Operators need one pane of glass: channels, fees collected, failed HTLCs, and peer health.
Complete Step 1 // Required reading in the study plan above, then continue here.
Step 2 — Goal
Dashboard widgets:
- Channel list with capacity and balance ratio
- Recent forwarding events
- Peer online status
- On-chain vs channel balance
Never expose node admin credentials to the browser — proxy through your backend.
Loading diagram…
Done when: You can list the RPC/API calls behind each widget.
Step 3 — Milestones
| Phase | Ship |
|---|---|
| Milestone A | Backend collector + channel list with balance ratio |
| Milestone B | Peers + forwarding / fee snapshot |
| Milestone C | Alert banner for offline peer or force-close risk |
Done when: Milestone A never ships macaroons/RPC secrets to the client.
Step 4 — Build & evidence (lab)
Implement against /projects/ln-node-dashboard. Capture repo link, panel screenshot, and one alert/failure note.
Common mistakes
- Polling too aggressively and starving the node
- Showing only total capacity without inbound/outbound
- Alerting on Polar’s empty peer list without context
Done when: Lab evidence is filed.
Next lesson
Custom Router — pathfinding with your own fee and reliability heuristics.