NOSTR ISA PROTOCOL
Internet for Today
Nostr for Tomorrow
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.
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!
