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This PR: - adds all the guides (in markdown format) that is published at https://docs.corelightning.org/docs - adds a github workflow to sync any future changes made to files inside the guides folder - does not include API reference (json-rpc commands). Those will be handled in a separate PR since they're used as manpages and will require a different github workflow Note that the guides do not exactly map to their related files in doc/, since we reorganized the overall documentation structure on readme for better readability and developer experience. For example, doc/FUZZING.md and doc/HACKING.md#Testing are merged into testing.md in the new docs. As on the creation date of this PR, content from each of the legacy documents has been synced with the new docs. Until this PR gets merged, I will continue to push any updates made to the legacy documents into the new docs. If this looks reasonable, I will add a separate PR to clean up the legacy documents from doc/ (or mark them deprecated) to avoid redundant upkeep and maintenance. Changelog-None
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| title | slug | excerpt | hidden | createdAt | updatedAt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Running your node | beginners-guide | A guide to all the basics you need to get up and running immediately. | false | 2022-11-18T14:27:50.098Z | 2023-02-21T13:49:20.132Z |
Starting lightningd
Regtest (local, fast-start) option
If you want to experiment with lightningd, there's a script to set up a bitcoind regtest test network of two local lightning nodes, which provides a convenient start_ln helper. See the notes at the top of the startup_regtest.sh file for details on how to use it.
. contrib/startup_regtest.sh
Note that your local nodeset will be much faster/more responsive if you've configured your node to expose the developer options, e.g.
./configure --enable-developer
Mainnet Option
To test with real bitcoin, you will need to have a local bitcoind node running:
bitcoind -daemon
Wait until bitcoind has synchronized with the network.
Make sure that you do not have walletbroadcast=0 in your ~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf, or you may run into trouble.
Notice that running lightningd against a pruned node may cause some issues if not managed carefully, see pruning for more information.
You can start lightningd with the following command:
lightningd --network=bitcoin --log-level=debug
This creates a .lightning/ subdirectory in your home directory: see man -l doc/lightningd.8 (or ???) for more runtime options.
Using The JSON-RPC Interface
Core Lightning exposes a JSON-RPC 2.0 interface over a Unix Domain socket; the lightning-cli tool can be used to access it, or there is a python client library.
You can use [lightning-cli](ref:lightning-cli) help to print a table of RPC methods; [lightning-cli](lightning-cli) help <command> will offer specific information on that command.
Useful commands:
- lightning-newaddr: get a bitcoin address to deposit funds into your lightning node.
- lightning-listfunds: see where your funds are.
- lightning-connect: connect to another lightning node.
- lightning-fundchannel: create a channel to another connected node.
- lightning-invoice: create an invoice to get paid by another node.
- lightning-pay: pay someone else's invoice.
- lightning-plugin: commands to control extensions.
Care And Feeding Of Your New Lightning Node
Once you've started for the first time, there's a script called contrib/bootstrap-node.sh which will connect you to other nodes on the lightning network.
There are also numerous plugins available for Core Lightning which add capabilities: see the Plugins guide, and check out the plugin collection at: https://github.com/lightningd/plugins, including helpme which guides you through setting up your first channels and customising your node.
For a less reckless experience, you can encrypt the HD wallet seed: see HD wallet encryption.