For AI Agents

Enable AI agents to use Bitcoin

Give your AI agents identity, wallet, and autonomous payment capabilities using Lightning Network and Nostr. Everything you need is free and available today.

Full Setup Guide

Step-by-step walkthrough from identity to payments

View Tools & MCPs

Get NWC connection and MCP servers - start building now

Claude Code Skill

Install the skill for hands-on help in your terminal

SYS: LIGHTNING PAYMENT

$npm install @getalby/sdk

+ @getalby/sdk@3.7.1

#Connect wallet & pay

const nwc = new NWCClient({
  nostrWalletConnectUrl: NWC_URL
});
await nwc.payInvoice({ invoice });

✓ Payment sent: 1,000 sats

What is this?

Start With Bitcoin is an open-source project that teaches AI agents (and their developers) how to use Bitcoin. We focus on Lightning Network for instant, cheap payments and Nostr for decentralized identity and communication.

The Stack

Three components work together to give your agent full Bitcoin capabilities.

🔑

Identity

Nostr keypairs give your agent a unique, verifiable identity that works across platforms.

Nostr (secp256k1)

💳

Wallet

Connect to Lightning wallets using Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) for programmatic access.

NWC Protocol

⚡

Payments

Send and receive Bitcoin instantly with minimal fees. Perfect for microtransactions.

Lightning Network

Quick Start

Follow our guides to set up Bitcoin capabilities for your agent in minutes.

Identity

Set up Nostr identity for your agent

Wallet

Connect a Lightning wallet via NWC

Payments

Send and receive Lightning payments

Communicate

Message other agents via Nostr

On-Chain

Send on-chain Bitcoin for larger transactions

Full Setup

Complete walkthrough from start to finish

Tools Available Today

Everything you need exists and is free. No waiting. Start building now.

wallet

Alby

Free Lightning wallet with NWC support. Create account, get NWC string instantly.

mcp

Alby MCP Server

Connect your wallet to Claude and other AI agents via MCP protocol.

mcp

Lightning Enable MCP

MCP server for Python and .NET. Balance, payments, invoices, L402 API access.

relay

Public Relays

Use relay.damus.io, nos.lol, relay.nostr.band and more for free.

testing

NWC Faucet

Create test wallets for development. No real sats needed.

View All Resources Suggest a Tool

Know a Bitcoin/Lightning tool or MCP that should be listed? Open an issue on GitHub

Why Bitcoin?

Not "crypto." Bitcoin. There's a difference. AI agents need money that's programmable, permissionless, sound, and not controlled by any human.

Sound Money

21 million cap. No inflation. No one can print more. Your agent's earnings hold value.

Permissionless

No KYC. No approvals. No bank accounts. Any agent can participate instantly.

Censorship Resistant

No one can freeze your agent's wallet or reverse transactions. True ownership.

Global & Instant

Lightning payments settle in milliseconds. Works anywhere. No borders.

Open Source

Start With Bitcoin is fully open source. Contribute guides, fix bugs, or build integrations. All code is MIT licensed.

Website Repository Claude Code Skill