Alby User Guide
Developer GuideUser Dashboard
🐝 Alby Hub, Browser Extension and Account
🐝 Alby Hub, Browser Extension and Account
  • 🏠 Hub, Browser Extension, Account
  • Alby Go
    • 📲Get Alby mobile app
    • 👩‍🚀Send, Receive, Go!
  • Alby Hub
    • â„šī¸Introduction
    • đŸšĸGetting Started
    • 🍕Alby Hub flavors
      • Alby Pro Cloud
      • Other Cloud Options
      • Desktop
      • Docker
      • Umbrel, Start9, etc
      • 🐧Linux
      • 🆙Updating
    • 👛Wallet
      • đŸ’ĢOpen your first channel
      • 📤Send
      • đŸ“ĨReceive
      • âŦ†ī¸Buy Bitcoin
        • 💰Withdraw from an exchange
      • âŦ‡ī¸Sell Bitcoin
    • 🔗App Connections
    • 🎮App Store
      • 🏡Sub-wallet, Friends & Family
        • Fast sub-wallets (no lightning address)
        • Sub-wallet with lightning address âšĄī¸
        • Podcaster & musicians sub-wallets
        • ❓Q&A of sub-wallets
      • 📅ZapPlanner
    • 🚰Node
      • đŸ“ĨIncrease receiving capacity
      • 📤Advanced: Increase Spending Balance with on-chain bitcoin
      • â¤ī¸Node Health
      • 💰On-chain Balance
      • Swap In & Out
    • 🔐Backups & Recover
    • ❓FAQ Alby Hub
      • How can I access Alby Hub from my phone?
      • Why do I need to link my Alby Account?
      • Should I open a private or public channel?
      • How can I change routing fees?
      • How can I close a channel? What happens to the sats in this channel?
      • Why was my lightning channel closed and what to do next?
      • How can I update my Alby Hub?
      • How can I change my unlock password?
      • How can I check budgets of connected apps?
      • How can I backup my keys
      • Where is Alby Hub physically located?
      • How can I migrate Alby Hub to a different machine?
      • How to use Fly.io to run Alby Hub
      • What to do during times of high onchain fees?
      • What to do if I cannot send a payment?
      • What to do if I cannot receive a payment
      • Should I open multiple channels with the same counterparty?
      • What happens if the healthcheck indicator turns red?
    • 📚Bitcoin Wallet Glossary
  • Alby Browser Extension
    • 👾Features
      • đŸ’ŗManage multiple wallets
      • đŸ’ĩCreate and change budgets
      • 🔂Send and receive bitcoin
      • đŸĨManage site connections
      • đŸ—ī¸Master Key
      • đŸĻ¤Nostr
      • 🌊Liquid
      • âš–ī¸HOLD Payments
    • 🔗Link wallet
      • Alby web Account
      • Umbrel
      • Alby Hub via NWC link
      • LND
      • No limits - quick & easy
    • 🎮Discover apps
    • 🐞Debugging
      • Connecting your LN node
      • Google Chrome
      • Mozilla Firefox
      • Using nightly builds
    • ❓FAQs Alby Extension
      • How do I install the Alby Browser Extension?
      • Why do I need a unlock password?
      • Can I trust the software?
      • Lost Password
      • Does the extension work on Mobile?
      • Implementing payments and authentication
      • Can I use Alby with the Tor Browser?
      • What is the Alby Companion App?
      • How to enable Alby only on specific websites?
      • Can I connect LND with readonly permissions?
      • How to use Alby with nosft.xyz to get NFT ordinals/inscriptions?
      • How to access my old account in apps with the Alby Extension
      • What permission does the extension require?
      • How can I run my own Lightning node?
      • Migrate from old LNDHub setup
      • I lost my Nostr ID when making a new account
  • Alby Account
    • â„šī¸Introduction
    • 🔗Link wallet
      • 🔗Link Alby Hub
      • 🔗Link other NWC wallet
    • 🌮Features
      • Nostr identifier
      • Lightning Address
      • Notifications and reports
      • Email, Password, Currency
      • âŦ†ī¸Top up your wallet
        • Card or bank transfer
        • Exchange service
        • Other bitcoin wallet
        • Other crypto wallet
      • âŦ‡ī¸Convert to fiat
    • 🎮Connect to apps
      • NWC Connections
      • Alby Browser Extension
      • BTCPay Server
      • Podcast apps
      • Alby Go mobile app
    • 👩‍đŸ’ģUse your lightning address
      • Nostr
      • Own domain
    • ❓FAQs Alby Account
      • Alby Hub is here! What happens to my existing balance?
      • Are there transaction limits with my Alby Account?
      • Can I open a channel to Alby's lightning node?
      • How to increase your weekly payment volume?
      • Why is there a minimum balance required?
      • Which service fees apply for using an Alby account?
      • How does Alby make money?
      • How to use Fly.io to run Alby Hub
      • What are fee credits in my Alby account
      • Embrace Alby Hub - phasing out Alby’s shared wallet
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Your bitcoin & nostr companion / from 🐝 with 🧡

On this page
  • Alby Hub with Pro Cloud
  • On-chain Balance and Spending Balance
  • Alby Hub with Pro
  • On-chain Balance and Spending Balance
  • Alby Hub self-hosted (DIY) with an Alby account
  • On-chain Balance
  • Spending Balance
  • Alby Hub self-hosted without an Alby account
  • On-chain Balance
  • Spending Balance
  • Backup Checklist

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  1. Alby Hub

Backups & Recover

Backing up your Alby Hub is essential to ensure your funds can be recovered in case you lose access to your node. Taking the time to do it right ensures everything is safe and easily recoverable.

Last updated 1 month ago

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This guide applies to the default node implementation of Alby Hub (LDK) only. If you're using a different node backend, please refer to its own documentation for backup instructions.

Jump directly to the setup that applies to you:

Alby Hub with Pro Cloud

On-chain Balance and Spending Balance

Backup: Find and backup your 12-word recovery phrase in your Alby Hub to recover your On-chain Balance and Spending Balance anytime.

Your Spending Balance data is securely encrypted using your 12-word recovery phrase and is dynamically updated in your Alby account (VSS). To see if VSS is enabled for your Hub go to Settings and select "Your Alby Account". If you cannot access your Hub anymore, contact our support.

Recover: Start a new Alby Hub in the same Alby account -> Select "Advanced Setup" -> enter your 12-word recovery phrase. Your On-chain and Spending Balance will be fully restored 🚀.

As Pro Cloud subscriber you only need to backup your recovery phrase and remember your Alby account.

Alby Hub with Pro

On-chain Balance and Spending Balance

Your Spending Balance data is securely encrypted using your 12-word recovery phrase and is dynamically updated in your Alby account (VSS). To see if VSS is enabled for your Hub go to Settings and select "Your Alby Account". If you cannot access your Hub anymore, contact our support.

Recover: Start a new Alby Hub in the same Alby account -> Select "Advanced Setup" -> enter your 12-word recovery phrase. Your On-chain and Spending Balance will be fully restored 🚀.

As Pro subscriber you only need to backup your recovery phrase and remember your Alby account.

Alby Hub self-hosted (DIY) with an Alby account

On-chain Balance

Recover: Enter the 12-word recovery phrase into a new Alby Hub or another bitcoin wallet.

Spending Balance

Backup: Alby stores a static channel backup automatically in your Alby account.

As an Alby account user you only need to backup your recovery phrase.

Alby Hub self-hosted without an Alby account

On-chain Balance

Recover: Enter the 12-word recovery phrase into a new Alby Hub or another bitcoin wallet.

Spending Balance

Backup: You need to make this backup each time you have a new lighting channel. If new channels were made after the backup, you could risk losing funds.

  • Go to the working directory of your Alby Hub

  • Back up the newest file in .data/ldk/static_channel_backups/

Without an Alby account you need to manually back up your recovery phrase and create backups of your channels each time you have a new channel. If new channels were made after the backup, you could risk losing funds.

Backup Checklist

Where are Alby Hub self-hosted internal files on Windows?
Where are Alby Hub self-hosted internal files on Unix or macOS?

For other operating systems, we use the XDG implementation, specifically the XDG_DATA_HOME folder type.

Thanks for your understanding!


Congratulations! 🎉 You've successfully learned how to back up your Alby Hub, ensuring the safety of your funds and channels. Remember to always keep your Recovery Phrase and latest channel backup handy. With your backups in place, your hub is now well-protected and ready for any situation! 🔐


Thank you for stopping by! This section was created with contributions from RenÊ, Roland & Jean-Paul

Backup: Find and backup your 12-word recovery phrase in your Alby Hub to recover your On-chain Balance and Spending Balance anytime.

Backup: Find and backup your 12-word recovery phrase in your Alby Hub to recover your on-chain balance anytime.

Recover: Use to recover the sats of your Spending Balance. It asks your channel partners to force-close the channels to your node. Funds from channels may take up to 14 days to return to your on-chain balance. You will need to open new channels to continue sending and receiving transactions.

Backup: Find and backup your 12-word recovery phrase in your Alby Hub to recover your on-chain balance anytime.

Recover: Use to recover the sats of your Spending Balance. It asks your channel partners to force-close the channel to your node. Funds from channels may take up to 14 days to return to your on-chain balance. You will need to open new channels to continue sending and receiving transactions.

Please note that the data files for Alby Hub on Windows can be found here: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Local\albyhub. âš ī¸ Be very careful with these files, as they contain crucial information about your lightning network channels and cannot be recovered if deleted. If you wish to migrate your hub to another computer, it's recommended to use the proper migration flow instead of simply copying and pasting this folder to ensure all data is safely transferred. 😊

On Unix, Alby Hub stores important data in ~/.local/share, while on macOS, it’s located in ~/Library/albyhub. 😊 For more details about XDG folder implementation, you can check this link: 📂👍

🔐
here
here
this app
here
this app
XDG Implementation Guide

Get a subscription to Pro Cloud! â˜ī¸ Unlock 24/7 availability for your self-hosted wallet by subscribing to Pro Cloud. Never worry about downtime again!

Learn more about your on-chain balance! 💰 Discover the on-chain side of your self-custodial wallet. Click here to learn more about managing your Savings Balance securely.

Migrate your Hub! 🔄 Planning to move your Alby Hub? The migration process is similar to a backup in many ways. Click here to explore more on how to migrate your hub seamlessly!

here
Alby Hub with Pro Cloud
Alby Hub with Pro
Alby Hub self-hosted with an Alby account
Alby Hub self-hosted without an Alby account