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Close a Lightning Channel

warning

Closing a channel is final and cannot be cancelled.
Only do this if you're closing your shop or you're doing a workshop.

info

Ambrosia must be running in order to close the channel.

Prerequisites​

  • The channel ID you want to close
  • A valid Bitcoin on-chain address
  • A suitable fee rate (in sat/vbyte)
info

You can see current fee rates using a Bitcoin block explorer like https://mempool.space/

warning

Fee rate is for the child's feerate, set a higher value for an effective parent+child fee rate.
All funds will be sent to the on-chain Bitcoin address you provide.

Step 1: Open a terminal and run this:​

For Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)​

export PATH="/opt/AmbrosiaPoS/resources/phoenixd/linux-x64:$PATH"

For Linux (Arm64)​

export PATH="/opt/AmbrosiaPoS/resources/phoenixd/linux-arm64:$PATH"

For MacOS (Arm64)​

export PATH="/Applications/AmbrosiaPoS.app/Contents/Resources/phoenixd/macos-arm64:$PATH"

For MacOS (Amd64)​

export PATH="/Applications/AmbrosiaPoS.app/Contents/Resources/phoenixd/macos-x64:$PATH"

For Windows​

warning

Requires JRE21 and PowerShell

Install JRE21:​

  1. Go to https://adoptium.net/temurin/releases/?version=21 and download the Windows version
  2. Run the .exe file
  3. Follow the Installation wizard

For Windows (Arm64)​

Open the terminal and run:

$env:PATH = "C:\Users\My-User\AppData\Local\Programs\AmbrosiaPoS\resources\phoenixd\win-arm64\bin;$env:PATH"

For Windows (Amd64)​

Open the terminal and run:

$env:PATH = "C:\Users\My-User\AppData\Local\Programs\AmbrosiaPoS\resources\phoenixd\win-x64\bin;$env:PATH"

Step 2: List your channels​

For Linux/MacOS​

Run the CLI to list all channels:

phoenix-cli getinfo

Copy the channelId of the channel you want to close.

For Windows​

Run the CLI to list all channels:

phoenix-cli getinfo

Copy the channelId of the channel you want to close.

Step 3: Close the channel​

For Linux/MacOS​

Run the following command:

phoenix-cli closechannel \
  --channelId=<CHANNEL_ID> \
  --address=<BITCOIN_ADDRESS> \
  --feerateSatByte=<FEE_RATE>

For Windows​

Run the following command:

phoenix-cli closechannel \
  --channelId=<CHANNEL_ID> \
  --address=<BITCOIN_ADDRESS> \
  --feerateSatByte=<FEE_RATE>

Result​

If successful, Phoenix returns the transaction ID of the closing transaction:

758b3df67c62c9cd9ebbde1ff6eaadc1c51f94d5b1a3efb2548236b9a6f1c659

You can track this transaction using a Bitcoin block explorer like https://mempool.space/

info

The channel status will display as 'Negotiating' even after a succesful closure, this is a phoenixd bug, the channel should be closed after 6 confirmations and sats won't be available since they were sent to an on chain address.