Process Manager

Run LNbits as a persistent service using systemd or PM2 so it starts on boot and restarts on failure.

If you installed LNbits from source (uv, Poetry, Nix) you need a process manager to keep it running. Docker and node platforms handle this automatically.

systemd (Linux)

Create a service file:

# /etc/systemd/system/lnbits.service
[Unit]
Description=LNbits Lightning Wallet
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=lnbits
Group=lnbits
WorkingDirectory=/home/lnbits/lnbits
ExecStart=/home/lnbits/lnbits/.venv/bin/lnbits
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
Environment=LNBITS_DATA_FOLDER=/home/lnbits/lnbits/data

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable lnbits
sudo systemctl start lnbits

Manage the service

# Check status
sudo systemctl status lnbits

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u lnbits -f

# Restart after config changes
sudo systemctl restart lnbits

# Stop
sudo systemctl stop lnbits

Poetry variant

If you installed with Poetry, change the ExecStart line:

ExecStart=/home/lnbits/lnbits/.venv/bin/poetry run lnbits

PM2 (cross-platform)

PM2 is a Node.js-based process manager that works on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Install PM2

npm install -g pm2

Start LNbits

cd /home/lnbits/lnbits

# If using uv / venv
pm2 start .venv/bin/lnbits --name lnbits

# If using Poetry
pm2 start "poetry run lnbits" --name lnbits

Persist across reboots

pm2 startup
pm2 save

Manage the process

# Status
pm2 status

# Logs
pm2 logs lnbits

# Restart
pm2 restart lnbits

# Stop
pm2 stop lnbits

Which one to choose?

	systemd	PM2
Platform	Linux only	Linux, macOS, Windows
Install	Built into Linux	Requires Node.js
Log management	journalctl	Built-in log rotation
Best for	Production Linux servers	Development, macOS, cross-platform

TIP

For Docker deployments, the restart: unless-stopped policy in your docker-compose.yml handles restarts - you don't need systemd or PM2.

Related Pages

• Install with uv - source installation
• Install with Poetry - source installation
• Reverse Proxy - set up HTTPS
• First Setup - post-install checklist