Alby Hub is configurable with several different backends. Although setting up with Cashu is considered experimental, it’s a good option to have if you don’t want to run a Lightning node.
This post will give a quick overview of the steps to connect your Alby Hub with a Cashu mint.
Before you get started, you’re going to want to have Alby Hub installed already. There are many options for this as well — Linux, StartOS, and Umbrel to name a few. You can even have Alby host it for you in their cloud.
I just happen to have a Linux machine free so I went that route — the installation script made it super easy.
After the install is complete, navigating to localhost:8080 brings up this page.
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Select “Advanced Setup”
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Select “Create Wallet with Custom Node”
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Select “Cashu Mint”
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Paste the URL of the mint you’d like to use. You can use the default one provided or click on “Find a mint” to search for others.
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(Optional) Connect your Alby account by requesting an authorization code. After clicking “Connect now,” a new window will open and the code displayed after signing in.
Boom. You’re all done.
Now you can use your Alby Lightning address to receive your first sats!
NOTE: Although the sats do make it to the wallet, the “Waiting for payment” animation seems to wait indefinitely and there’s no record in transaction history.
This seems to be a Cashu-related issue that has something to do with the preimage. An issue has been opened on GitHub if you’re curious.
Other that that, sending and receiving works like a charm.