Installation
Requirements: Node.js 18+, Express 4+
Quickstart
Your wallet (0% fee)
Managed (no node needed)
import express from 'express';
import { l402, BlinkProvider } from 'l402-kit';
const app = express();
// Payments go directly to your Blink wallet — 0% fee
const lightning = new BlinkProvider(
process.env.BLINK_API_KEY!,
process.env.BLINK_WALLET_ID!,
);
app.get('/api/data', l402({ priceSats: 10, lightning }), (req, res) => {
res.json({ data: 'premium content' });
});
app.listen(3000);
import express from 'express';
import { l402, ManagedProvider } from 'l402-kit';
const app = express();
// l402kit.com hosts the node. You receive 99.7% of each payment.
const lightning = ManagedProvider.fromAddress('you@yourdomain.com');
app.get('/api/data', l402({ priceSats: 10, lightning }), (req, res) => {
res.json({ data: 'premium content' });
});
app.listen(3000);
l402(options) — middleware
Returns an Express RequestHandler that enforces L402 payment on the route.
Options
| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|---|
priceSats | number | required | Price per call in satoshis |
lightning | LightningProvider | required | Your Lightning backend |
supabaseUrl | string | SUPABASE_URL env | Supabase URL for payment logging |
supabaseKey | string | SUPABASE_ANON_KEY env | Supabase key for payment logging |
onPayment | (token, amountSats) => void | — | Callback fired after each verified payment |
webhookUrl | string | — | Your endpoint to receive signed payment events |
webhookSecret | string | — | HMAC-SHA256 secret for webhook signing |
replayAdapter | ReplayAdapter | in-memory | Pluggable replay protection backend |
Behavior
| Request | Response |
|---|
No Authorization header | 402 Payment Required with BOLT11 invoice + macaroon |
Valid L402 <macaroon>:<preimage> | next() — handler executes |
| Invalid or expired token | 401 Unauthorized |
| Replayed preimage | 401 Token already used |
402 response body
{
"error": "Payment Required",
"invoice": "lnbc100n1p...",
"macaroon": "eyJoYXNoIjoiYWJjMTIzIiwiZXhwIjoxNzAwMDAwMDAwfQ==",
"priceSats": 10
}
WWW-Authenticate: L402 macaroon="eyJ...", invoice="lnbc..."
Providers
AlbyProvider — recommended for soberano mode
Alby — self-custodial wallet. You control the keys.
import { AlbyProvider } from 'l402-kit';
// 1. Create an Alby Hub at hub.getalby.com (or self-host)
// 2. Settings → Access Tokens → create token (scopes: invoices:create, invoices:read)
const lightning = new AlbyProvider(
process.env.ALBY_ACCESS_TOKEN!, // Hub access token
process.env.ALBY_HUB_URL!, // e.g. "https://your-name.getalby.com"
);
BTCPayProvider — self-hosted, zero trust
Run your own BTCPay Server. Full soberanoty.
import { BTCPayProvider } from 'l402-kit';
const lightning = new BTCPayProvider(
process.env.BTCPAY_URL!, // https://your-btcpay.com
process.env.BTCPAY_API_KEY!, // store API key
process.env.BTCPAY_STORE_ID!, // store ID
);
BlinkProvider — custodial, easiest start
Blink — free, no KYC for small amounts.
import { BlinkProvider } from 'l402-kit';
const lightning = new BlinkProvider(
process.env.BLINK_API_KEY!, // dashboard.blink.sv → API Keys
process.env.BLINK_WALLET_ID!, // your BTC wallet ID
);
LNbitsProvider
Self-hosted or legend.lnbits.com.
import { LNbitsProvider } from 'l402-kit';
const lightning = new LNbitsProvider(
process.env.LNBITS_API_KEY!,
'https://your-lnbits-instance.com', // optional, defaults to legend.lnbits.com
);
OpenNodeProvider
import { OpenNodeProvider } from 'l402-kit';
const lightning = new OpenNodeProvider(
process.env.OPENNODE_API_KEY!,
false, // testMode — set to true for sandbox
);
ManagedProvider — cloud mode (0.3% fee)
l402kit.com hosts the Lightning node. You receive 99.7% of each payment. Explicit opt-in.
import { ManagedProvider } from 'l402-kit';
const lightning = ManagedProvider.fromAddress('you@yourdomain.com');
// Optional: auto-register in the public API directory
const lightning = ManagedProvider.fromAddress('you@yourdomain.com', {
registerDirectory: {
url: 'https://api.you.com/v1/data',
name: 'My Data API',
priceSats: 10,
category: 'data', // data | ai | finance | weather | compute | storage | other
description: 'Optional',
},
});
Registration fires once at startup (fire-and-forget, errors are silent). The API appears at l402kit.com/apis.json so agents can discover it automatically.
Replay protection
Default — in-memory (development)
Built-in. Resets on restart. Suitable for single-process deployments.
app.get('/api', l402({ priceSats: 10, lightning }), handler);
Redis (production — multi-instance)
import Redis from 'ioredis';
import { l402, RedisReplayAdapter } from 'l402-kit';
const replay = new RedisReplayAdapter(
new Redis(process.env.REDIS_URL!),
86400, // TTL in seconds (24h)
);
app.get('/api', l402({ priceSats: 10, lightning, replayAdapter: replay }), handler);
RedisReplayAdapter uses SET key 1 NX EX ttl — atomic, race-condition free.
Payment webhooks
Receive a signed event after each payment.
import { l402, verifyWebhook } from 'l402-kit';
app.get('/api/data', l402({
priceSats: 10,
lightning,
webhookUrl: 'https://yourapi.com/webhooks/l402',
webhookSecret: process.env.L402_WEBHOOK_SECRET!,
}), handler);
// Webhook receiver
app.post('/webhooks/l402', express.raw({ type: '*/*' }), (req, res) => {
const valid = verifyWebhook(
process.env.L402_WEBHOOK_SECRET!,
req.body.toString(),
req.headers['l402-signature'] as string,
);
if (!valid) return res.status(401).end();
const event = JSON.parse(req.body.toString());
console.log('Payment:', event.data.paymentHash, event.data.amountSats);
res.json({ ok: true });
});
Webhook payload:
{
"id": "evt_abc123",
"type": "payment.received",
"created": 1700000000,
"data": {
"endpoint": "/api/data",
"amountSats": 10,
"paymentHash": "sha256-of-preimage"
}
}
onPayment callback
Synchronous hook called after each verified payment, before next():
app.get('/api/data', l402({
priceSats: 10,
lightning,
onPayment: async ({ macaroon, preimage }, amountSats) => {
await myAnalytics.track('payment', { amountSats });
},
}), handler);
Supabase payment logging
Set SUPABASE_URL + SUPABASE_ANON_KEY in your environment to log payments automatically.
app.get('/api', l402({ priceSats: 10, lightning }), handler);
// SUPABASE_URL and SUPABASE_ANON_KEY are read from process.env automatically
Payments table schema (payments):
create table payments (
id uuid primary key default gen_random_uuid(),
payment_hash text unique not null, -- SHA256(preimage) — safe to store
endpoint text,
amount_sats integer,
paid_at timestamptz default now()
);
payment_hash stores SHA256(preimage), not the raw preimage. The preimage is the 32-byte Lightning payment secret — its hash is already public in the BOLT11 invoice.
Standalone utilities
import { verifyToken, parseToken, checkAndMarkPreimage } from 'l402-kit';
// Verify a token (returns true/false)
const isValid = await verifyToken('eyJoYXNoIjoi...:deadbeef...');
// Parse token parts
const { macaroon, preimage } = parseToken(token);
// Custom replay check (returns true = first use, false = replay)
const isFirstUse = await checkAndMarkPreimage(preimage);
Types
import type { L402Options, LightningProvider, Invoice, L402Token } from 'l402-kit';
interface L402Options {
priceSats: number;
lightning: LightningProvider;
supabaseUrl?: string;
supabaseKey?: string;
onPayment?: (token: L402Token, amountSats: number) => void | Promise<void>;
webhookUrl?: string;
webhookSecret?: string;
replayAdapter?: ReplayAdapter;
}
interface Invoice {
paymentRequest: string;
paymentHash: string;
macaroon: string;
amountSats: number;
expiresAt: number; // Unix ms
}
interface LightningProvider {
createInvoice(amountSats: number): Promise<Invoice>;
checkPayment(paymentHash: string): Promise<boolean>;
}
Verification timing
Token verification runs SHA256(preimage) == paymentHash in memory — sub-millisecond, no network call on the hot path.
The in-memory ReplayAdapter (default) also runs synchronously. If you use RedisReplayAdapter, add a 5–50 ms Redis round-trip per request. Plan capacity accordingly for high-frequency endpoints.
The middleware silently accepts the X-Payment header (used by Coinbase’s x402 protocol) in addition to the standard Authorization: L402 … header. Both are treated identically — useful if you want to serve clients that speak either protocol.
// Client using x402 header — handled transparently
// X-Payment: <macaroon>:<preimage>
No configuration needed; it is always enabled.
Migration guide
v1.1 → v1.2
Rename column in your payments table:
ALTER TABLE payments RENAME COLUMN preimage TO payment_hash;