Over the past few weeks, I’ve been actively exploring Nostr, a decentralized social media protocol. This post summarizes my impressions and user experience so far.
What is Nostr? Link to heading
Nostr stands for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays.
Nostr is a censorship-resistant, decentralized protocol for social communication. Compared to alternatives like Mastodon (based on ActivityPub), Nostr offers a much simpler yet powerful architecture. Your identity isn’t tied to a username or email address—it’s your public/private key pair.
Creating an Account Link to heading
Getting started is remarkably easy. For example, you can visit nostr.com and click “Start your journey” to instantly generate a key pair. You must store these keys securely—if you lose them, you lose access to your account. There is no password reset or recovery option.
How Do Relays Work? Link to heading
Posts on Nostr are broadcast to relays, which are essentially servers that distribute content. Think of them like SMTP servers in email. You can connect to multiple relays simultaneously, and clients will fetch content from all of them.
I’m currently connected to 13 different relays, which increases the reach and availability of my content across the network.
My Relay List Link to heading
- wss://relay.primal.net
- wss://relay.damus.io
- wss://nos.lol
- wss://filter.nostr.wine
- wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net
- wss://nostr.land
- wss://nostr.wine
- wss://purplepag.es
- wss://purplerelay.com
- wss://relay.getalby.com/v1
- wss://relay.mostr.pub
- wss://theforest.nostr1.com
- wss://relay.nos.social
What About Data Persistence? Link to heading
Not all relays store your posts indefinitely. Some may prune older events after a while. If persistence is important to you, consider:
- Running your own relay (public or private),
- Using premium relay services that guarantee long-term storage.
User Experience Link to heading
Nostr supports a growing number of features:
- Client variety: Primal is one of the most polished and intuitive clients.
- Basic social features: Like, repost, quote, hashtags, lists, DMs, bookmarks, and more.
- No character limit.
- Image and media support: You can include visuals easily—some clients even offer their own image hosting. For instance, an image I uploaded to imgur appeared inline just like native media.
- Zap (micropayments): You can support creators directly through the Lightning Network using sats.
NIP-05 Verification (Username Linking) Link to heading
To verify your identity, Nostr supports a simple method called NIP-05, which links your profile to a domain you own. It works by hosting a .well-known/nostr.json file on your server.
Sample nostr.json for Verification
Link to heading
{
"names": {
"arda": "2c5788f9add2d7919ee28d225799c96f99128614f9a1ebda3fbc7adb0b8c4bbb"
},
"relays": {
"2c5788f9add2d7919ee28d225799c96f99128614f9a1ebda3fbc7adb0b8c4bbb": [
"wss://relay.primal.net",
"wss://relay.damus.io",
"wss://nos.lol",
"wss://filter.nostr.wine",
"wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net",
"wss://nostr.land",
"wss://nostr.wine",
"wss://purplepag.es",
"wss://purplerelay.com",
"wss://relay.getalby.com/v1",
"wss://relay.mostr.pub",
"wss://theforest.nostr1.com",
"wss://relay.nos.social"
]
}
}
Once hosted, you can verify your account from your client, and a verified badge will appear on your profile.
Community & Content Link to heading
Currently, the network is heavily populated by Bitcoin maximalists and Web3-savvy users. However, Nostr is open to everyone, and we’ll likely see broader adoption over time.
My Account Link to heading
🔗 Verified Profile: https://primal.net/p/nprofile1qqszc4uglxka94u3nm3g6gjhn8yklxgjsc20ng0tmglmc7kmpwxyhwcva0fq8
🔑 Public Key:
npub193tc37dd6tter8hz35390xwfd7v39ps5lxs7hk3lh3adkzuvfwaselzjc4
Final Thoughts Link to heading
Nostr is still in its early days, but it’s a promising protocol that gives you full ownership of your digital identity. If you care about censorship resistance, decentralization, and open protocols, Nostr is absolutely worth exploring.
📌 Further Reading & Resources Link to heading
- NIP-05 Specification
- Lightning Wallets to try: Alby, Phoenix, Wallet of Satoshi
- Relay uptime monitoring tools and curated relay lists