> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.moneydevkit.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Payouts

> How to get your money out of moneydevkit: manual, automatic, and programmatic payouts.

moneydevkit is self-custodial — your app runs its own Lightning node, and moneydevkit never holds your money. A payout moves funds off that node: either to a wallet you control, or (with programmatic payouts) to a destination your own server code chooses to pay.

There are three ways to pay out. Choose one under **How do you want to receive payouts?** on the [Payouts page](https://moneydevkit.com/dashboard/payouts) of the dashboard:

| Method                                | Who initiates                          | Where the money goes             |
| ------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| [Manual](#manual-payouts)             | You, from the dashboard                | Your `WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION`    |
| [Auto-payout](#automatic-payouts)     | moneydevkit, on every incoming payment | Your `WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION`    |
| [Programmatic](#programmatic-payouts) | Your app's server code                 | A destination your code supplies |

Manual withdrawals are always available, whichever method you select.

## Setting your payout destination

Manual and automatic payouts send funds to a destination that only your app knows — moneydevkit never sees it. Set `WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION` in your app's environment variables to a **Lightning Address** (name\@domain), **LNURL**, or **Bolt12 offer**:

```
WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION=yourname@walletdomain.com
```

### How do I payout to CashApp?

Make sure you have a CashApp account with the ability to send and receive Bitcoin.

Find your CashTag by tapping your profile picture in the top right of CashApp. Your cashtag will have a \$ sign in front of it. Set your `WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION` to your [cashtag@cash.app](mailto:cashtag@cash.app). Do not include the \$.

```
WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION=cashtag@cash.app
```

### How do I payout to Phoenix wallet?

Tap "Receive" then select "Reusable" for a Bolt12 offer. Tap "Copy" then copy "Lightning Bolt12." Your Bolt12 offer should start with `lno`. Set `WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION` to your Bolt12 offer.

```
WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION=lno...
```

## Manual payouts

The default. On the Payouts page, enter an amount in sats (or click **Send max**) and click **Send payout**. Your node pays the amount to your `WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION`.

The dashboard shows how much is *available to withdraw*, which is slightly less than your total balance — a small portion is reserved to cover Lightning routing fees.

## Automatic payouts

The recommended option for most apps. With **Auto-payout** enabled, every incoming payment triggers a payout of your full balance to your `WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION`. A small routing-fee reserve is kept back, so some funds always remain on the node.

There's nothing to schedule or configure beyond `WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION` — it just runs after each payment. Failed payouts are retried automatically, and you can still withdraw manually whenever you like.

## Programmatic payouts

An advanced option that lets your app's **server code** send Lightning payments — to destinations your code supplies, not your `WITHDRAWAL_DESTINATION`. This is what powers agentic commerce flows like paying [L402](/l402) invoices with `pay402`, or any business logic where your app pays a supplier, affiliate, or user out of its own balance. The [Merch Store example](/examples/merch-store) uses it to pay a print-on-demand supplier on every sale.

Enable it by selecting **Programmatic payouts** on the Payouts page. Your app also needs an app-scoped `MDK_ACCESS_TOKEN` in its environment — programmatic payout requests are authenticated and scoped to a single app.

From code, use `programmaticPayout` (or `pay402`, which wraps it) from `@moneydevkit/nextjs/server`:

```ts theme={null}
import { programmaticPayout, waitForPayoutResult } from "@moneydevkit/nextjs/server";

const { paymentId } = await programmaticPayout({
  destination: "lnbc1...", // BOLT11, BOLT12, LNURL, or Lightning Address
  amountSats: 21000,       // required unless the BOLT11 has a fixed amount
  idempotencyKey: `order-${orderId}`,
});

const result = await waitForPayoutResult({ paymentId });
```

Several safety mechanisms are built in:

* **Idempotency keys are required.** Every payout needs a stable `idempotencyKey`; retrying with the same key returns the original result instead of paying twice. Reusing a key with a different amount is rejected.
* **Per-request cap.** A single payout can't exceed a platform-enforced maximum (currently 1,000,000 sats by default). Larger requests fail with `amount_too_large`.
* **Rolling daily limit.** Each app has a rolling 24-hour programmatic payout budget (currently 5,000,000 sats by default). Requests over the limit fail with `daily_limit_exceeded`. Manual and automatic payouts don't count against this budget.
* **Everything is recorded.** Programmatic payouts appear in your payout history on the Payouts page, just like withdrawals.

If programmatic payouts are disabled for the app, requests fail with `programmatic_payouts_disabled` — flip the switch on the Payouts page to resolve it.