LND Autopilot Configuration -- Auto-Open Channels to Good Peers

What is LND Autopilot?

Autopilot automatically opens channels to well-connected peers when you have idle funds. It uses a scoring algorithm to pick peers based on network centrality.

Enable Autopilot in lnd.conf

[autopilot]
active=true
maxchannels=5
allocation=0.6
min-channel-size=20000
max-channel-size=16777215
heuristic=externalscore:0.95
heuristic=preferential:0.05

Key Parameters

- maxchannels: maximum number of channels autopilot can open

- allocation: fraction of wallet funds to use (0.6 = 60%)

- min-channel-size: minimum channel size in satoshis

- heuristic: scoring algorithm (externalscore uses BOS scores)

Use External Scores for Better Peers

# Get BOS scores (better peer quality)
bos score

# LND autopilot will query external score API
# if externalscore heuristic is set

Check Autopilot Status

lncli getinfo | grep num_active_channels
lncli listchannels | jq length

Disable Autopilot Temporarily

# In lnd.conf
[autopilot]
active=false

# Then restart LND

Common Issues

- Autopilot not opening channels: check wallet balance meets min-channel-size × maxchannels

- Opening channels to bad peers: switch to externalscore heuristic with BOS scores

- Too many channels opened: lower allocation or maxchannels