Channel Lifecycle

Overview

A Fiber channel undergoes several states: NegotiatingFunding, CollaboratingFundingTx, SigningCommitment, AwaitingTxSignatures, AwaitingChannelReady, ChannelReady, ShuttingDown, and Closed. RPC responses report the current state through the ChannelState enum.

The following sections show the complete Fiber channel lifecycle in its actual state order.

NegotiatingFunding

NegotiatingFunding means the peers are agreeing on the parameters required before funding, such as funding amount, fee rates, TLC limits, and related channel settings.

Flag	Description
`OUR_INIT_SENT`	The local node has sent its channel-opening init message.
`THEIR_INIT_SENT`	The remote peer has sent its channel-opening init message.
`INIT_SENT`	Both local and remote channel-opening init messages have been sent.
`AWAITING_EXTERNAL_FUNDING`	The node is waiting for the user to sign and submit an externally funded transaction.

CollaboratingFundingTx

CollaboratingFundingTx means the peers are building the funding transaction together.

Flag	Description
`AWAITING_REMOTE_TX_COLLABORATION_MSG`	The node is waiting for the peer's transaction-collaboration message.
`PREPARING_LOCAL_TX_COLLABORATION_MSG`	The node is preparing its own transaction-collaboration message.
`OUR_TX_COMPLETE_SENT`	The local node has sent `tx_complete`.
`THEIR_TX_COMPLETE_SENT`	The remote peer has sent `tx_complete`.
`COLLABORATION_COMPLETED`	Both sides have sent `tx_complete`.

SigningCommitment

SigningCommitment means the funding transaction structure is ready and the peers are exchanging CommitmentSigned messages.

Flag	Description
`OUR_COMMITMENT_SIGNED_SENT`	The local node has sent `CommitmentSigned`.
`THEIR_COMMITMENT_SIGNED_SENT`	The remote peer has sent `CommitmentSigned`.
`COMMITMENT_SIGNED_SENT`	Both sides have sent `CommitmentSigned`.

AwaitingTxSignatures

AwaitingTxSignatures means the peers have exchanged commitment signatures and are now collecting funding transaction signatures through TxSignatures messages.

Flag	Description
`OUR_TX_SIGNATURES_SENT`	The local node has sent funding transaction signatures.
`THEIR_TX_SIGNATURES_SENT`	The remote peer has sent funding transaction signatures.
`TX_SIGNATURES_SENT`	Both sides have sent funding transaction signatures.

AwaitingChannelReady

AwaitingChannelReady means the funding transaction has been signed or broadcast, and the channel is waiting for on-chain confirmation and ChannelReady messages from both peers.

Flag	Description
`OUR_CHANNEL_READY`	The local node has sent `ChannelReady`.
`THEIR_CHANNEL_READY`	The remote peer has sent `ChannelReady`.
`CHANNEL_READY`	Both sides have sent `ChannelReady`.

ChannelReady

ChannelReady means the channel is active and can send or receive payments. This state has no state_flags.

ChannelReady does not guarantee payment reliability. A payment may still fail if there is not enough liquidity on the correct side, policy limits are not met, too many TLCs are already in flight, or no route can be found.

ShuttingDown

ShuttingDown means the channel is closing.

Channels can close cooperatively, when both peers agree on the close, or uncooperatively, when one side force closes the channel. For a cooperative close, provide close_script and fee_rate. For a force close, set force to true; for example, fnn-cli channel shutdown_channel --force true. In that case, Fiber uses the default close script and fee rate from channel opening.

Flag	Description
`OUR_SHUTDOWN_SENT`	The local node has sent `Shutdown`.
`THEIR_SHUTDOWN_SENT`	The remote peer has sent `Shutdown`.
`AWAITING_PENDING_TLCS`	Both sides have sent `Shutdown`, and pending TLCs still need to clear.
`DROPPING_PENDING`	The node is dropping pending updates while closing.
`WAITING_COMMITMENT_CONFIRMATION`	The node is waiting for commitment confirmation during shutdown.

Closed

Closed means the channel has reached a terminal state and can no longer be used for payments.

Flag	Description
`COOPERATIVE`	The channel closed cooperatively.
`UNCOOPERATIVE_LOCAL`	The local node closed the channel uncooperatively.
`UNCOOPERATIVE_REMOTE`	The remote peer closed the channel uncooperatively.
`ABANDONED`	The channel was abandoned.
`FUNDING_ABORTED`	The channel opening failed before funding completed.
`WAITING_ONCHAIN_SETTLEMENT`	The channel is already in `Closed`, but the on-chain settlement is still pending.

Checking Channel State

Using fnn-cli

fnn-cli channel list_channels

Using RPC

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "list_channels",
  "params": [{}],
  "id": 1
}

Channel Lifecycle

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