NOSTR: An introduction
For many latin people, such as myself, the NOSTR word sounds very familiar, and it means “our” or “ours” (noster, nostrum).
The use of the noster term in legal documents can be traced back to Roman times, when it was commonly used to denote ownership or possession. In modern legal contexts, noster is often used in contracts and other legal documents to specify the ownership or possession of property or assets.
In addition to its use in legal documents, noster has also been used in a broader sense to refer to the shared values, interests, goals or commitments of a group or community, such as “our goals”, “our mission” and “our values”.
In this sense, noster is used to emphasize the collective nature of an organisation or group. It is a way of acknowledging that the goals and values of the group are not solely the responsibility of any one individual, but rather are shared by all members of the group.
I can speculate that the author Fiatjaf, when he named the new communication protocol NOSTR (standing for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays), didn’t actually consider this coincidental fact.
In simple terms, the NOSTR protocol is a way for people to communicate and share information with each other without the need for a central authority or server. Imagine you have a group of friends who all want to share updates and messages with each other, but you don’t want to use a central platform like Facebook or Twitter to do it.
Instead, you can use the NOSTR protocol to build your own social network! Each of your friends would run a special application generically called a “client” on their phone or computer, which would allow them to write and share updates with each other. When someone writes an update, they sign it with a special code called a “key” to prove that it’s really from them. Then, they send the update to one or more “relays”, which are basically simple servers storing the messages and making them available to all the other friends.
Much like Twitter or Facebook, you can reply, share or like messages and you can follow and unfollow your friends.
The relays just keep and pass along unmodified copies of the messages. This way, you can all communicate and share updates with each other without needing to go through a central platform or authority.
The NOSTR protocol is a bit like a club where all your friends can share updates and messages with each other. But, due to its distributed nature, the users own the whole social graph they build, which include their created content, reactions, followers and so on.
NOSTR differs significantly from other social networks and protocols, such as Twitter, Facebook and Mastodon, in several key ways. We will explore together the key features and benefits of the NOSTR protocol, as well as its potential future.
How does it work?
In NOSTR decentralised system, every user runs a client, and anyone can run a relay. Users are identified by a public key, and every post is signed and validated by the client using a corresponding private key. Clients fetch data from relays of their choice and publish data to other relays of their choice, while relays only communicate directly with users and do not talk to other relays.
To “follow” another user, a client queries the relays it knows for posts from that user’s public key. When a client starts up, it queries most recent data from all the relays it knows for all the users it follows, and displays this data to the user in chronological order or as threads of discussions.
The posts in the NOSTR protocol can contain any kind of structured data, but certain types of data are likely to become standardised so that all clients and relays can handle them seamlessly.
What makes NOSTR so special
There are a few things that make the NOSTR protocol unique and special.
Unlike Twitter and Mastodon, which rely on centralized servers and domain names controlled by third parties, NOSTR is built on self-owned identities and does not rely on any trusted central server. This makes it resilient to censorship and tampering, as there is no single point of control that can be used to block or manipulate content.
Because it does not rely on any central authority or trusted third party, it is much more difficult for governments, organizations, or other groups to block or censor content on the network. This makes it an attractive alternative to platforms like Twitter, which have been criticized for their willingness to censor or ban users.
The protocol is designed to be easy to use and understand, with a focus on straightforward communication between users and relays. This makes it accessible to a wide range of users, including those who may not be familiar with complex technical concepts or protocols.
NOSTR also has the ability to resist spam and other forms of unwanted content. Unlike other social networks, which can be overwhelmed by spam and fake accounts, NOSTR allows relays to implement various anti-spam measures, such as different forms of authentication for publishing content, including requiring payments. This helps to ensure that the network remains a useful and valuable resource for its users.
Below I summarised the five most important features of the NOSTR protocol:
- Decentralisation: One of the key features of NOSTR is that it is decentralised, which means that it doesn’t rely on a central server or authority to function. This makes it more resistant to censorship and control by a single entity, as users can communicate and share updates with each other directly, without needing to go through a central platform.
- Ownership: No server or organisation owns the content or the social graph of the users of NOSTR protocol. The posted content resides on multiple relays and even if some of them will restrict the access to a particular user’s content, other relays will provide the fallback. Then the user is free to move his social graph to another relays. This is crucial especially for content creators who are investing tremendous effort to build their audience and social graph, only to risk every day being banned by the companies such as Twitter, Facebook or Mastodon for obscure reasons deeply buried in their T&Cs.
- Tamper-proof: Another key feature of NOSTR is that it is tamper-proof, thanks to the use of cryptographic keys and signatures. This means that updates and messages can’t be changed or altered once they have been signed and sent, ensuring the integrity and authenticity of the information being shared.
- Resilient: Because NOSTR is decentralized and doesn’t rely on a central server, it is also more resilient and resistant to outages and disruptions. If a single relay goes down or becomes unavailable, users can simply switch to a different relay to continue accessing the network.
- Simple: Finally, NOSTR is designed to be simple and easy to use. It has a very basic and straightforward structure, with just two main components (clients and relays) and a simple process for publishing and receiving updates. This makes it easy for anyone to use and understand, even if they don’t have a lot of technical expertise.
The immediate use of the NOSTR protocol is in the creation of decentralised social networks. With its decentralised structure and strong resistance to censorship, NOSTR could be used to build social networks that are truly free from the influence of central authorities or corporations. This could allow users to share and connect with each other in a way that like Twitter and Mastodon.
Another potential future application of NOSTR is in the creation of other types of decentralized solutions, beyond just social networks. For example, it could be used to build decentralized marketplaces, peer-to-peer exchanges, or other types of decentralized applications. In these cases, NOSTR decentralised structure and strong resistance to censorship could provide valuable benefits, such as increased privacy, security, and resilience.
The NOSTR protocol represents a promising alternative to traditional social networks and protocols. Its decentralised structure, simplicity, and resistance to censorship make it an attractive option for users who want to own the content created and their social graph and a more private, secure, and resilient way to connect and communicate with each other online. While it started as a concept, with the help of its NIPs (or Nostr Implementation Possibilities) it is completely possible that it could be developed and implemented in the near future, potentially leading to a new era of decentralized social networks and other solutions.
Where to go from here?
To start using NOSTR, you will first need to choose a client program that meets your needs. Some popular options include astral.ninja, coracle.social, Damus, and Nostr Console. A pretty well maintained list of clients with their comparative features can be found here.
Once you have chosen a client, you can install it on your device and create your own account by generating a public key and signing it with your private key. This will create a self-owned identity that you can use to publish updates on the NOSTR network.
Make sure you save your private key. You should keep the private key secret much like your password. Keep in mind that if you lose your private key, you can always generate a new one, however you will lose access to your private messages signed with it. All your old public messages will continue to exists.
You can always create multiple keys if needed. You can use the same key on all NOSTR clients or you can have multiple identities or accounts.
You can update your profile from your client of choice. Depending on the client, typically you should be able to add your name, about me section and profile picture.
While the client will most likely show you some messages posted by other users, it should also allow you to create your own posts, or even follow others.
Depending on the client, you can also find other users. The nostr.io/stats and damus.io/channels will show some of the more active users and public channels.
One particular application call Minds, an open source social media platform that prioritise privacy and free speech, and actively works to combat censorship has started to implement the NOSTR protocol and more than that, it added support for delegated event signing through one of the public NIPs (nip-26). Delegation is an important feature for the NOSTR protocol because it allows users to delegate certain privileges or actions to other keypairs without having to share their private keys.
Overall, the NOSTR protocol is a decentralised, tamper-proof protocol designed to enable the creation of censorship-resistant global “social” networks. It is based on cryptographic keys and signatures, and relies on clients and relays to function. Clients are the software programs that users run to access the NOSTR network, while relays are servers that accept and forward updates from clients. The NOSTR protocol is designed to be simple and easy to use, with a basic structure that allows anyone to publish and receive updates on the network. It is resistant to censorship and control by a single entity, and is also more resilient and resistant to outages and disruptions compared to centralized platforms. Overall, the NOSTR protocol provides a unique and powerful solution for creating decentralized social networks and other types of solutions that are resistant to censorship and control.
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Thank you for reading this article about the NOSTR protocol. I hope it has given you a better understanding of what NOSTR is and how it works. If you have any comments or questions about NOSTR, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below. I would love to hear your thoughts and engage in discussion about this exciting and innovative protocol.