Cowrie Research

balance-of-satoshis

2 min read

Balance of Satoshis

  • Name: Balance of Satoshis
  • URL: https://github.com/alexbosworth/balanceofsatoshis
  • Category: Lightning node-operations CLI / liquidity and fee-management tooling / LND automation utility
  • Tags: bitcoin-ecosystem
  • Summary: Balance of Satoshis is the serious LND operator CLI. The README still sells it as a balance tool, but the real surface is fees, probes, rebalancing, reports, alerts, multi-node profiles, and cron-safe automation. Treat it as day-two node-ops software, not wallet UX and not a one-off script.
  • What it does:
    • Provides a CLI for inspecting balances, forwards, peers, channels, UTXOs, closed channels, and general node activity
    • Handles routing-ops work such as fee updates, liquidity measurement, probes, rebalancing, and channel-open workflows
    • Lets operators manage multiple nodes through saved credential profiles, default-node selection, and directory overrides
    • Exposes cron-friendly reporting and automation flows for fee changes, liquidity balancing, certificate monitoring, and notification pipelines
    • Ships Docker packaging, a gateway mode for ln-operator.github.io, optional Telegram hooks, and formula-style arguments for dynamic amounts, routing filters, and fee logic
  • Key claims:
    • The README describes BOS as “Commands for working with LND balances,” but the command set and examples show a broader operator workbench for rebalancing, fees, channel opens, reporting, credential export, and integrations
    • The project supports multiple saved nodes through ~/.bos/.../credentials.json, optional default-node selection, and environment-variable overrides for both LND and BOS data directories
    • The README includes cron-oriented examples for automatic fee adjustment, periodic liquidity balancing, certificate-expiry alerts, and daily reports, which is the clearest sign BOS is meant as reusable node-automation infrastructure
    • Package metadata describes BOS as a Lightning balance CLI, publishes a bos executable, requires Node 20+, and pulls in dependencies such as ln-service, ln-sync, ln-telegram, probing, and paid-services
    • Published keywords such as lightning, lnd, rebalance, and submarine-swaps reinforce that BOS is aimed at active operators rather than passive wallet users
  • Whitepaper: No canonical standalone Balance of Satoshis whitepaper or litepaper surfaced in this pass. The clearest current sources of truth were the first-party GitHub README and package metadata; see ../whitepapers/balance-of-satoshis-primary-sources-2026-05-01.md.
  • Sources:

Internal linkages

  • Direct backend BOS is built around: lnd
  • Stronger general operator-console comparison: ride-the-lightning

Control surface

  • BOS matters because it turns node policy into scripts, cron jobs, and repeatable operating habits.

  • The leverage is in fee rules, rebalance thresholds, probe behavior, notification wiring, and which workflows an operator hands over to automation.

  • Read it as day-two Lightning operations infrastructure, not as a mere helper CLI.

  • Last reviewed: 2026-06-18 UTC

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