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Lightning Address Tester

A Lightning Address looks like an email address (you@example.com), but every payment to it depends on the server behind its domain. When that server is down or misconfigured, payments fail, and the sender usually just sees a vague error.

Rizful's Lightning Address Tester checks any user@domain end to end, making the same requests a sender's wallet makes, and tells you which step breaks.

🔍 Try the Lightning Address Tester →

What It Checks​

  1. The LNURL-pay response. The address format, and that https://<domain>/.well-known/lnurlp/<user> answers over HTTPS with valid JSON and "tag": "payRequest".
  2. CORS. Whether the server sends an Access-Control-Allow-Origin header. Without it, a web page can't read the answer, so web wallets and browser extensions can't pay the address.
  3. The payment details. The callback URL, the minimum and maximum amounts, and the metadata: a text/plain description, plus the text/identifier entry that LUD-16 asks for.
  4. Extras. Support for comments (LUD-12), Nostr zaps (NIP-57), payer data (LUD-18) and payment verification (LUD-21).
  5. A live test invoice (optional). The tester asks the server for a real invoice and checks that it's a mainnet BOLT11 invoice for exactly the amount requested, with a description hash that matches the metadata, and that it isn't already expired. If the receiving node is in Rizful's copy of the Lightning graph, you'll see which node it is.

The test invoice is real, so don't pay it: that would send real sats to whoever owns the address. The checks are done as soon as the invoice arrives.

Why a Lightning Address Fails​

These are the usual causes. Each failed check in the tester says what needs fixing.

  • No CORS header. Phone wallets can pay, but web and extension wallets fail. The fix is one response header, on /.well-known/lnurlp/ and on the callback.
  • Description hash mismatch. The invoice's description hash isn't the SHA-256 of the metadata string from the first response. Strict wallets refuse to pay it.
  • Wrong amount. The invoice isn't for the amount the wallet asked for, or has no amount at all.
  • 404, or the server is down. The name is misspelled, the account was closed, or the provider's server is offline. A Lightning Address only works while that server is online, because it makes a new invoice for every payment.
  • Capital letters. LUD-16 names are lowercase (a-z 0-9 - _ . +). Some wallets lowercase what you type, so a server that only knows Alice breaks when someone pays alice.
  • Amount limits. The payment is below the server's minimum or above its maximum.

If a check fails on an address you don't run, send the result to its provider.

Privacy First​

The test runs in your browser: your browser sends the LNURL and invoice requests straight to the address's own server, not through Rizful's servers. That provider sees the test requests, as it sees every payment request made to the address.

Need a Lightning Address?​

Rizful is our free hosted Lightning wallet: it runs in any web browser, gives you a Lightning address and NWC codes, and is always online to receive. The first steps guide shows how to pick your address.

🔍 Test a Lightning Address Now →

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