LIGHTNING-CLOSE(7)
==================
:doctype: manpage

NAME
----
lightning-close - Command for closing channels with direct peers

SYNOPSIS
--------
*close* 'id' ['unilateraltimeout']

DESCRIPTION
-----------

The *close* RPC command attempts to close the channel cooperatively
with the peer, or unilaterally after 'unilateraltimeout'.

If the given 'id' is a peer ID (66 hex digits as a string), then
it applies to the active channel of the direct peer corresponding to
the given peer ID.
If the given 'id' is a channel ID (64 hex digits as a string, or
the short channel ID 'blockheight:txindex:outindex' form), then it
applies to that channel.

If 'unilateraltimeout' is not zero, the *close* command will
unilaterally close the channel when that number of seconds is reached.
If 'unilateraltimeout' is zero, then the *close* command will wait
indefinitely until the peer is online and can negotiate a mutual
close.  The default is 2 days (172800 seconds).

The peer needs to be live and connected in order to negotiate
a mutual close.  The default of unilaterally closing after 48 hours
is usually a reasonable indication that you can no longer
contact the peer.

NOTES
-----

Prior to 0.7.2, *close* took two parameters: 'force' and 'timeout'.
'timeout' was the number of seconds before 'force' took effect
(default, 30), and 'force' determined whether the result was a
unilateral close or an RPC error (default).  Even after
the timeout, the channel would be closed if the peer reconnected.

RETURN VALUE
------------

On success, an object with fields 'tx' and 'txid' containing the
closing transaction are returned.
It will also have a field 'type' which is either the JSON string
'mutual' or the JSON string 'unilateral'.
A 'mutual' close means that we could negotiate a close with the
peer, while a 'unilateral' close means that the 'force' flag was
set and we had to close the channel without waiting for the
counterparty.

A unilateral close may still occur at any time if
the peer did not behave correctly during the close negotiation.

Unilateral closes will return your funds after a delay.
The delay will vary based on the peer 'to_self_delay' setting, not
your own setting.

AUTHOR
------
ZmnSCPxj <ZmnSCPxj@protonmail.com> is mainly responsible.

SEE ALSO
--------
lightning-disconnect(7), lightning-fundchannel(7)

RESOURCES
---------
Main web site: https://github.com/ElementsProject/lightning
