Alby - Lightning Browser Extension

A browser extension to bring the Bitcoin Lightning Network to the browser

The extension provides deep Lightning Network integration for websites (for payments and authentication flows).

The goal is to write a minimal web extension to allow browsers to interact with the Lightning Network programmatically. It focuses on the web-payments process and does not try to be a full node UI with advanced channel-management or similar features.

The extension implements the WebLN standard as the interface that allows websites to connect to Lightning Network nodes (to request payments, invoices, signatures, login, etc.) and enable seamless UX of web payments and authentications.

The extension can connect to different node implementations and supports custodial and non-custodial setups.

Some Features

• Custom budgets/allowances for websites to allow payment streams/auto-payments
• Multiple accounts and support for different node backends (lnd, etc.)
• Full WebLN send and receive payment flows (getInfo, sendPayment, fixed makeInvoice support)
• LNURL-pay support
• LNURL-auth support
• Payment history with additional website metadata
• LNURL-withdraw support
• WebLN signMessage, verifyMessage support
• WebLN dynamic makeInvoice support
• Keysend

STATUS: 🚀

About Alby

Alby is open-source, our goal is to create the best online experience to consume and reward content and services online.

Join the conversation

• Discord via bitcoin.design: Find us in the #alby channel
• Telegram
• Community calls: bi-weekly on Thursday at 15:00 UTC

Browser Support

Alby supports

• All Chromium based browsers - Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave etc.
• Firefox
• more coming soon...

Installation

Add Alby to your browser

• Add to Chrome, Opera, Brave, and all Chromium based browsers
• Add to Firefox

Try out the most recent version of Alby (Nightly Releases)

• Firefox Nightly - best to install it as a temporary add-on as discussed in the "Load extension into browser" section
• Chrome Nightly
  • for Chrome: go to chrome://extensions/, enable "Developer mode" (top right), and drag & drop the file in the browser
  • for Edge: go to edge://extensions/, enable "Developer mode" (left column), and load the unpacked file in the browser

(Note: You might need to reconfigure your wallet after installing new versions)

Architecture Idea

🚀 Quick Start

Ensure you have

• Node.js v16 or newer installed (we run tests with v18)
• Yarn v1 or v2 installed

Supported but not required

• nvm

Then run the following

🛠 Development

Refer to SETUP.md for info regarding how to setup Alby

Native Companions

Alby supports native connectors to native applications on the host computer. For this, the extension passes each call to a native application (using native messaging). This allows Alby also to connect to nodes behind Tor (through this native "proxy" application).

Currently, there is one native companion app available to connect to Tor nodes: https://github.com/getAlby/alby-companion-rs

⭐ Contributing

We welcome and appreciate new contributions.

Find a task

We use the Development Project Board to plan to-dos. Best choose something from the to-do column. (If there is nothing for you, feel free to pick something from the backlog)

Developer

• Check out the issues that have specifically been marked as being friendly to new contributors
• You can also review open PRs
• Contribution guide for new developers

Designer

• Have a look at our Open source Design guide
• Check out the issues that have specifically been marked with "design"
• You can find and copy current version of the extension in this Figma file: Alby Extension Master Design

Anyone

• Have a look at this Readme. Can it be improved? Do you see typos? You can open a PR or reach out to us in our community chat.
• You can help with translations
• Code of Conduct

❔ FAQs

Why not use Joule?

Joule is a full interface to manage a LND node. It only supports one LND account. Our goal is NOT to write a full UI for a Lightning Network node with all the channel management features, but instead to only focus on what is necessary for the web (for payment and authentication flows). We believe there are already way better management UIs. Also, we focus on supporting multiple different node backends (non-custodial and custodial).

What is WebLN?

WebLN is a library and set of specifications for lightning apps and client providers to facilitate communication between apps and users' lightning nodes in a secure way. It provides a programmatic, permissioned interface for letting applications ask users to send payments, generate invoices to receive payments, and much more. This documentation covers how to use WebLN in your Lightning-driven applications.

Is there a bounty program and can I contribute?

Yes. Thanks to generous donors, Alby is able to offer several bounties. You can find them on our Wiki page. If you want to support Alby's bounty program, please donate here. We greatly appreciate your contribution! 🙏

Thanks

Based on the web extension starter kit: /abhijithvijayan/web-extension-starter heavily inspired by the super-amazing work of the Joule extension

⚡️Donations

Want to support the work on Alby?

Support the Alby team ⚡️[email protected] You can also contribute to our bounty program: ⚡️[email protected]

License

MIT