Lightning Enable MCP Server — Claude Code MCP server for agent payments
Hands your agent a Lightning wallet: BOLT11 invoice payments, L402 API access, budgets and receipts. Useful when the agent pays for APIs on its own.
claude mcp add lightning-enable-mcp -e STRIKE_API_KEY=<STRIKE_API_KEY> -e NWC_CONNECTION_STRING=<NWC_CONNECTION_STRING> -e LND_MACAROON_HEX=<LND_MACAROON_HEX> -e OPENNODE_API_KEY=<OPENNODE_API_KEY> -e LIGHTNING_ENABLE_API_KEY=<LIGHTNING_ENABLE_API_KEY> -- uvx lightning-enable-mcpWhat Lightning Enable MCP Server does
This server wires Lightning Network tools into an agent. It pays BOLT11 invoices, settles L402 challenges automatically when a paid API is called, searches the L402 registry by keyword or category, and pulls a single API's manifest with endpoints and prices. A second group covers spend tracking: budget caps, a receipt log, balance checks. There is also the receiving side — invoice creation, BTC price, currency exchange, on-chain sends through Strike.
No wallet means nothing runs, so the first step is setup_wallet. The quickest route is NWC: create a Nostr Wallet Connect connection in your wallet app (Alby Hub, CoinOS, any NIP-47 wallet), hand the nostr+walletconnect:// string to the agent, and it validates the string, connects to prove the wallet answers, then writes it to ~/.lightning-enable/config.json with permissions limited to your user. Restart the server afterwards. Environment variables work too: STRIKE_API_KEY, NWC_CONNECTION_STRING, LND_REST_HOST plus LND_MACAROON_HEX. Priority runs LND, then NWC, Strike, OpenNode, and env vars beat the config file — setup_wallet refuses to write a string an env var would override and names the variable to unset.
L402 needs a wallet that returns the payment preimage. OpenNode does not, so it only covers invoicing and direct payments; making it your only wallet breaks the main use case.
What it helps with
- pay a BOLT11 invoice from inside the agent
- clear an L402 challenge on a paid API without manual steps
- find a paid API in the L402 registry by category
- keep a spend cap and a receipt log
- issue an invoice to receive a payment
Example prompts for the agent
- Run
setup_walletwith this connection string:nostr+walletconnect://... - Run
test_l402_paymentto check the wallet - Search the L402 registry for an image generation API and show me the prices
How to install Lightning Enable MCP Server
Platform CLI
claude mcp add lightning-enable-mcp -e STRIKE_API_KEY=<STRIKE_API_KEY> -e NWC_CONNECTION_STRING=<NWC_CONNECTION_STRING> -e LND_MACAROON_HEX=<LND_MACAROON_HEX> -e OPENNODE_API_KEY=<OPENNODE_API_KEY> -e LIGHTNING_ENABLE_API_KEY=<LIGHTNING_ENABLE_API_KEY> -- uvx lightning-enable-mcpReplace <…> with your own values. 4 more environment variables are in the server README. uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from lightning-enable-mcp <command>
Platform CLI
codex mcp add lightning-enable-mcp-server --env STRIKE_API_KEY=<STRIKE_API_KEY> --env NWC_CONNECTION_STRING=<NWC_CONNECTION_STRING> --env LND_REST_HOST=<LND_REST_HOST> --env LND_MACAROON_HEX=<LND_MACAROON_HEX> --env OPENNODE_API_KEY=<OPENNODE_API_KEY> -- uvx lightning-enable-mcpReplace <…> with your own values. 4 more environment variables are in the server README. uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from lightning-enable-mcp <command>
Config file
{
"mcpServers": {
"lightning-enable-mcp-server": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"lightning-enable-mcp"
],
"env": {
"STRIKE_API_KEY": "<STRIKE_API_KEY>",
"NWC_CONNECTION_STRING": "<NWC_CONNECTION_STRING>",
"LND_REST_HOST": "<LND_REST_HOST>",
"LND_MACAROON_HEX": "<LND_MACAROON_HEX>",
"OPENNODE_API_KEY": "<OPENNODE_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}Replace <…> with your own values. 4 more environment variables are in the server README. uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from lightning-enable-mcp <command>
Config file
{
"servers": {
"lightning-enable-mcp-server": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"lightning-enable-mcp"
],
"env": {
"STRIKE_API_KEY": "<STRIKE_API_KEY>",
"NWC_CONNECTION_STRING": "<NWC_CONNECTION_STRING>",
"LND_REST_HOST": "<LND_REST_HOST>",
"LND_MACAROON_HEX": "<LND_MACAROON_HEX>",
"OPENNODE_API_KEY": "<OPENNODE_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}Replace <…> with your own values. 4 more environment variables are in the server README. uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from lightning-enable-mcp <command>
Platform CLI
gemini mcp add -e STRIKE_API_KEY=<STRIKE_API_KEY> -e NWC_CONNECTION_STRING=<NWC_CONNECTION_STRING> -e LND_REST_HOST=<LND_REST_HOST> -e LND_MACAROON_HEX=<LND_MACAROON_HEX> -e OPENNODE_API_KEY=<OPENNODE_API_KEY> lightning-enable-mcp-server uvx lightning-enable-mcpReplace <…> with your own values. 4 more environment variables are in the server README. uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from lightning-enable-mcp <command>
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to add an MCP server to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI and more
Questions about Lightning Enable MCP Server
How do I install Lightning Enable MCP Server in Claude Code?
With one command: `claude mcp add lightning-enable-mcp -e STRIKE_API_KEY=<STRIKE_API_KEY> -e NWC_CONNECTION_STRING=<NWC_CONNECTION_STRING> -e LND_MACAROON_HEX=<LND_MACAROON_HEX> -e OPENNODE_API_KEY=<OPENNODE_API_KEY> -e LIGHTNING_ENABLE_API_KEY=<LIGHTNING_ENABLE_API_KEY> -- uvx lightning-enable-mcp`. Fill in your own keys; unused ones can be left out.
What does Lightning Enable MCP Server do?
It gives an agent a Lightning wallet: invoice payments, automatic L402 challenge handling, paid API discovery, budget caps with a receipt log, and invoice creation for incoming payments. Seller and Agent Service Agreement tools need an Agentic Commerce subscription.
Which wallet works for L402?
One that returns the payment preimage: Strike, NWC, or your own LND node. OpenNode does not return a preimage, so it cannot pay L402 challenges.
