Join Nostr

NOSTR IS
A PROTOCOL

Internet for Today

The internet began with a vision for an open exchange of ideas and information, one intended to uphold the values of free speech, expression, and association for all. Over time, that vision has been reduced to the view of what could bring about profits for large corporations. Today, the web is nothing but a handful of massive servers owned by a few companies but used by billions of people.
We’ve placed ownership of our identities into the hands of 3rd parties. We’ve granted rights to our creations to those seeking to profit from them. We’ve handed over our interests to algorithms written to maximize our attention. In doing so, we have given a disproportionate amount of power to these companies, governments, and other controlling entities to decide what we see, read, and say. It’s time to break free from their barriers and create the internet that enables anyone, anywhere to create, to speak and to socialize as they wish, as was intended.

Nostr for Tomorrow

Nostr, an acronym for “Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays”, revolutionizes social networking and online communication by eliminating dependency on centralized servers. It employs a client-relay model, where users run clients, and anyone can operate relays. Information (and its storage) are distributed throughout a network of individuals, passionate volunteers, businesses, and nonprofits alike.
The Nostr protocol ensures tamperproof communication through cryptographic keys and signatures. By enabling users to establish pathways for publishing notes to relays and incentivizing the deployment and maintenance of unique, independent relays by operators, Nostr addresses many shortcomings of the current web. From interoperable applications to unique and ubiquitous identities, Nostr opens doors to creative, collabrotive innovation like the world has never seen before.
Empowering Freedom with Nostr
A secure, user-centric protocol and social network

You Own Your Identity

Nostr uses a public key system, where your identity is tied to a unique cryptographic key. You have full control over your identity without relying on any central authority. Nostr's protocol eliminates the need for Know Your Customer (KYC) processes. No email, ID, thumbprint, or eyeball scans required! Your privacy is entirely yours to keep.

Affirm Your Data with Signatures

In Nostr, users sign their posts with their cryptographic keys. Most clients handle this process automatically. These cryptographic signatures ensure the authenticity of your data. You can prove what you did (and did not) create. User-selected relays store and send this data. These relays communicate directly with other users, with no stops between. Each client then validates these signatures, ensuring the data's integrity.

Connect Directly with Your Audience

In Nostr, you maintain your audience and feed. Whichever client you use, your contact list will be there. It is published to the relays of your choice, as is that of other users. Everyone chooses their preferred publication relays, and clients connect to those to find new posts. Additionally, relays can act as filters against spam or harassment, and as discovery vehicles for good content, aggregators of curated content, or providers of custom feeds.

You are Free to Speak

You can publish anything you want as long as relays are willing to accept it. Relays can operate under any policies their operators may choose, including bans, content removal, and community guidelines. They may choose to host only certain users or specific types of content. If no relay will accept what you have to say, you can easily run your own. When you begin publishing to different relays, clients should be capable of finding you there, based on attached relay hints. Your contacts will then continue to receive your updates.

You are Free to Remain Anonymous

Nostr supports user anonymity. Users can choose to be anonymous or use pseudonyms without compromising their ability to participate. Nostr is also available on TOR to prevent tracking. As a protocol, Nostr does not have the capacity to provide user data to any entity, governmental or otherwise. This helps to safeguard all users' freedom of expression from prohibitions or restrictions. Any individual relay or client could be subject to these requests, but available data would be limited to that of a user's public key. If that user has taken appropriate steps to protect their identity, there would be little information to share.

You are Free to Develop

Nostr encourages development and customization. Anyone is free to develop on the protocol, contributing to the growth and evolution of the network. All Nostr clients, relays, tools, and apps that are built can benefit from every past and future development. Builders have the freedom to establish payment methods for their applications and features, providing a potential source of revenue like never before.

What Are You Waiting For? Join Nostr

Get Started with Nostr

Create an Account

With Nostr, there is no central provider who owns your account. In fact, your account is powered by cryptography, and you could create one (or more!) yourself by hand, with no limitation. The easiest way, though, is to use our new online wizard to generate your new account in seconds. Then, you can use it across all of Nostr!

Secure your Key

An account is a key-pair. The private key (nsec) is your digital identity. If it is lost or exposed, there is no means to recover access or change credentials. You need to keep your private key safe and secure. Use a password manager, make a backup on paper, and use it ONLY in trusted apps. Never enter your nsec in a website. Install a signer extension to use your key safely on the web.

Pick an App

Nostr developers have already built several applications for a wide variety of uses. The simplest way to start using Nostr is to download a social client and get involved. Learn with and through the community by engaging in conversation. Need help? Use the #asknostr hashtag!

Explore Nostr

After you are familiar with the basic concepts, you can set up your preferred key management tool to explore other social clients and Nostr applications. You already have your digital identity and it works everywhere. Simply login in using your Nostr signer app, signing extension, or nsec. If using your private key, be sure the app is from a trusted source!

Nostr Client
Nostr Resources
Discover some of what you can do with Nostr
This is only a quick selection of the 100+ applications that have already been built on Nostr, discover them all!

Develop on Nostr

Where It All Started

The Nostr "manifesto" was published in 2019. Slowly but surely, a community gathered around the idea and expanded upon it, turning it into a fast, flexible and reliable protocol that is used by many real people everyday.
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Discover the NIPs

NIPs stand for "Nostr Implementation Possibilities". They exist as a guide to what may be implemented by Nostr compatible relay and client software. Study these to develop your new Nostr application with optimal network compatibility.
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The Design Guide

Nostrdesign.org is the official resource for discovering how to best develop the interface of your Nostr application. Explore new paradigms, optimise your UI, and find tips on how to enhance user experience all in one place.
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