Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
594 lines (406 loc) · 28.4 KB

index.md

File metadata and controls

594 lines (406 loc) · 28.4 KB
Raw
layout title image description redirect_from
resources
nostr Resources
/assets/images/cover.png
nostr is new and confusing but also really cool.
resources

TL;DR: nostr1 is a protocol that has the power to replace twitter, Instagram, and all the other data silos that force various feeds down our collective throats.

LOOKING FOR MAINTAINERS

This site could be way better (and up-to-date) than it is. If you're interested in maintaining it, please reach out to me by leaving a comment in the "Looking for Maintainers" issues on GitHub. More info in the footnote at the very end.

Thank you.

What is nostr?

You, probably

nostr is new and confusing but also really cool. It is the simplest open protocol that is able to create a censorship-resistant global "social" network once and for all.

  • It doesn't rely on any trusted central server, hence it is resilient.
  • It is based on cryptographic keys and signatures, so it is tamperproof.
  • It does not rely on P2P techniques, therefore it works.

It is free as in freedom and puts the user in control.

↓ Table of Contents ↓

Get Started

While there are many clients, the following three are currently quite popular: Damus for iOS, Amethyst for Android, and noStrudel for Web. Primal is often recommended too, as it works on all platforms.

Download a suitable client:


noStrudel   ·   Primal   ·   Coracle   ·   Snort   ·   Iris

FAQ

What's the easiest way to create a profile?
🦚 Give nosta.me a try!

What is the best nostr client?
🦚 There is no best. You'll have to pick a client according to your tastes!

What is the second best nostr client?
🦚 This question is best answered by watching this video.

Is nostr just a twitter clone?
🦚 No, it's way more than that. I'd suggest you browse nostrapps.com and try one of the more adventurous apps yourself!

Where do I store my "nsec" aka private key?
🦚 Make sure read the key management section!

What is an "npub"?
🦚 Your "npub", or nostr public key, is your public identity. It is unique to you and can be used to look up your profile and initiate a connection with you, either via a follow, a DM, or a zap.

What are zaps?
🦚 Zaps are nostr's way of seamlessly transferring value between users. They are neither "tips" nor "expensive likes," but a new way of expressing value and counterfeit-resistant engagement. They are sat-based tokens of appreciation with perfect scarcity. Zaps are flowing through the system at all times, as you can clearly see via zaplife.lol.

How do I set up my client properly?
🦚 Check out these guides:

What are relays, and how do I find them?
🦚 Read the relays section.

Are all nostr apps available on the App Store?
🦚 They are not. The existing monopolies are threatened by nostr and what it represents. But fear not, we will build our own app stores. We have one on Android already: zap.store, an app store built on nostr.

Where do I find alternatives to existing stuff?
🦚 Have a look at noalt.app

How do I find people to follow?
🦚 Use various search tools, look up trending people, and follow topical hashtags like #introductions. Yes, on nostr you can follow hashtags.

How do I find my twitter friends?
🦚 This is explained in the "finding others" section.

I have more questions. Who can help me?
🦚 Consult this external FAQ, swarmstr, or the #asknostr hashtag.

Learn More

nostr's design is very basic:

  • There are two components: clients and relays. Each user runs a client. Anyone can run a relay.
  • Every user is identified by a public key. Every post is signed. Every client validates these signatures.
  • Clients fetch data from relays of their choice and publish data to other relays of their choice. A relay doesn't talk to another relay, only directly to users.

To use nostr, you need a key and a client.

  • Everybody runs a client. It can be a native client, a web client, etc.
  • To publish something, you write a post, sign it with your key and send it to multiple relays (servers hosted by someone else, or yourself).
  • To get updates from other people, you ask multiple relays if they know anything about these other people.
  • Anyone can run a relay. A relay is very simple and dumb. It does nothing besides accepting posts from some people and forwarding to others.
  • Relays don't have to be trusted. Signatures are verified on the client side.

Keys

Your keys are your identity. You can think of your public key (npub...) as your username and your private key (nsec...) as your password.

Two quick things:

  • ⚠️ DO NOT PASTE YOUR PRIVATE KEY INTO WEBSITES2 ⚠️
  • Store your keys securely and do not share your private key

Keys exist in two formats, hex and the above mentioned npub/nsec. You can use a key converter tool3 to convert between the two formats.

Use Alby or nos2x to generate your keys, or generate them using a dedicated tool like rana or nostrogen. The aforementioned extensions will store your keys safely (or at least more safely).

If you're on Android, it is recommended to use a native signer like Amber.

You can also generate your keys by other means if you know what you're doing.4 It's still early days, so be prepared to get rekt.

Clients

Periodically check nostr.net which keeps a curated list of clients or have a look at the client comparison table.

Mobile clients:

There are more native clients in development, Nostros6 and Nozzle7 being two of them.

Nootti is the first iOS native cross-posting client for Nostr, Bluesky and Mastodon.

Web clients:

  • primal.net - Explore your tribe, network, and global trends
  • snort.social - Simple interface with automatic image-upload
  • snort.deck - A tweetdeck like version of the snort client.
  • noStrudel - Supports many NIPs inc communities, streams, blogs and more
  • coracle.social - Search, filters, and micro-apps
  • yosup.app - Mobile-friendly and twitter-like
  • iris.to - Clean interface & rich in features
  • nostrgram.co - Focus on images and media, supports multiple layout styles

On Android you can use the Kiwi Browser to use the Alby or nos2x extension, which allows you to use any web client.

There's also Nostr Console, noscl, and nostr-commander if you're into CLI stuff.

Web clients for content creators:

  • ZapStream - Streaming on nostr allows for instant monetarisation of content.
  • Habla and yakihonne - Long-form posts on nostr similar to Medium.
  • Highlighter - Client focused on reading and highlighting long-form content.
  • Shipyard - Write, schedule, and boost your notes.
  • Stemstr - Share your music with the world and let others collaborate.
  • Wavelake - A music platform similar to Spotify.
  • Satellite.earth - Focuses on moderated communities like reddit but also offers CDN media hosting and other nostr services.

Desktop clients:

Relays

Relays are dumb servers that you can leave behind at any time (so they can't turn evil). You need to connect your client to a relay for it to work. There are many relays & you can run your own.

Run your own:

Paid relays:

Paid relays effectively deal with spam by charging users a small usage fee in sats. You can set your global feed to paid relays only, which will get rid of almost all spam.

Tools

Backing up your nostr keys AND your profile is as essential as backing up your private keys for Bitcoin!

  • Metadata Nostr - a profile and following list backup tool.
  • NostrSync - another service to backup profile AND nostr events.

nostr can do more than just social media.

  • Sendstr - shared clipboard between devices over nostr.
  • nosbin - pastebin over nostr.
  • Nostr.Cooking - create, explore or share recipes.
  • Badges - create badges and award them to your friends or followers.
  • Emojis - create or use emoji packs supported on most nostr clients.
  • ZapGoals - create zap goals for fund raisers or other events.
  • NsecBunker - keep your nostr keys in a single place and provide fine-grained access to team members.

Games

Games? WTF? Yes, games:

  • Jester - Chess over nostr by theborakompanioni

Tips & Tricks

Some things work a bit differently and aren't always obvious, such as:

Finding others

Use this search query to find nostr keys of people you follow on twitter:

This uses the nostr.directory verification message, but the &pf=1 limits the twitter search to only people you follow.

Posting images

Many popular clients support image uploads directly. (Keep in mind that all uploaded images to external hosts are public, so don't upload confidential things willy-nilly.)

Most clients will display image URLs as images, so you can just upload any image to image sharing sites and post the URL like this:

https://i.ibb.co/w4WvnYb/image.png

This also works for videos.

Here are some free image hosts:

You can also use your Twitter display picture by following this guide.

Verifying yourself

If you have a domain and want to have a "verified" checkmark, here is some useful info:

There are also centralized verification services that you can use, but be aware that all these are centralized and that they can rug-pull you at any moment:

{% for provider in site.data.nip05providers %}{% if provider.price %}{% continue %}{% endif %}

  • [{{ provider.name }}]({{ provider.link }}) {% endfor %}

Paid services:

{% for provider in site.data.nip05providers %}{% unless provider.price %}{% continue %}{% endunless %}

  • [{{ provider.name }}]({{ provider.link }}) ({{ provider.price }}) {% endfor %}

Provider missing? Price changed? \ Please create a PR or open an issue to fix it!

Receiving Zaps

Zaps are V4V lightning payments that are broadcast as nostr events, so that clients can display them on user profiles and specific notes.

To receive zaps you need a lightning wallet that supports NIP-57.

Popular custodial solutions are:

Self-custodial solutions:

To use Lightning Tip Bot in a more private way, you can:

  1. Use sms4sats to # to Telegram
  2. Create an LN.tips wallet
  3. Type /nostr add <your_npub> to add your npub
  4. Type /advanced to see your anonymous lightning address...
  5. ...and add it to your nostr profile. Done!

Mentions & Deep Links

You can mention a note or a user by putting an "@" before an npub or note like this:

  • @npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc
  • @note1m2ev3e2ma7a84rr8053qhsggeg6apmp00445v8k7tyeqvhu5u8aqpc30sp

When mentioning a note in another note, the note will be shown as a quote-note.9

Most clients support the nostr: URL scheme as defined in NIP-21, which means you can link to your nostr profile by putting "nostr:" in front of your npub. This will result in a link that opens in the user's nostr client, like so: open my nostr profile.

You can use this for http redirects too, which can be used as a way to verify your nostr profile if you own a domain, like so: dergigi.com/npub

There is even a redirect tool that you can use; h/t to David for putting it together.

Stats

Ever since Jack joined (and funded some nostr devs) and Elon put it on his naughty list a flood of people came streaming in. Since everything is out in the open, you can see this nicely in the stats.

Sats

Some clients will render Lightning invoices natively, showing the recipient, amount, and a pay button. One such client is Damus, which shows a nice little widget and a pay button.

Search

Most clients support search, but there's also:

You can also create a search bot at sb.nostr.band and then follow it to receive new posts matching a keyword or hashtag right into your feed.

Bots

RSS

You can also create an RSS feed with posts matching some keywords at rss.nostr.band and use your favorite RSS reader app to follow different nostr conversations.

Podcasts

Episodes:

Explorers

Privacy

There are multiple privacy issues when it comes to using nostr.

Your IP address is exposed to the relays you connect to, so consider using a VPN or similar. Some clients also support connecting via Tor. Tor nostr relays exist, but not all clients support Tor nostr relays.

Relays also know which public keys you are requesting, meaning your public key will be tied to your IP address.

Privacy & Image Uploads

Some third party media hosters may be able to see, and share your IP address.

Privacy & Direct Messages

Only the message content is encrypted on Nostr: the sender, recipient and timestamp are visible to everyone.

More info

Articles and explainers:

Videos:

For conference videos have a look at the nostr world channel.

Get Involved

nostr is an open protocol and most clients are open-source. You are encouraged to report bugs and create pull requests!

nostr protocol:

Clients:

Check out awesome-nostr for links to other clients, libraries, relay implementations, and related projects to work on.

There is also NostrDesign, a great resource for developers and UIX design for nostr.

Also make sure to have a look at the various nostr bounties if you're in the mood to earn sats.

This site is open source too. If you can, please improve this page. You can also create a translation.

Translations

Please create a PR to add your translation to the list above.

About

This project evolved out of a gist that was quite hastily put together. Its purpose was to help people wrap their heads around nostr, and I guess this is the purpose still.

Some of the text above is copied from nostr-protocol/nostr and nostr.net. I just left some stuff out, so consider the descriptions and explanations an opinionated summary.

If you found a typo, please fix it. If you have suggestions, please create an issue.10 If you want to scream at me because you think this whole thing is stupid, please find me on nostr.

Footnotes

  1. nostr = Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays ↩

  2. You have to trust whoever is running the website, obviously, and some clients are vulnerable to XSS attacks. A lot of people got rekt already, and had to re-build their nostr identity because of it. ↩

  3. There's also the damus.io/key but DO NOT use it for private key conversions. Don't paste your private key into websites. Just don't. ↩

  4. BIP-85 is an option, for example. ↩

  5. Apple Silicone only (M1 or M2 chip) ↩ ↩2

  6. KoalaSat/nostros ↩

  7. dluvian/Nozzle ↩

  8. Fork with small modifications/fixes: Install a nostr relay ↩

  9. How's that for a tongue twister? ↩

  10. As mentioned above, this site could be way better (and up-to-date) than it is. If you're interested in maintaining it, please leave a comment in the "Looking for Maintainers" issues on GitHub: nostr-resources/issues/62 ↩