FAQ

Common questions about Magma - pricing, custody, supported nodes, the developer experience, and how the marketplace works end-to-end.

Frequently asked questions about Magma.

Magma is Amboss's peer-to-peer marketplace for Lightning Network liquidity. It connects nodes that need inbound capacity with nodes willing to provide it, using AI to match buyers and sellers and to automate the channel lifecycle.

What are Liquidity Subscriptions?

Liquidity Subscriptions provide recurring, automated channel management. Instead of buying liquidity once, a subscription provisions and rebalances capacity throughout the month based on your node's payment activity, so you stay online without manual intervention. See Subscriptions.

How does pricing work?

Sellers set their own prices for the liquidity they provide, and you see the total cost upfront before purchasing. One-off purchases start at a $5 minimum. Subscriptions range from $5 to $1,000 per month.

What if my traffic spikes?

Magma monitors your payment outcomes and capacity. With a Liquidity Subscription it provisions additional inbound liquidity automatically when demand rises, reducing payment failures during peak periods.

Which Lightning implementations are supported?

LND, Core Lightning (CLN), and Eclair, among others. There are no restrictions on your node setup as long as it can be reached at a pubkey@host:port socket.

Do you ever control my coins or keys?

No. Magma is non-custodial. It uses HODL invoices so funds are only released to the seller once the channel is confirmed open, and Amboss never holds your keys. See How HODL invoices make it non-custodial.

How do you choose the peers that supply liquidity?

Magma uses AI trained on years of Lightning Network data to match you with reliable, well-connected peers based on factors like routing performance, uptime, and channel quality.

How long does onboarding take?

Buying liquidity takes minutes and requires no signup - the liquidity.buy mutation works anonymously. Setting up subscriptions or a seller listing is similarly fast.

Can I change or cancel my subscription?

Yes. Liquidity Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time via account.subscriptions.toggle. They continue delivering through the end of the paid period and then stop.

Using the API

Is there a sandbox or testnet environment?

Magma does not expose a sandbox environment today. Test integrations against the live API with the minimum order amount ($5) - orders that fail (seller rejects, payment fails) trigger automatic refunds via the HODL invoice mechanism, so you can iterate at low risk.

Does Magma push webhooks?

Not for order status. Magma uses polling for order updates - see Tracking Orders for the recommended cadence. For Lightning payment webhooks, see the Amboss Payments docs, which is a separate product.

Can I buy liquidity anonymously?

Yes. liquidity.buy and liquidity.create_subscription work without an API key. The response contains a session_key you can use to track and manage that order later. See Authentication.

What's the minimum purchase amount?

$5 (500 USD cents). Below that, liquidity.buy returns a validation error.

How do I retry a failed order?

When an order hits a terminal failure state (SELLER_REJECTED, BUYER_FAILED_TO_PAY, SELLER_FAILED_TO_OPEN_CHANNEL, …) the HODL invoice ensures any payment is automatically refunded. To retry, simply issue a fresh liquidity.buy call - orders are not idempotent. See Errors.

API polling - see Tracking Orders.
Telegram - @theambossbot sends push notifications for orders tied to your Amboss account.

Does Magma take custody of my funds?

No. Magma uses HODL invoices: funds are only released to the seller once the channel is confirmed open, and refunds are automatic if the channel fails to open.

About Magma

What is Magma?