Feature Request: Add Support for LDK Node in Polar

[Jem256]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Polar currently supports several Bitcoin Lightning node implementations. However, it does not yet support the LDK node, which is increasingly popular for developers who want a more customizable and lightweight Lightning node solution. Adding LDK support would enable developers to spin up and test LDK nodes locally within Polar, improving developer experience.

Describe the solution you'd like
Add support for the LDK node with the ability to create, start, stop, connect channels, generate, and pay Lightning invoices, similarly to the existing supported nodes.

Additional context
ldk-node is a ready-to-go node implementation built using LDK.

I am interested in working on this feature.

[jamaljsr]

Hey @Jem256 I've gotten this request a few times. As far as I can see ldk-node is a library, not an executable that can run in docker. So someone would have to build a binary that runs the node and exposes an RPC that Polar can use to communicate with it. That's not something I'd want included in Polar as it feels out of scope for this project. If that ever does get built by the LDK team, I'd be more than happy to include it as an additional implementation Polar supports.

[erickcestari]

Hi! They have ldk-server, which is probably what you’re looking to add to Polar. It would be great to have it supported there.

To be honest, I’m not sure about its current state. Whether it’s already stable enough to use and which features are implemented. For example, I don’t know if it can already open channels, route payments, handle onion messages, etc.

Maybe @tnull or @benthecarman can provide more insight here. Thanks!

[benthecarman]

We are planning a ldk-server beta in the next month or two. Would be great to eventually get into polar

[jamaljsr]

Nice! Looking forward to it. I've re-opend this issue. Please let us know here when it's ready.