nostr

A zero-dependency Go library for the Nostr protocol.

go get code.northwest.io/nostr

Why This Library?

You probably shouldn't use it.

This library rolls its own secp256k1 cryptography in pure Go. No CGO, no external dependencies, no nothing. I built it to see if it was possible to implement Nostr with truly zero dependencies. It is. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea.

What you get: - Zero external dependencies - Fully auditable pure-Go crypto - Passes all BIP-340 test vectors - Works fine for normal Nostr usage

What you're giving up: - Constant-time operations (timing attacks are theoretically possible) - Performance (~10x slower than btcec) - Battle-tested crypto code

If you're building something serious, use a library backed by btcec. If you're hacking on a side project or just want to read the code, welcome.

What's Included

• Keys — Generate, parse, sign, verify (hex and bech32/npub/nsec)
• Events — Create, serialize, sign NIP-01 events
• Filters — Build and match subscription filters
• Relay — WebSocket pub/sub (stdlib only)
• Tags — Parse and build event tags
• Envelopes — Protocol message parsing

Usage

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "code.northwest.io/nostr"
)

func main() {
    // Generate a key pair
    key, _ := nostr.GenerateKey()
    fmt.Println("npub:", key.Npub())

    // Create and sign an event
    event := &nostr.Event{
        Kind:    nostr.KindTextNote,
        Content: "Hello Nostr!",
    }
    key.Sign(event)

    // Connect and publish
    ctx := context.Background()
    relay, _ := nostr.Connect(ctx, "wss://relay.damus.io")
    defer relay.Close()

    relay.Publish(ctx, event)
}

Examples

See examples/basic for a runnable example.

License

MIT