Bitcoin Libraries Ldk

LDK (Lightning Dev Kit)

Modular Rust library for Lightning. Used by Mutiny Wallet, Cash App, Casa, ldk-node, more.

See full overview at ../../lightning/ldk/SKILL.md.

Crates

• lightning — core protocol logic.
• lightning-net-tokio — async TCP transport.
• lightning-persister — file persistence.
• lightning-background-processor — task driver.
• lightning-block-sync — chain sync via bitcoind RPC.
• lightning-transaction-sync — chain sync via Esplora / Electrum.
• lightning-rapid-gossip-sync — fast initial gossip.
• lightning-invoice — BOLT11 invoice handling.
• ldk-node — opinionated bundled crate.
• lightning-liquidity — LSP client/server.

ldk-node quickstart

[dependencies]
ldk-node = "0.4"

use ldk_node::{Builder, Network};

let builder = Builder::new()
    .set_network(Network::Bitcoin)
    .set_chain_source_esplora("https://mempool.space/api".into())
    .set_storage_dir_path("/path/to/data".into());
let node = builder.build()?;
node.start()?;

let invoice = node.bolt11_payment().receive(
    100_000_000,    // 100k msat
    "Test", 3600,
)?;

Bindings

• LDKSwift — iOS/macOS.
• LDKKotlin / LDKAndroid — Android.
• ldk-node-jvm — JVM.
• ldk-node-js — JS/WASM.

Use cases

• Mobile Lightning wallets.
• Browser-based LN (Mutiny via WASM).
• Custom backend services with Lightning embedded.

Compared

See ../../lightning/ldk/SKILL.md for LND/CLN comparison and full feature matrix.

Common pitfalls

• Persist trait misimplementation → state corruption.
• Async signer race conditions.
• Version migrations require careful state migration.

See also

• ../../lightning/ldk/SKILL.md
• rust-bitcoin/SKILL.md
• bdk/SKILL.md