Overview
SLi (Simply Lightning) is a versatile shell utility designed to simplify Bitcoin Lightning Network node operations. It includes a built-in wallet, encrypted backup functionality, and a package manager for seamless management of Lightning-related tools. Created by 0xeeLi in 2025 under the MIT License, SLi is currently at version 0.3.0 (as of April 02, 2025).
Installation
Download sli-v0.3.0.tar.gz to get started with SLi and run the initialization command:
./sli init
This creates the necessary directory structure in ~/.sli,
installs SLi to /usr/local/bin/sli, and fetches the package
list from GitHub.
Note: SLi requires root privileges for installation
and some operations via sudo. Ensure dependencies like
gpg (for encrypted backup), and jq are
installed on your system. Optionnaly it use qrencode to
generate QR code for Lightning invoice. In case of missing depency,
SLi will warn you.
General Commands
| Command | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| init | Initialize SLi or a specific package (wallet, lit, lnd, ...) | sli init lit |
| start | Start a daemon | sli start lnd |
| stop | Stop a daemon | sli stop litd |
| rs | restart | Restart a daemon | sli restart litd |
| sc | show-config | Display a config file | sli show-config lit |
| ed | edit | Edit a config file using the default editor (nano) |
sli edit lit |
| lg | logs | Show the last logs for a service (default: 30 lines) | sli logs litd 50 |
| st | status | Show service status | sli status litd |
Node Manager
| Command | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| nh | node-health | Display node report (service, sync, peers, size) | sli node-health |
| sign | Sign message with your node private key | sli sign |
| connect | Connect to a remote peer | sli connect |
| peers | List connected peers with IP and Alias | sli peers |
| chan open | Open a Lightning channel (prompts for node ID and amount) | sli chan open |
| chan close | Close a Lightning channel (cooperative or forced) | sli chan close |
| chan list | List open Lightning channels with details | sli chan list |
| fees check | Check current fee policies (optional: <channel_point>) | sli fees check |
| fees set | Set fees interactively (global or specific channel) | sli fees set |
| fees adjust | Check current fee policies (optional: <channel_point>) | sli fees adjust |
| fees bump | Increase BTC transaction fees to speed up (RBF) | sli fees bump |
Tools
| Tool | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| m2h | macaroon-hex | Convert a macaroon file to HEX format | sli macaroon-hex admin |
| gpw | gen-passwords | Generate and optionally apply new passwords for wallet and Lit UI | sli gen-passwords |
| nb | node-backup | Create an encrypted backup of your node (wallet include) | sli node-backup |
| nr | node-restore | Restore a GPG-encrypted backup file | sli node-restore backup.gpg |
| ne | node-extract | Extract a GPG-encrypted backup for inspection | sli node-extract backup.gpg |
| sec | security-check | Security check on files created by SLi | sli sec |
| ping-amboss | Ping Amboss Heatl Check API (and creat systemd timer unit) | sli ping-amboss |
| wa | wallet | Manage the built-in wallet (see Wallet Commands) | sli wallet new |
Wallet Commands
SLi includes a built-in wallet for Bitcoin on-chain and
Lightning operations. Use the wallet tool as follows:
| Command | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| init | Initialize the wallet if none exists | sli wallet init |
| new | Create a new on-chain BTC address (p2wkh) | sli wallet new |
| send | Send BTC on-chain (prompts for address and amount) | sli wallet send |
| lsa | list-addresses | List on-chain wallet addresses with balances | sli wallet lsa |
| bal | balance | Display on-chain and channel balances | sli wallet balance |
| inv | invoice | Generate a Lightning invoice for receiving payments | sli wallet invoice |
| qri | qr-invoice | Generate a Lightning QR invoice | sli wallet qr-invoice |
| rqr | remove-qr | Remove latest QR invoice files | sli wallet remove-qr |
| pay | pay-invoice | Pay a Lightning invoice | sli wallet pay-invoice |
Packages Manager
SLi includes a package manager to install and manage Lightning-related tools.
| Command | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| in | install | Install a package (e.g., lit, loop, pool) | sli install lit |
| up | upgrade | Upgrade all installed packages | sli upgrade |
| gr | get-recipe | Download a package recipe to current directory | sli get-recipe lnd |
| ls | list | List installed and available packages | sli list |
| cc | clean-cache | Remove downloaded package tarballs from cache | sli clean-cache |
| rm | remove | Remove an installed package | sli remove lit |
Available Packages: SLi fetches packages from GitHub packages.list
Usage Examples
Initialize and start a Lightning Node
sli init lit sli start litd
Create a Wallet and check balance
sli wa new sli wa balance
Generate invoice or Pay an invoice
sli wa invoice sli wa pay-invoice
Manage Channels
sli chan list sli chan close
Configuration
SLi use configurations and data in the following directories:
~/.sli: SLi configuration, package data, and logs~/.lit: Lightning Terminal configuration file, SSL certificates and DB~/.lnd: LND data, macarrons and wallet files~/sli-backups: Encrypted backups (path can be customized in sli.conf)~/sli-invoice: QR invoice.png and invoice.txt (path can be customized in sli.conf)
Custom sli.conf
An optionnal SLi configuration file in ~/.sli/sli.conf
let you customize the edior (default: nano), backups
and QR invoice path, wallet password file. Here are the default
variables settings:
SLI_DIR="$HOME/.sli" WALLET_PASS="$LND_DIR/wallet.pass" BACKUP_DIR="$HOME/sli-backups" INVOICE_DIR="$HOME/sli-invoice" EDITOR="nano"
LND_DIR: directory is set by SLi (~/.lnd) the default data directory used by LiTd / LND, but you can store your wallet password where you want.