A custom router lets you experiment with weights: fee, uptime, historical fail rates, and liquidity hints.
Complete Step 1 // Required reading in the study plan above, then continue here. This closes Lightning Projects.
Step 2 — Goal
Service that:
- Loads graph data
- Returns routes for (source, destination, amount)
- Logs hypothetical success metrics against a dataset
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Done when: You can write the edge-weight formula you will ship first.
Step 3 — Milestones
| Phase | Ship |
|---|---|
| Milestone A | Ingest graph snapshot (file, Amboss, or node gossip export) |
| Milestone B | Ranked routes API for amount-constrained search |
| Milestone C | Benchmark harness vs baseline weights |
Done when: Milestone B returns at least one path or a clear “no route” with reasons.
Step 4 — Build & evidence (lab)
Implement against /projects/custom-router. Capture repo link, sample route output, and benchmark note.
Common mistakes
- Optimizing only fees and ignoring historical fail rates
- Treating gossip capacity as guaranteed liquidity
- Benchmarking only on a single lucky path
Done when: Lab evidence is filed.
Next lesson
Contribution Discovery — find beginner-friendly issues across LND, CLN, and LDK.