Alby Bitcoin Payments MCP Server

NEW: also checkout Alby CLI for agents that don't support MCP.

Connect a bitcoin lightning wallet to your LLM using Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC).

This MCP server uses the official MCP TypeScript SDK

This MCP server has knowledge of NWC, LNURL and L402 using Alby SDK and Alby Lightning Tools.

Take a look at Awesome AI Bitcoin for places where you can use the Alby MCP.

Modes

STDIO

By default NWC MCP Server runs locally in STDIO mode.

HTTP

You can set the following environment variable: MODE=HTTP which will enable Streamable HTTP (http://localhost:3000/mcp) and SSE (http://localhost:3000/sse Note: SSE is deprecated).

HTTP requires bearer authorization, where the token is a wallet's NWC connection secret. See the authentication section further above in the README.

From Source

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• Yarn
• A connection string from a lightning wallet that supports NWC

Installation

yarn install

Building

yarn build

Add your NWC connection

Copy .env.example to .env and update your connection string

Inspect the tools (use/test without an LLM)

yarn inspect

Supported Tools

See the tools directory

Quick Start

In case you get stuck, see troubleshooting section below.

Use the Alby-Hosted MCP Server

If your agent supports remote MCP servers - SSE (e.g. N8N) or HTTP Streamable transports, you can connect to Alby's MCP server.

• SSE: https://mcp.getalby.com/sse
• HTTP Streamable: https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp

Authentication

Both require providing an NWC connection secret as authentication, either as Bearer authentication (preferred) or via the nwc query parameter.

Bearer Auth

Example: Authorization: Bearer nostr+walletconnect://...

If your agent UI supports bearer auth, just paste the connection secret into the bearer auth field.

Query Parameter

If your agent doesn't support bearer auth, you can pass the NWC connection secret as a query parameter.

Example: https://mcp.getalby.com/sse?nwc=ENCODED_CONNECTION_SECRET or https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp?nwc=ENCODED_CONNECTION_SECRET

To get ENCODED_CONNECTION_SECRET, open browser devtools (right click -> inspect) and enter this in the console, with your own NWC connection secret set:

encodeURIComponent("nostr+walletconnect://...");

In case there is a message asking for confirmation for pasting, follow the instructions, and then enter the above command again.

Once the command has run, copy the output and replace ENCODED_CONNECTION_SECRET. It will look like this: nostr%2Bwalletconnect%3A%2F%2F...

Add to Claude Web or Claude Desktop

Use the remote Alby MCP server

Currently, at least a Claude Pro subscription is required to be able to connect to remote MCP servers.

1. Go to Settings -> Connectors
2. Click on "Add custom connector"
3. Call it alby
4. What is the endpoint URI: https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp?nwc=ENCODED_NWC_URL (see above for instructions)

Client-side

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nwc": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@getalby/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "NWC_CONNECTION_STRING": "YOUR NWC CONNECTION STRING HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to Goose Desktop

1. Open Goose Desktop
2. Go To Settings -> Advanced Settings
3. Click on "Add custom Extension"
4. Call it alby, and change the type to HTTP Streamable
5. What is the SSE endpoint URI: https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp
6. Timeout: 30
7. Description: no
8. environment variables: no

Add to Goose CLI

Use the Alby MCP server

1. Type goose configure
2. Add extension -> Remote Extension (HTTP Streamable)
3. Call it alby
4. What is the HTTP Streamable endpoint URI: https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp
5. Timeout: 30
6. Description: no
7. environment variables: no
8. add custom headers: yes
9. header name: Authorization
10. header value: Bearer nostr+walletconnect://... (replace with your connection secret)

Client-side

1. Type goose configure
2. Add extension -> Command Line Extension
3. Call it alby
4. What command should be run: npx -y @getalby/mcp
5. Timeout: 30
6. Description: no
7. environment variables: yes
8. environment variable name: NWC_CONNECTION_STRING
9. environment variable value: nostr+walletconnect://... (your NWC connection secret here)

Add to Cline

Copy the below and paste it into a cline prompt. It should prompt you to update the connection string.

Add the following to my MCP servers list:

"nwc": {
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "@getalby/mcp"],
  "env": {
    "NWC_CONNECTION_STRING": "nostr+walletconnect://..."
  },
  "disabled": false,
  "autoApprove": []
}

Add to Claude Code

Use the Alby MCP server

claude mcp add --transport http alby https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer nostr+walletconnect://..."

Add to N8N via SSE

You can use the native N8N MCP Client tool connected to an AI agent. Enter your SSE endpoint, set authentication to "Bearer" and paste your NWC connection secret.

Tested with OpenRouter + anthropic/claude-3.7-sonnet

See the N8N workflow for a simple example

Add to N8N via STDIO (Community Node)

Currently this MCP server only works via command line (STDIO).

You can install the n8n-nodes-mcp community node and run n8n with tools enabled e.g.

N8N_COMMUNITY_PACKAGES_ALLOW_TOOL_USAGE=true npx n8n

Create a blank workflow and add an AI agent node. Configure your LLM model and add a new tool "MCP Client" (which will have a cube next to it showing it's a community node).

Configure the MCP Client by adding a credential with Command Line (STDIO) selected.

command: npx arguments: -y @getalby/mcp environments NWC_CONNECTION_STRING=nostr+walletconnect://your_key_here (create the whole line in a text editor and paste it in, since the password field cannot be switched to plaintext)

See the N8N paid chat workflow for a full example

Add to Windsurf

Use the remote Alby MCP server

1. Download and open your Windsurf Editor
2. Click on "Windsurf - Settings" in the toolbar at the bottom -> "Advanced Settings" -> "Cascade" -> Plugins (MCP Servers): Click on "Manage plugins" -> "View raw config" -> you'll see your "mcp_config.json"
3. Paste this to your mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alby": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.getalby.com/sse?nwc=ENCODED_NWC_URL"
    }
  }
}

4. Replace "ENCODED_NWC_URL" as descripted above. Click "Save" and restart the Windsurf editor.

Troubleshooting

Model Usage

Make sure you use a decent model (e.g. Claude Sonnet 3.7) otherwise the MCP server will not work.

Failure to connect to wallet, secret missing

Make sure you copied the entire NWC connection secret, without spaces

Contact Alby Support

Visit support.getalby.com and we're happy to help you get the MCP server working.