get_wallet_service_info
Get NWC capabilities, supported encryption and notification types of the connected lightning wallet
LABSCO SUMMARY
Payments as something the assistant can actually do.
The connection secret is the whole authorisation story: whatever spending limits your NWC connection carries are the limits the model has, which is the part worth setting before you paste it anywhere.
What it is
An MCP server that connects a lightning wallet to an LLM through Nostr Wallet Connect. Run it locally over stdio with npx -y @getalby/mcp, or point a client at Alby's hosted server — https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp for Streamable HTTP, https://mcp.getalby.com/sse for SSE.
What you get
- A wallet reachable from any MCP client, with the NWC connection secret acting as the credential
- Built-in knowledge of NWC, LNURL and L402, through the Alby SDK and Alby Lightning Tools
- Hosted transport with bearer auth — paste
Authorization: Bearer nostr+walletconnect://..., or pass the secret URL-encoded as annwcquery parameter for clients with no bearer field - A local mode taking
NWC_CONNECTION_STRINGfrom the environment, andMODE=HTTPto expose Streamable HTTP athttp://localhost:3000/mcp - Documented setup paths for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Goose, Cline, Windsurf and n8n
yarn inspectto exercise the tools without an LLM in the loop
Requirements
A lightning wallet that supports NWC and its connection secret. Building from source needs Node.js 20+ and Yarn. Connecting Claude to the remote server currently requires at least a Claude Pro subscription. The author notes that a capable model matters here — a weak one will not drive it.
Setup effort
One command plus credentials — npx -y @getalby/mcp, then supply credentials
USE CASES
01
Paying for something mid-conversation
The wallet is reachable from the same session, so a payment does not mean leaving to open an app.
02
Letting an agent settle an L402-gated request
L402 is one of the protocols the server already understands, so a paywalled API call can be completed rather than abandoned.
03
Wiring a wallet into an automation platform
n8n connects over SSE with bearer auth, or over stdio through the community MCP node, with the connection secret supplied as an environment variable.
04
Trying it before handing it a model
Run the inspector locally against your connection string and call the tools by hand first.
11 tools
Listed in project code.
get_info
Get NWC capabilities of the connected lightning wallet, and general information about the wallet and underlying lightning node
make_invoice
Create a lightning invoice
pay_invoice
Pay a lightning invoice
get_balance
Get the balance of the connected lightning wallet
lookup_invoice
Look up lightning invoice details from a BOLT-11 invoice or payment hash
list_transactions
List all transactions from the connected wallet with optional filtering by time, type, and limit
fetch_l402
Fetch a paid resource protected by L402
fiat_to_sats
Convert fiat amounts to sats
parse_invoice
Parse a BOLT-11 lightning invoice
request_invoice
Request an invoice from a lightning address
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
11 tools registered in the project's code.
Requires
- npx on PATH
- Node.js 20+
- NWC_CONNECTION_STRING in your environment
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
npx
TERMINAL
npx -y @getalby/mcpHosted endpoint
ENDPOINT URL
https://mcp.getalby.com/sse?nwc=ENCODED_NWC_URLAdd this hosted endpoint to your MCP client using the credentials listed under Requirements.
MCP Clients
Claude.ai — Remote, Claude Desktop — Remote
Settings -> Connectors -> Add custom connector, endpoint URI:
URL
https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp?nwc=ENCODED_NWC_URLClaude Desktop — npx
CLAUDE DESKTOP — NPX · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"nwc": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@getalby/mcp"
],
"env": {
"NWC_CONNECTION_STRING": "<YOUR_NWC_CONNECTION_STRING>"
}
}
}
}Claude Code
CLAUDE CODE · TERMINAL
claude mcp add --transport http alby https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_NWC_CONNECTION_STRING>"Goose Desktop
Settings -> Advanced Settings -> Add custom Extension, type HTTP Streamable, URI https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp
Goose CLI — Remote
GOOSE CLI — REMOTE · TERMINAL
goose configureAdd extension → Remote Extension (HTTP Streamable), and call it alby
HTTP Streamable endpoint URI: https://mcp.getalby.com/mcp — Timeout: 30, Description: no, environment variables: no
Add custom headers: yes — header name Authorization, header value Bearer followed by your NWC connection secret (it starts with nostr+walletconnect://)
Goose CLI — npx
GOOSE CLI — NPX · TERMINAL
goose configureAdd extension → Command Line Extension, and call it alby
Command to run: npx -y @getalby/mcp — Timeout: 30, Description: no
Environment variables: yes — name NWC_CONNECTION_STRING, value <YOUR_NWC_CONNECTION_STRING> (your NWC connection secret)
Cline
CLINE · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"nwc": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@getalby/mcp"
],
"env": {
"NWC_CONNECTION_STRING": "<YOUR_NWC_CONNECTION_STRING>"
},
"disabled": false,
"autoApprove": []
}
}
}n8n — SSE
Add the native n8n MCP Client tool to an AI agent node
Enter the SSE endpoint https://mcp.getalby.com/sse, set authentication to "Bearer", and paste your NWC connection secret
n8n — stdio
Install the n8n-nodes-mcp community node (https://github.com/nerding-io/n8n-nodes-mcp) and start n8n with tools enabled: N8N_COMMUNITY_PACKAGES_ALLOW_TOOL_USAGE=true npx n8n
In a blank workflow add an AI agent node, configure your model, and add the "MCP Client" tool
Give it a credential with Command Line (STDIO) selected — command npx, arguments -y @getalby/mcp, environment NWC_CONNECTION_STRING=nostr+walletconnect://<YOUR_KEY> (type the whole line in a text editor and paste it, since the field cannot show plain text)
Windsurf
WINDSURF · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"alby": {
"serverUrl": "https://mcp.getalby.com/sse?nwc=ENCODED_NWC_URL"
}
}
}
