LND Peer Not Connecting — Fix Address, Auth, and Firewall Issues

'Cannot connect to peer' is one of the most common LND errors. Here is how to debug it step by step.

Step 1: Verify the peer URI format

# Correct format:
lncli connect <pubkey>@<host>:<port>

# Examples:
lncli connect 03abc...@1.2.3.4:9735       # IP
lncli connect 03abc...@example.com:9735   # hostname
lncli connect 03abc...@xyz.onion:9735     # Tor

# Get your own URI:
lncli getinfo | python3 -c "import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print('\n'.join(d['uris']))"

# Look up a node's address:
lncli getnodeinfo <pubkey> | python3 -c "
import json,sys
d = json.load(sys.stdin)
for addr in d['node']['addresses']:
    print(addr['addr'])
"

Step 2: Test basic TCP connectivity

# Test if port is reachable
nc -zv <host> 9735
# or
curl -v telnet://<host>:9735

# If timeout: firewall issue or node offline
# If refused: node is up but port blocked or wrong port

Step 3: Check your firewall

# Check if LND port is open
sudo ufw status | grep 9735

# Open it if needed
sudo ufw allow 9735/tcp

# Check if LND is actually listening
ss -tlnp | grep 9735

# Verify lnd.conf has external IP set
grep -E 'externalip|listen|nat' ~/.lnd/lnd.conf

Step 4: Tor-specific issues

# Check Tor is running
systemctl status tor

# Verify Tor onion address
lncli getinfo | python3 -c "
import json,sys
d = json.load(sys.stdin)
for uri in d['uris']:
    if '.onion' in uri: print('Tor URI:', uri)
"

# In lnd.conf for Tor:
[Tor]
tor.active=1
tor.v3=1
# tor.streamisolation=1  (comment out if having issues)

Step 5: Check LND logs

sudo journalctl -u lnd --since '10 minutes ago' | grep -iE 'peer|connect|dial|error' | tail -20

Need peer connectivity help? $9

I debug LND networking issues: firewall rules, Tor setup, NAT traversal, peer connections. USDT TRC-20.

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