1000000
[Lnd3]
MacaroonFile="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd3/data/chain/bitcoin/regtest/admin.macaroon"
TlsCertFile="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd3/tls.cert"
RpcHost = "localhost:11010"
ListenHost="localhost:9736"
MaxSatoshisPerChannel = 1000000
They are pointing to the Macaroon files and Tls Certificates that were generated during the startup of the LND nodes. https://docs.lightning.engineering/the-lightning-network/l402/macaroons
$ dotnet ~/work/donttrustverify/apibtc/net/LNDTest/bin/Debug/net7.0/LNDTest.dll --basedir="$HOME/work/locallnd/.giggossip/"
localhost:9735 Pubkey: 02ab5c7f2ff8c0962892467165bbe6fff3253a53d7b44aeaa5b44c851916384411
localhost:9734 Pubkey: 02c4708baffce0e83ed0f91ae7de1726dea44100ca9ac03cef8c899d07f673f8ee
localhost:9736 Pubkey: 03440b27f8d0ba1f3bb6d1a92e7181367d3ba89c9057d70cc3fecb76246311db5dThe app displays first the identity public keys of the nodes and uses them to connects the LND nodes into structure like this:
graph BT
LND2(LND2) -.- LND1(LND1)
LND2(LND2) -.- LND3(LND3)
You can obtain pubkeys of LND node also in the following way:
$ lncli1 getinfo
{
"version": "0.16.99-beta commit=tor/v1.1.1-76-gc3cd93c98",
"commit_hash": "c3cd93c98a7c48c97a8264350fa2ef72e4188c28",
"identity_pubkey": "02ab5c7f2ff8c0962892467165bbe6fff3253a53d7b44aeaa5b44c851916384411",
"alias": "02ab...
...Public keys of the nodes are important to properly configure the LNDWallet described in next sections.
LNDTest app is then checking the ballance of the node localhost:9734 and if empty it tops it up with local Bitcoin amount from Bitcoin network. It is then opening channels and creating some invoices and payments. Give it a try.
Lightning Network node usually sits on the same Virtual Network as Bitcoin node, therefore makes it practically imposible to become a client-side solution. Client applications like mobile-apps need to communicate with the node via API. This API is implemented in WalletAPI exposes the OpenAPI allowing to work with User Accounts. Multiple User Accounts can share the same Lightnig Network Node. Accounts and transactions that are maintained by the same WalletAPI reside in local databases of the wallet.
graph BT
BTC((Bitcoin Network)) -.- LNT((Lightning Network))
BTC -.- LNT
BTC -.- LNT
BTC -.- LNT
BTC -.- LNT
BTC -.- LNT
BTC -.- LNT
BTC -.- LNT
LNT((Lightning Network)) -.- LND1(LND1)
LNT((Lightning Network)) -.- LND2(LND2)
LNT((Lightning Network)) -.- LND3(LND3)
subgraph LND Wallet1
LND1 -- LNDClient --- WLT1(Wallet1API)
WDB1[(Wallet1DB)] --- WLT1
end
subgraph LND Wallet2
LND2 -- LNDClient --- WLT2(Wallet2API)
WDB2[(Wallet2DB)] --- WLT2
end
subgraph LND Wallet3
LND3 -- LNDClient --- WLT3(Wallet3API)
WDB3[(Wallet3DB)] --- WLT3
end
WLT1 -- LND Account ---- U1(User1)
WLT2 -- LND Account ---- U2(User2)
WLT2 -- LND Account ---- U3(User3)
WLT2 -- LND Account ---- U4(User4)
WLT2 -- LND Account ---- U5(User5)
WLT2 -- LND Account ---- U6(User6)
WLT3 -- LND Account ---- U7(User7)
WLT3 -- LND Account ---- U8(User8)
WLT3 -- LND Account ---- U9(User9)
The configuration file for WalletAPI sits in wallet.conf inside of ~/work/locallnd/.wallet/ folder and has the following structure:
[Wallet]
ServiceUri = "https://localhost:7101/"
ConnectionString="Data Source=$HOME/work/locallnd/.wallet/walletdata/wallet.db"
NewAddressTxFee = 100
AddInvoiceTxFee = 100
SendPaymentTxFee = 100
FeeLimit = 1000
EstimatedTxFee = 1000
[Lnd]
MacaroonFile="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd2/data/chain/bitcoin/regtest/admin.macaroon"
TlsCertFile="$HOME/work/locallnd/.lnd2/tls.cert"
RpcHost = "localhost:11009"
ListenHost="localhost:9734"
FriendNodes= ["02ab5c7f2ff8c0962892467165bbe6fff3253a53d7b44aeaa5b44c851916384411@localhost:9735","03440b27f8d0ba1f3bb6d1a92e7181367d3ba89c9057d70cc3fecb76246311db5d@localhost:9736"]
MaxSatoshisPerChannel = 1000000The file specifies ServiceUri - the endpoint OpenAPI uri on which the Wallet API operates, ConnectionString - the conenction string for the internal Wallet database, fees for operation, FeeLimit - meaining the maximal fee the operator of the wallet agrees to pay to Lightning Network for the payment route and EstimatedTxFee - the estimation of the Fee for the payment.
The LND node configuration section contains the list of FriendNodes in the format <node public key>@<node listening host>. The node tries to connect to these nodes and manages open channels with them. The MaxSatoshisPerChannel means the maximal amout that can be used to open a new channel. Channels are managed automatically by the Wallet.
To start the WalletAPI we write:
$ dotnet $HOME/work/donttrustverify/gig-gossip/net/WalletAPI/bin/Debug/net7.0/WalletAPI.dll --basedir="$HOME/work/locallnd/.wallet/"