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https://github.com/lightningdevkit/rust-lightning

A highly modular Bitcoin Lightning library written in Rust. It's rust-lightning, not Rusty's Lightning!
https://github.com/lightningdevkit/rust-lightning

bitcoin lightning-network

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A highly modular Bitcoin Lightning library written in Rust. It's rust-lightning, not Rusty's Lightning!

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README 

        
Rust-Lightning

==============



[![Crate](https://img.shields.io/crates/v/lightning.svg?logo=rust)](https://crates.io/crates/lightning)

[![Documentation](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?logo=read-the-docs&label=docs.rs&message=lightning&color=informational)](https://docs.rs/lightning/)

[![Safety Dance](https://img.shields.io/badge/unsafe-forbidden-success.svg)](https://github.com/rust-secure-code/safety-dance/)

[![Security Audit](https://github.com/lightningdevkit/rust-lightning/actions/workflows/audit.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/lightningdevkit/rust-lightning/actions/workflows/audit.yml)



[LDK](https://lightningdevkit.org)/`rust-lightning` is a highly performant and flexible

implementation of the Lightning Network protocol.



The primary crate, `lightning`, is runtime-agnostic. Data persistence, chain interactions,

and networking can be provided by LDK's [sample modules](#crates), or you may provide your

own custom implementations.

More information is available in the [`About`](#about) section.



Status

------

The project implements all of the [BOLT specifications](https://github.com/lightning/bolts),

and has been in production use since 2021. As with any Lightning implementation, care and attention

to detail is important for safe deployment.



Communications for `rust-lightning` and Lightning Development Kit happen through

our LDK [Discord](https://discord.gg/5AcknnMfBw) channels.



Crates

-----------

1. [lightning](./lightning)

  The core of the LDK library, implements the Lightning protocol, channel state machine,

  and on-chain logic. Supports `no_std` and exposes only relatively low-level interfaces.

2. [lightning-background-processor](./lightning-background-processor)

  Utilities to perform required background tasks for Rust Lightning.

3. [lightning-block-sync](./lightning-block-sync)

  Utilities to fetch the chain data from a block source and feed them into Rust Lightning.

4. [lightning-invoice](./lightning-invoice)

  Data structures to parse and serialize

  [BOLT #11](https://github.com/lightning/bolts/blob/master/11-payment-encoding.md)

  Lightning invoices.

5. [lightning-net-tokio](./lightning-net-tokio)

  Implementation of the `rust-lightning` network stack using the

  [Tokio](https://github.com/tokio-rs/tokio) `async` runtime. For `rust-lightning`

  clients which wish to make direct connections to Lightning P2P nodes, this is

  a simple alternative to implementing the required network stack, especially

  for those already using Tokio.

6. [lightning-persister](./lightning-persister)

  Implements utilities to manage `rust-lightning` channel data persistence and retrieval.

  Persisting channel data is crucial to avoiding loss of channel funds.

7. [lightning-rapid-gossip-sync](./lightning-rapid-gossip-sync)

  Client for rapid gossip graph syncing, aimed primarily at mobile clients.



About

-----------

LDK/`rust-lightning` is a generic library that allows you to build a Lightning

node without needing to worry about getting all of the Lightning state machine,

routing, and on-chain punishment code (and other chain interactions) exactly

correct. Note that LDK isn't, in itself, a node. For an out-of-the-box Lightning

node based on LDK, see [LDK-sample](https://github.com/lightningdevkit/ldk-sample). However, if you

want to integrate Lightning with custom features such as your own chain sync,

key management, data storage/backup logic, etc., LDK is likely your best option.

Some `rust-lightning` utilities such as those in

[`chan_utils`](./lightning/src/ln/chan_utils.rs) are also suitable for use in

non-LN Bitcoin applications such as Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) and bulletin boards.



Also check out [LDK-node](https://github.com/lightningdevkit/ldk-node) library

if you want to easily integrate lightning in your application without taking care of

all the boiler plate code.



In general, `rust-lightning` does not provide (but LDK has implementations of):

* on-disk storage - you can store the channel state any way you want - whether

  Google Drive/iCloud, a local disk, any key-value store/database/a remote

  server, or any combination of them - we provide a clean API that provides

  objects which can be serialized into simple binary blobs, and stored in any

  way you wish.

* blockchain data - we provide a simple `block_connected`/`block_disconnected`

  API which you provide block headers and transaction information to. We also

  provide an API for getting information about transactions we wish to be

  informed of, which is compatible with Electrum server requests/neutrino

  filtering/etc.

* UTXO management - RL/LDK owns on-chain funds as long as they are claimable as

  part of a Lightning output which can be contested - once a channel is closed

  and all on-chain outputs are spendable only by the user, we provide users

  notifications that a UTXO is "theirs" again and it is up to them to spend it

  as they wish. Additionally, channel funding is accomplished with a generic API

  which notifies users of the output which needs to appear on-chain, which they

  can then create a transaction for. Once a transaction is created, we handle

  the rest. This is a large part of our API's goals - making it easier to

  integrate Lightning into existing on-chain wallets which have their own

  on-chain logic - without needing to move funds in and out of a separate

  Lightning wallet with on-chain transactions and a separate private key system.

* networking - to enable a user to run a full Lightning node on an embedded

  machine, we don't specify exactly how to connect to another node at all! We

  provide a default implementation which uses TCP sockets, but, e.g., if you

  wanted to run your full Lightning node on a hardware wallet, you could, by

  piping the Lightning network messages over USB/serial and then sending them in

  a TCP socket from another machine.

* private keys - again we have "default implementations", but users can choose to

  provide private keys to RL/LDK in any way they wish following a simple API. We

  even support a generic API for signing transactions, allowing users to run

  RL/LDK without any private keys in memory/putting private keys only on

  hardware wallets.



LDK's customizability was presented about at Advancing Bitcoin in February 2020:

https://vimeo.com/showcase/8372504/video/412818125



Design Goal

-----------

The goal is to provide a fully-featured and incredibly flexible Lightning

implementation, allowing users to decide how they wish to use it. With that

in mind, everything should be exposed via simple, composable APIs. More

information about `rust-lightning`'s flexibility is provided in the `About`

section above.



For security reasons, do not add new dependencies. Really do not add new

non-optional/non-test/non-library dependencies. Really really do not add

dependencies with dependencies. Do convince Andrew to cut down dependency usage

in `rust-bitcoin`.



Rust-Lightning vs. LDK (Lightning Development Kit)

-------------

`rust-lightning` refers to the core `lightning` crate within this repo, whereas

LDK encompasses `rust-lightning` and all of its sample modules and crates (e.g.

the `lightning-persister` crate), language bindings, sample node

implementation(s), and other tools built around using `rust-lightning` for

Lightning integration or building a Lightning node.



Tagline

-------



*"Rust-Lightning, not Rusty's Lightning!"*



Contributing

------------



Contributors are warmly welcome, see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).



Project Architecture

---------------------



For a `rust-lightning` high-level API introduction, see [ARCH.md](ARCH.md).



License is either Apache-2.0 or MIT, at the option of the user (ie dual-license

Apache-2.0 and MIT).