Admin Dashboard

The LNbits admin dashboard provides server administration, user management, extension control, funding source monitoring, and runtime configuration.

The admin dashboard provides system-wide management of your LNbits instance.

Enabling the admin UI

LNBITS_ADMIN_UI=true
LNBITS_ADMIN_USERS=your-user-id

Once enabled, admin users see an Admin section in the navigation.

First-run flow

When you start LNbits with LNBITS_ADMIN_UI=true for the first time:

1. Navigate to your LNbits instance in a browser
2. You are prompted to create a Super User account (username + password)
3. The Super User identity is stored in data/.super_user
4. You're logged in with full admin privileges

See Super User for details on the Super User role and how to replace it.

Dashboard overview

The admin dashboard gives you access to:

• Server settings - modify configuration without restarting
• User management - create, edit, disable accounts
• Extension management - control which extensions are available
• Funding source - view backend status and balance
• Audit log - track all system activity
• Node management - manage channels and peers (if backend supports it)

Server settings

When the Admin UI is enabled, many settings that would normally live in the .env file are moved to the database and managed here instead. Editing those values in .env has no effect - you must change them through this UI or the Admin API.

Settings you can manage at runtime:

• Site title, tagline, and branding
• Theme options
• Fee configuration
• Rate limits
• Auth methods
• Extension sources
• Funding source (wallet backend)
• Wallet limits
• Node UI visibility

Changes take effect immediately - no restart needed.

TIP

Not sure which settings live in .env and which ones moved to the Admin UI? See the full breakdown at .env file vs Admin UI.

Via the API

# Get current settings
curl https://your-lnbits.com/admin/api/v1/settings \
  -H "X-Api-Key: ADMIN_KEY"

# Update settings
curl -X PUT https://your-lnbits.com/admin/api/v1/settings \
  -H "X-Api-Key: ADMIN_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"lnbits_site_title": "My Lightning Hub"}'

Audit and monitoring

Audit endpoint

curl https://your-lnbits.com/admin/api/v1/audit \
  -H "X-Api-Key: ADMIN_KEY"

Returns balance information, funding source status, and recent activity.

Monitor endpoint

curl https://your-lnbits.com/admin/api/v1/monitor \
  -H "X-Api-Key: ADMIN_KEY"

Returns system health, memory usage, and active connections.

Reset to defaults

If your Admin UI settings get into a bad state, you can reset them:

1. Stop LNbits
2. Delete the settings from the database (or delete the database file for SQLite)
3. Restart LNbits - settings revert to .env file values

The Admin UI settings are stored in the database. When LNBITS_ADMIN_UI=true, the database values take precedence over .env values for managed settings.

Allowed users (private instance)

To restrict who can access your LNbits instance:

LNBITS_ALLOWED_USERS=user-id-1,user-id-2,user-id-3

When set, only listed users can log in. New account creation is blocked for everyone else. This effectively makes your instance private.

Super user

The super user has the highest privilege level. It is created automatically on first run (see First-run flow) and stored in data/.super_user.

Super user capabilities:

• All admin privileges
• Can impersonate any user
• Can modify admin user list
• Access to all system settings
• Cannot be demoted by other admins

See Super User for full documentation.

WARNING

The super user can perform any action on any account. Guard this credential carefully.

Related Pages

• Super User - highest-privilege account details
• Admin API Reference - API endpoints for admin operations
• Configuration - environment variables and server settings
• Authentication - login methods and access control