simnet-workbench

simnet-workbench remotely creates an LND cluster for dev / ops / fun etc. It uses fabric3. If follows the LND Docker readme, and is somewhat inspired by cmdruid/regtest-workbench.

                   ┌───────┐
      ┌────────────┤ alice ├─────────────┐
      │            └───────┘             │
      │                                  │
      │                                  │
      │                                  │
      │                                  │
      │                                  │
      │                                  │
      │                                  │
  ┌───┴───┐                          ┌───┴───┐
  │ carol ├──────────────────────────┤  bob  │
  └───────┘                          └───────┘

See Video

• Clusters created remotely via SSH.
• Automated mining of coins (get rich quick).
• Automated opening of balanced channels.
• Provides handy aliases (bob, alice etc.)
• Remote CLI capability.

Requires

• A modern docker version, e.g 20.10.17
• A modern ubuntu version, e.g 20.04

Python dependencies

simnet-workbench only requires two depedencies: fabric and simple_chalk.

$ python3 -m venv .venv
$ . .venv/bin/activate
$ pip3 install -r src/requirements.txt

Running

The simplest and cleanest way is to use the src/spawn.sh script to avoid having to mess with long commands in bash.

$ . src/spawn.sh

We source the spawn script as it creates convenience aliases, for example you can run:

$ alice --help
$ alice getnetworkinfo
$ alice 'addinvoice --help'
$ alice 'addinvoice --amt 100000'
$ bob 'sendpayment -f --pay_req=<ln...>'
$ bob channelbalance

How does it connect to the host?

The cleanest way to set up your host is with your ~/.ssh/config file:

Host lnd
    HostName xx.xx.xx.xx
    User ubuntu
    Port 22
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/<my_cert_file>

Can it run on my local machine?

Yes of course. Just strip out the -H lnd part of the commands in spawn.sh. At some point that'll be implemented properly as a flag.

SQLite Support

SQLite support was recently added. To enable SQLite simply copy the sample file:

$ cp src/sample-lnd.conf src/lnd.conf

And enable SQL support by toggling on, in src/lnd.conf:

db.backend=sqlite

Github actions

The simnet workbench works on Github actions. It only takes about 2 minutes to setup LND, the nodes, connect them in a state where payments can be made. See the github workflow for more details.

Soon these actions will be moved out and refactored so they can be used from any repo.