lightning-close.7

.TH "LIGHTNING-CLOSE" "7" "" "" "lightning-close"
.SH NAME
lightning-close - Command for closing channels with direct peers
.SH SYNOPSIS

\fBclose\fR \fIid\fR [\fIunilateraltimeout\fR]

.SH DESCRIPTION

The \fBclose\fR RPC command attempts to close the channel cooperatively
with the peer, or unilaterally after \fIunilateraltimeout\fR\.


If the given \fIid\fR is a peer ID (66 hex digits as a string), then it
applies to the active channel of the direct peer corresponding to the
given peer ID\. If the given \fIid\fR is a channel ID (64 hex digits as a
string, or the short channel ID \fIblockheight:txindex:outindex\fR form),
then it applies to that channel\.


If \fIunilateraltimeout\fR is not zero, the \fBclose\fR command will
unilaterally close the channel when that number of seconds is reached\.
If \fIunilateraltimeout\fR is zero, then the \fBclose\fR command will wait
indefinitely until the peer is online and can negotiate a mutual close\.
The default is 2 days (172800 seconds)\.


The peer needs to be live and connected in order to negotiate a mutual
close\. The default of unilaterally closing after 48 hours is usually a
reasonable indication that you can no longer contact the peer\.

.SH NOTES

Prior to 0\.7\.2, \fBclose\fR took two parameters: \fIforce\fR and \fItimeout\fR\.
\fItimeout\fR was the number of seconds before \fIforce\fR took effect (default,
30), and \fIforce\fR determined whether the result was a unilateral close or
an RPC error (default)\. Even after the timeout, the channel would be
closed if the peer reconnected\.

.SH RETURN VALUE

On success, an object with fields \fItx\fR and \fItxid\fR containing the closing
transaction are returned\. It will also have a field \fItype\fR which is
either the JSON string \fImutual\fR or the JSON string \fIunilateral\fR\. A
\fImutual\fR close means that we could negotiate a close with the peer,
while a \fIunilateral\fR close means that the \fIforce\fR flag was set and we
had to close the channel without waiting for the counterparty\.


A unilateral close may still occur at any time if the peer did not
behave correctly during the close negotiation\.


Unilateral closes will return your funds after a delay\. The delay will
vary based on the peer \fIto_self_delay\fR setting, not your own setting\.

.SH AUTHOR

ZmnSCPxj \fI<ZmnSCPxj@protonmail.com\fR> is mainly responsible\.

.SH SEE ALSO

\fBlightning-disconnect\fR(7), \fBlightning-fundchannel\fR(7)

.SH RESOURCES

Main web site: \fIhttps://github.com/ElementsProject/lightning\fR