Hi!

We’re excited to announce VLS v0.14 "Dauntless Durga"! This release is focused on expanding protocol support, improving maintainability, and strengthening validation infrastructure across the stack.

Key Highlights

  • BOLT12 Support: Added new bolt12_2 and bolt12_2_reply messages, plus a dedicated signing method for BOLT12 offers and replies.

  • Expanded Monitoring: The signer now tracks second-level HTLC outputs for improved visibility during complex channel closures.

  • Integrated LDK Example Node: The lnrod crate is now part of the main VLS workspace, making it easier for LDK users to integrate and test directly.

  • Automatic Database Migration: Both vls-persist and lss now auto-migrate to Redb 2.2.0 for seamless upgrades.

  • Improved Proxy and CLI:

    • New datadir parameter and --log-trace flag for remote_hsmd socket proxy
    • New address list and verify commands in vls-cli

  • Stronger Security Baseline:

    • Bumped ring and crossbeam-channel to patch vulnerabilities
    • MSRV now set to 1.74.0 (1.75.0 for LSS)

  • Cleaner Architecture:

    • The vlsd2 binary is now its own crate and renamed to vlsd
    • Unified dependencies across the workspace and added Cargo Deny CI enforcement

While this release is secure against the most common ways a malicious node may steal user funds, it does not yet capture all scenarios in which a user might lose funds.

We recommend running VLS in testnet or with limited funds in production until we reach our production release milestone (coming soon) and you are comfortable it adequately protects against all scenarios relevant to your use case.

See here for an independent security review of our architecture and code, up until January 2023.

Why It Matters

This release marks a major step toward making VLS a more cohesive, production-grade toolkit for building non-custodial Lightning services. By consolidating projects like lnrod and standardizing build, storage, and policy components, teams can deploy faster and maintain safer integrations.

Looking Ahead

The next milestone is mainnet readiness.

Our current focus is the final batch of thirty issues that close out the last pieces of validation, persistence, and recovery logic needed before we tag VLS v1.0. This work ensures full Lightning protocol coverage, reliable state handling, and hardened production operation — the foundation for a stable mainnet release.

After v1.0, the roadmap shifts toward enterprise use cases. That includes deep performance testing (throughput, latency, and memory profiling), looking into secure enclave support (e.g. SGX, Nitro), and improving customization and integration workflows.

Feature-wise, we’re also preparing to extend support for splicing and dual funding, bringing VLS in line with the next generation of Lightning capabilities.

We’re getting close to a world where funds stay safe even when nodes are compromised.

Join the conversation on Matrix or explore the CHANGELOG for full details.

Help us Secure the Lightning Network

Help us improve the security of the Bitcoin Lightning Network:


Happy Signing!