AbandonChannel

AbandonChannel removes all channel state from the database except for a close summary. This method can be used to get rid of permanently unusable channels due to bugs fixed in newer versions of lnd. This method can also be used to remove externally funded channels where the funding transaction was never broadcast. Only available for non-externally funded channels in dev build.

Source: lightning.proto

gRPC

rpc AbandonChannel (AbandonChannelRequest) returns (AbandonChannelResponse);

REST

HTTP Method	Path
DELETE	/v1/channels/abandon/{channel_point.funding_txid_str}/{channel_point.output_index}

Code Samples

gRPC

Javascript

const fs = require('fs');
const grpc = require('@grpc/grpc-js');
const protoLoader = require('@grpc/proto-loader');

const GRPC_HOST = 'localhost:10009'
const MACAROON_PATH = 'LND_DIR/data/chain/bitcoin/regtest/admin.macaroon'
const TLS_PATH = 'LND_DIR/tls.cert'

const loaderOptions = {
  keepCase: true,
  longs: String,
  enums: String,
  defaults: true,
  oneofs: true,
};
const packageDefinition = protoLoader.loadSync('lightning.proto', loaderOptions);
const lnrpc = grpc.loadPackageDefinition(packageDefinition).lnrpc;
process.env.GRPC_SSL_CIPHER_SUITES = 'HIGH+ECDSA';
const tlsCert = fs.readFileSync(TLS_PATH);
const sslCreds = grpc.credentials.createSsl(tlsCert);
const macaroon = fs.readFileSync(MACAROON_PATH).toString('hex');
const macaroonCreds = grpc.credentials.createFromMetadataGenerator(function(args, callback) {
  let metadata = new grpc.Metadata();
  metadata.add('macaroon', macaroon);
  callback(null, metadata);
});
let creds = grpc.credentials.combineChannelCredentials(sslCreds, macaroonCreds);
let client = new lnrpc.Lightning(GRPC_HOST, creds);
let request = {
  channel_point: <ChannelPoint>,
  pending_funding_shim_only: <bool>,
  i_know_what_i_am_doing: <bool>,
};
client.abandonChannel(request, function(err, response) {
  console.log(response);
});
// Console output:
//  {
//    "status": <string>,
//  }

Python

import codecs, grpc, os
# Generate the following 2 modules by compiling the lightning.proto with the grpcio-tools.
# See https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/blob/master/docs/grpc/python.md for instructions.
import lightning_pb2 as lnrpc, lightning_pb2_grpc as lightningstub

GRPC_HOST = 'localhost:10009'
MACAROON_PATH = 'LND_DIR/data/chain/bitcoin/regtest/admin.macaroon'
TLS_PATH = 'LND_DIR/tls.cert'

# create macaroon credentials
macaroon = codecs.encode(open(MACAROON_PATH, 'rb').read(), 'hex')
def metadata_callback(context, callback):
  callback([('macaroon', macaroon)], None)
auth_creds = grpc.metadata_call_credentials(metadata_callback)
# create SSL credentials
os.environ['GRPC_SSL_CIPHER_SUITES'] = 'HIGH+ECDSA'
cert = open(TLS_PATH, 'rb').read()
ssl_creds = grpc.ssl_channel_credentials(cert)
# combine macaroon and SSL credentials
combined_creds = grpc.composite_channel_credentials(ssl_creds, auth_creds)
# make the request
channel = grpc.secure_channel(GRPC_HOST, combined_creds)
stub = lightningstub.LightningStub(channel)
request = lnrpc.AbandonChannelRequest(
  channel_point=<ChannelPoint>,
  pending_funding_shim_only=<bool>,
  i_know_what_i_am_doing=<bool>,
)
response = stub.AbandonChannel(request)
print(response)
# {
#    "status": <string>,
# }

REST

Javascript

const fs = require('fs');
const request = require('request');

const REST_HOST = 'localhost:8080'
const MACAROON_PATH = 'LND_DIR/data/chain/bitcoin/regtest/admin.macaroon'

let options = {
  url: `https://${REST_HOST}/v1/channels/abandon/{channel_point.funding_txid_str}/{channel_point.output_index}`,
  // Work-around for self-signed certificates.
  rejectUnauthorized: false,
  json: true,
  headers: {
    'Grpc-Metadata-macaroon': fs.readFileSync(MACAROON_PATH).toString('hex'),
  },
}
request.delete(options, function(error, response, body) {
  console.log(body);
});
// Console output:
//  {
//    "status": <string>, // <string> 
//  }

Python

import base64, codecs, json, requests

REST_HOST = 'localhost:8080'
MACAROON_PATH = 'LND_DIR/data/chain/bitcoin/regtest/admin.macaroon'
TLS_PATH = 'LND_DIR/tls.cert'

url = f'https://{REST_HOST}/v1/channels/abandon/{channel_point.funding_txid_str}/{channel_point.output_index}'
macaroon = codecs.encode(open(MACAROON_PATH, 'rb').read(), 'hex')
headers = {'Grpc-Metadata-macaroon': macaroon}
r = requests.delete(url, headers=headers, verify=TLS_PATH)
print(r.json())
# {
#    "status": <string>,
# }

Shell

$ lncli abandonchannel --help

NAME:
   lncli abandonchannel - Abandons an existing channel.

USAGE:
   lncli abandonchannel [command options] funding_txid [output_index]

CATEGORY:
   Channels

DESCRIPTION:
   
  Removes all channel state from the database except for a close
  summary. This method can be used to get rid of permanently unusable
  channels due to bugs fixed in newer versions of lnd.

  Only available when lnd is built in debug mode. The flag
  --i_know_what_i_am_doing can be set to override the debug/dev mode
  requirement.

  To view which funding_txids/output_indexes can be used for this command,
  see the channel_point values within the listchannels command output.
  The format for a channel_point is 'funding_txid:output_index'.

OPTIONS:
   --funding_txid value      the txid of the channel's funding transaction
   --output_index value      the output index for the funding output of the funding transaction (default: 0)
   --chan_point value        (optional) the channel point. If set, funding_txid and output_index flags and positional arguments will be ignored
   --i_know_what_i_am_doing  override the requirement for lnd needing to be in dev/debug mode to use this command; when setting this the user attests that they know the danger of using this command on channels and that doing so can lead to loss of funds if the channel funding TX ever confirms (or was confirmed)
   

Messages

lnrpc.AbandonChannelRequest

Source: lightning.proto

Field	gRPC Type	REST Type	REST Placement
channel_point Nested REST Parameters channel_point.output_index: integer in path channel_point.funding_txid_bytes: string in query channel_point.funding_txid_str: string in path	ChannelPoint	object	mixed
pending_funding_shim_only	bool	boolean	query
i_know_what_i_am_doing Override the requirement for being in dev mode by setting this to true and confirming the user knows what they are doing and this is a potential foot gun to lose funds if used on active channels.	bool	boolean	query

lnrpc.AbandonChannelResponse

Source: lightning.proto

Field	gRPC Type	REST Type
status The status of the abandon operation.	string	string

Nested Messages

lnrpc.ChannelPoint

Field	gRPC Type	REST Type
funding_txid_bytes Txid of the funding transaction. When using REST, this field must be encoded as base64.	bytes	string
funding_txid_str Hex-encoded string representing the byte-reversed hash of the funding transaction.	string	string
output_index The index of the output of the funding transaction	uint32	integer