lightning-cli -- Control lightning daemon
=========================================

SYNOPSIS
--------

**lightning-cli** \[*OPTIONS*\] *command*

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

**lightning-cli** sends commands to the lightning daemon.

OPTIONS
-------

* **--lightning-dir**=*DIR*

  Set the directory for the lightning daemon we're talking to; defaults to
*$HOME/.lightning*.

* **--conf**=*PATH*

  Sets configuration file (default: **lightning-dir**/*config* ).

* **--network**=*network*
* **--mainnet**
* **--testnet**
* **--testnet4**
* **--signet**
* **--regtest**

  Sets network explicitly.

* **--rpc-file**=*FILE*

  Named pipe to use to talk to lightning daemon: default is
*lightning-rpc* in the lightning directory.

* **--keywords**/**-k**

  Use format *key*=*value* for parameters in any order

* **--order**/**-o**

  Follow strictly the order of parameters for the command

* **--json**/**-J**

  Return result in JSON format (default unless *help* command,
or result contains a `format-hint` field).

* **--raw**/**-R**

  Return raw JSON directly as lightningd replies; this can be faster for
large requests.

* **--human-readable**/**-H**

  Return result in human-readable output.

* **--flat**/**-F**

  Return JSON result in flattened one-per-line output, e.g. `{ "help":
[ { "command": "check" } ] }` would become `help[0].command=check`.
This is useful for simple scripts which want to find a specific output
field without parsing JSON.

* **--notifications**/**-N**=*LEVEL*

  If *LEVEL* is 'none', then never print out notifications.  Otherwise,
print out notifications of *LEVEL* or above (one of `io`, `trace`, `debug`,
`info` (the default), `unusual` or `broken`: they are prefixed with `#
`.  (Note: currently not supported with `--commando`).

* **--filter**/**-l**=*JSON*

  This hands lightningd *JSON* as a filter, which controls what will be output, e.g. `'--filter={"help":[{"command":true}]}'`.  See lightningd-rpc(7) for more details on how to specify filters.

* **--help**/**-h**

  Pretty-print summary of options to standard output and exit.  The format can
be changed using `-F`, `-R`, `-J`, `-H` etc.

* **--version**/**-V**

  Print version number to standard output and exit.

* **--commando**/**-c**=**peerid**:**rune**

  Convenience option to indicate that this command should be wrapped
in a `commando` command to be sent to the connected peer with id
`peerid`, using rune `rune`.  This also means that any `--filter` is
handed via commando to the remote peer to reduce its output (which it
will do if it is v23.02 or newer), rather than trying to do so
locally.  Note that currently `-N` is not supported by commando.

COMMANDS
--------

*lightning-cli* simply uses the JSON RPC interface to talk to
*lightningd*, and prints the results. Thus the commands available depend
entirely on the lightning daemon itself.

ARGUMENTS
---------

Arguments may be provided positionally or using *key*=*value* after the
command name, based on either **-o** or **-k** option. When using **-k** 
consider prefixing all arguments of the command with their respective keyword, 
this is to avoid having lightningd interpret the position of an argument. 

Arguments may be integer numbers (composed entirely of digits), floating-point 
numbers (has a radix point but otherwise composed of digits), *true*, *false*,
or *null*. Arguments which begin with *`{`*, *`[`* or *`"`* are also considered
raw JSON and are passed through.  Other arguments are treated as strings.

Some commands have optional arguments. You may use *null* to skip
optional arguments to provide later arguments, although this is not encouraged.

EXAMPLE USAGE
-------------

1. List commands:

  * `lightning-cli help`

2. Fund a 10k sat channel using uncomfirmed outputs:

  * `lightning-cli --keywords fundchannel id=028f...ae7d amount=10000sat minconf=0`

BUGS
----

This manpage documents how it should work, not how it does work. The
pretty printing of results isn't pretty.

EXIT STATUS
-----------

If the command succeeds, the exit status is 0.  Otherwise:

* `1`: lightningd(7) returned an error reply (which is printed).
* `2`: we could not talk to lightningd.
* `3`: usage error, such as bad arguments or malformed JSON in the parameters.

AUTHOR
------

Rusty Russell [rusty@rustcorp.com.au](mailto:rusty@rustcorp.com.au) is mainly to blame.

RESOURCES
---------

Main web site: [https://github.com/ElementsProject/lightning](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.

