<p>As far as I know flare was never implemented for lightning nodes and is not being used. I think current implementations use sind pathfinding algorithms like BfS or  Dijkstra. The pathfinding itself is not part of the BOLTs anyway. A node could do whatever it wants with the information provided from the gossip store / gossip protocol. (BOLT 07). People could in particular decide to go for the approach given by flare. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-16T15:31:39.767Z
2019-03-16T15:31:39.767Z
Rene Pickhardt
<p>There is a 2016 paper from Bitfury on a proposed routing algorithm for LN:</p>

<p><a href="https://bitfury.com/content/downloads/whitepaper_flare_an_approach_to_routing_in_lightning_network_7_7_2016.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Flare: An Approach to Routing
in Lightning Network</a></p>

<p>What is the relation between it and was was actually implemented (the primary reference being the <a href="https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lightning-rfc/blob/master/00-introduction.md" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BOLT specs</a>)?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-16T20:29:36.663Z
It was implemented by Bitfury and Acinq, but only for testing purposes, it never went to the production implementation.
Dmitry Laptev
<lightning-network><lightning-routing>
Routing for Lightning network: was Flare implemented?
Sergei Tikhomirov
# Routing for Lightning network: was Flare implemented?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-03-16)

There is a 2016 paper from Bitfury on a proposed routing algorithm for LN:

[Flare: An Approach to Routing
in Lightning Network](https://bitfury.com/content/downloads/whitepaper_flare_an_approach_to_routing_in_lightning_network_7_7_2016.pdf)

What is the relation between it and was was actually implemented (the primary reference being the [BOLT specs](https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lightning-rfc/blob/master/00-introduction.md))?

**Tags:** lightning-network, lightning-routing

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It was implemented by Bitfury and Acinq, but only for testing purposes, it never went to the production implementation.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-03-16. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

As far as I know flare was never implemented for lightning nodes and is not being used. I think current implementations use sind pathfinding algorithms like BfS or Dijkstra. The pathfinding itself is not part of the BOLTs anyway. A node could do whatever it wants with the information provided from the gossip store / gossip protocol. (BOLT 07). People could in particular decide to go for the approach given by flare.


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