Assumptions

1. You have a Ubuntu server already running lnd.

2. Your Ubuntu server has bitcoind installed, synced on mainnet, and running as a daemon.

3. 1. To install bitcoind on Ubuntu, follow the official bitcoin.org guide.

4. Your bitcoin.conf file has ZMQ publishing turned on.

   1. Txindex is not required, but pruned mode is not supported.

Get LiT

Download the version of the latest Lightning Terminal release that matches your local configuration (likely linux-amd64). Extract the compressed files, and install the binaries using the below instructions.

# If you have go installed...
# Extract the compressed files, and install them in your GOPATH
tar -xvf lightning-terminal-<YOUR_LOCAL_VERSION>.tar.gz --strip 1 -C $GOPATH/bin
​
# Linux requires this in order for LiT to listen on a port below 1024
sudo setcap 'CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE=+eip' $GOPATH/bin/litd
​
# If you do not have go installed...
# Extract and install the compressed files, and add their location to your PATH
tar -xvf lightning-terminal-darwin-amd64-<YOUR_LOCAL_VERSION>.tar.gz
cd lightning-terminal-darwin-amd64-<YOUR_LOCAL_VERSION>
PATH=$PATH:$PWD
sudo setcap 'CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE=+eip' ./litd

Ensure that your server has only the required ports open for outbound communication with the Lightning Network.

sudo ufw logging on
sudo ufw enable
# PRESS Y
sudo ufw status
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 9735
sudo ufw allow 10009
sudo ufw allow 443

To connect Lightning Terminal to a remote lnd instance first make sure your remote lnd.conf file contains the following additional configuration settings:

tlsextraip=<YOUR_LND_IP>
rpclisten=0.0.0.0:10009

Copy the following files that are located in your ~/.lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet directory on your remote machine to /some/folder/with/lnd/data/ on your local machine (where you’ll be running LiT):

• tls.cert

• admin.macaroon

• chainnotifier.macaroon

• invoices.macaroon

• readonly.macaroon

• router.macaroon

• signer.macaroon

• walletkit.macaroon

Create a lit.conf file.

mkdir ~/.lit
vi ~/.lit/lit.conf

Storing the configuration in a persistent ~/.lit/lit.conf file means you do not need to type in the command line arguments every time you start the server. Make sure you don't add any section headers (the lines starting with [ and ending with ], for example [Application Options]) as these don't work with the additional levels of sub configurations.

Paste this example lit.conf file into your terminal, and fill in the placeholders with your specific information.

# Application Options: lnd-mode not required since remote is default
httpslisten=0.0.0.0:443
lit-dir=~/.lit
​
# Let's Encrypt
# You can configure the HTTPS server to automatically install a free SSL certificate provided by Let's Encrypt. 
# This is recommended if you plan to access the website from a remote computer, but does require extra setup.
#letsencrypt=true
#letsencrypthost=<YOUR_DOMAIN>
​
# Remote options
remote.lit-debuglevel=debug
​
# Remote lnd options
remote.lnd.network=testnet
remote.lnd.rpcserver=<YOUR_LND_IP>:10009
remote.lnd.macaroondir=/some/folder/with/lnd/data
remote.lnd.tlscertpath=/some/folder/with/lnd/data/tls.cert
​
# Loop
loop.loopoutmaxparts=5
​
# Pool
pool.newnodesonly=true
​
# Faraday
faraday.min_monitored=48h
​
# Faraday - bitcoin
faraday.connect_bitcoin=true
faraday.bitcoin.host=localhost
faraday.bitcoin.user=<YOUR_RPCUSER>
faraday.bitcoin.password=<YOUR_RPCPASSWORD>

If you are using a cloud provider, double check using their configuration tools that inbound ports 443, 9735, and 10009 are allowed. Once you've done that, and you've ensured your remote lnd instance is running, it's time to get LiT!

litd --uipassword=<YOUR_UI_PASSWORD>

Visit https://localhost:8443 to access LiT.

Example commands for interacting with the command line

Because not all functionality of lnd (or loop/faraday for that matter) is available through the web UI, it will still be necessary to interact with those daemons through the command line.

We are going through an example for each of the command line tools and will explain the reasons for the extra flags. The examples assume that LiT is started with the following configuration (only relevant parts shown here):

httpslisten=0.0.0.0:443
lit-dir=~/.lit
​
remote.lnd.network=testnet
remote.lnd.rpcserver=some-other-host:10009
remote.lnd.macaroondir=/some/folder/with/lnd/data
remote.lnd.tlscertpath=/some/folder/with/lnd/data/tls.cert

Because in the remote lnd mode all other LiT components (loop, pool, faraday and the UI server) listen on the same port (443 in this example) and use the same TLS certificate (~/.lit/tls.cert in this example), some command line calls now need some extra options that weren't necessary before.

NOTE: All mentioned command line tools have the following behavior in common: You either specify the --network flag and the --tlscertpath and --macaroonpath are implied by looking inside the default directories for that network. Or you specify the --tlscertpath and --macaroonpath flags explicitly, then you must not set the --network flag. Otherwise, you will get an error like [lncli] could not load global options: unable to read macaroon path (check the network setting!): open /home/<user>/.lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/testnet/admin.macaroon: no such file or directory

Example lncli command

The lncli commands in the "remote" mode are the same as if lnd was running standalone on a remote host. We need to specify all flags explicitly.

$ lncli --rpcserver=some-other-host:10009 \
  --tlscertpath=/some/folder/with/lnd/data/tls.cert \
  --macaroonpath=/some/folder/with/lnd/data/admin.macaroon \
  getinfo

Example loop command

This is where things get a bit tricky. Because as mentioned above, loopd also runs on the same port as the UI server. That's why we have to both specify the host:port as well as the TLS certificate of LiT. But loopd verifies its own macaroon, so we have to specify that one from the .loop directory.

$ loop --rpcserver=localhost:443 --tlscertpath=~/.lit/tls.cert \
  --macaroonpath=~/.loop/testnet/loop.macaroon \
  quote out 500000

You can easily create an alias for this by adding the following line to your ~/.bashrc file:

alias lit-loop="loop --rpcserver=localhost:443 --tlscertpath=~/.lit/tls.cert --macaroonpath=~/.loop/testnet/loop.macaroon"

Example pool command

Again, poold also runs on the same port as the UI server and we have to specify the host:port and the TLS certificate of LiT but use the macaroon from the .pool directory.

$ pool --rpcserver=localhost:443 --tlscertpath=~/.lit/tls.cert \
  --macaroonpath=~/.pool/testnet/pool.macaroon \
  accounts list

You can easily create an alias for this by adding the following line to your ~/.bashrc file:

alias lit-pool="pool --rpcserver=localhost:443 --tlscertpath=~/.lit/tls.cert --macaroonpath=~/.pool/testnet/pool.macaroon"

Example frcli command

Faraday's command line tool follows the same pattern as loop. We also have to specify the server and TLS flags for lnd but use faraday's macaroon:

$ frcli --rpcserver=localhost:443 --tlscertpath=~/.lit/tls.cert \
  --macaroonpath=~/.faraday/testnet/faraday.macaroon \
  audit

You can easily create an alias for this by adding the following line to your ~/.bashrc file:

alias lit-frcli="frcli --rpcserver=localhost:443 --tlscertpath=~/.lit/tls.cert --macaroonpath=~/.faraday/testnet/faraday.macaroon"