Eclair Trampoline Errors — Fix Routing Delegation and Fee Failures

Lightning Debug

What Are Trampoline Payments?

Trampoline routing allows lightweight nodes to delegate pathfinding to a trampoline node. This reduces local routing table requirements but introduces specific failure modes.

Common Eclair Trampoline Errors

1. TrampolineNotSupported

Error: `TrampolineNotSupported` — peer does not support trampoline

Fix: Verify the recipient or next-hop supports trampoline. Check Eclair config: `eclair.trampoline-payments.enable=true`. Fallback to direct routing if trampoline unavailable.

2. TemporaryTrampolineFailure

Error: TEMPORARY_TRAMPOLINE_FAILURE — trampoline node cannot route at this time

Fix: Retry with different trampoline node. Increase `eclair.trampoline-payments.aggregate-wait-for-htlcs=50ms` to allow better aggregation. Check trampoline node liquidity.

3. TrampolineFeeInsufficient

Error: TRAMPOLINE_FEE_INSUFFICIENT — fee offered too low for trampoline to route

Fix: Increase `eclair.trampoline-payments.fee-base-sat` and `fee-proportional-millionths`. Default: 1000 sat base + 0.01%. Try: 2000 sat base + 0.02% for difficult routes.

4. TrampolineExpiryTooSoon

Error: TRAMPOLINE_EXPIRY_TOO_SOON — CLTV delta insufficient for trampoline routing

Fix: Increase `eclair.trampoline-payments.cltv-delta-blocks` (default 144, try 288). Ensure sender uses adequate CLTV in payment.

5. TrampolinePaymentSecret Missing

Error: payment secret required for trampoline but not provided

Fix: Modern invoices (BOLT11) include payment_secret. Ensure Eclair version >= 0.6.0. Recreate invoice if generated by older node.

Trampoline vs Direct Routing Decision

Use trampoline when: mobile/light node, no routing table, paying to Eclair Mobile users. Use direct when: full node with routing table, trampoline adds fee overhead, recipient known to have direct channels.

Debug Commands

# Check trampoline support in channel
eclair-cli getinfo | jq '.features'

# Force direct routing
eclair-cli payinvoice --invoice=<bolt11> --trampoline=false

# Check trampoline fee estimates
eclair-cli findroute --invoice=<bolt11> --trampoline=true

More Lightning debugging guides: https://telegra.ph/LND-MPP-Errors--Fix-Multi-Path-Payment-Failures-03-12