New to Nostr?
Start with What is Nostr? — a 5-minute introduction to the protocol, why it exists, and how it differs from Twitter and Mastodon.
Welcome to Nostr Docs
Nostr is a decentralized protocol for censorship-resistant social media, messaging, and payments. No single company controls it. You own your identity. You pick your servers. You choose your client.
This site explains how it all works — from first principles to the full specification.
How does it all connect?
Read How NIPs Fit Together — a visual map of the Nostr specification ecosystem, from the base protocol up through encryption, payments, and media.
Building a client?
Dive into the Event Kinds Reference and NIP Specifications — the complete technical reference for implementing Nostr.
By Topic
Section titled “By Topic”Social
Notes, reactions, reposts, threading, and the social graph. Explore →
Messaging
Private DMs, encrypted channels, and group communication. Explore →
Payments
Lightning zaps, wallet integration, and ecash on Nostr. Explore →
Identity
Key management, verification, and signing. Explore →
Media & Storage
File uploads, Blossom, and media attachments. Explore →
Infrastructure
Relays, authentication, discovery, and network resilience. Explore →
Quick navigation
Section titled “Quick navigation”Getting Started
Section titled “Getting Started”- What is Nostr? — protocol, not app
- Keys and Identity — your keypair is your identity
- How Relays Work — the servers that store and forward data
- Send Your First Note — step-by-step walkthrough
Concepts
Section titled “Concepts”- Events — the universal data structure
- Digital Signatures — how Nostr replaces passwords
- Filters and Subscriptions — how clients query relays
- Replaceable & Addressable Events — mutability in an immutable system
- How NIPs Fit Together — the layer map
Reference & Ecosystem
Section titled “Reference & Ecosystem”- Glossary — every term explained in plain language
- Ecosystem — clients, relays, and tools
- Event Kinds — every event kind in one table
- Standard Tags — every tag name in one table
- Message Types — client↔relay wire protocol
- NIP Dependency Graph — interactive visualization
- NIP Specifications — all 87 NIPs indexed and searchable