Relay Orbits: your multi-relay feed—focused, discoverable, and built for signal

Relay Orbits is YakiHonne’s new way to browse individual relay feeds with purpose.
Open any relay as its own channel, preview the stream, add it to Favorites (so it joins your personal relays feed), and—when appropriate—publish protected notes directly to that relay.
The result is topic-specific, non-spammable distribution that reaches the right people.

Why Relay Orbits#

• Precision over noise. Open a relay as a dedicated feed, check quality and fit, then favorite it to fold into your day-to-day relays feed.
• Audience control. Publish protected notes to a specific relay when your message is for a defined group (community, working group, language cohort).
• Healthy cross-pollination. Found something valuable? Republish eligible (unprotected) notes from one relay into another related relay to spread signal—without blasting unrelated audiences.

What you’ll find inside an Orbit#

Relay Orbits gives you four complementary lenses to explore relays:

• Network (adaptive)
  Built from the outbox model of your activity. As you reply, react, repost, and collaborate, Network surfaces relays that are most related to your behavior and the circles you touch—evolving as you do.

• Following (social lens)
  A union of the relays used by the accounts you follow. Browse overlap with your graph, spot gaps, and quickly add the relays your network relies on.

• Collections (curated sets)
  Steward-organized bundles for fast, high-signal discovery:
  Curated communities · Interest groups · Special purpose (events/announcements/research) · Automated feeds · Language communities · Global feeds (curated “best-of” from broad networks)

• Global (wide-open index)
  An unfiltered, non-algorithmic view of known public relays across Nostr—a starting point for deep exploration and bootstrapping new favorites.

Inside any lens, content filters keep scanning fast: All, Notes, Articles, Videos, Curations.

From any view, you can add a relay to Favorites (it joins your relays feed), publish protected notes to a specific relay, or republish eligible unprotected notes into related relays to spread signal without adding noise.

How Relay Orbits power your Home & Discover#

Relay Orbits isn’t a separate island—it drives the feeds you use every day:

• Home feed (Notes): your Notes timeline includes a Relay Feeds source that you can add/manage directly from the Home feed dropdown. Add relays, reorder, or remove them without leaving Home.
• Discover page (Articles · Videos · Curations): Discover also includes Relay Feeds for long-form and media. It uses the same configuration you manage from the Home feed dropdown, so one setup powers both surfaces.

In short: manage once (Home feed dropdown), apply everywhere (Home & Discover) or viceversa.

Key actions (and when to use them)#

1) Favorite a relay → build your relays feed#

If an Orbit consistently delivers value, Add to Favorites. Your Favorites form your relays feed, the timeline you’ll check the most—no need to micromanage stars on every source.

Use when: after sampling an Orbit’s culture and cadence, you know it belongs in your daily mix.

2) Publish protected notes to a specific relay#

Some updates aren’t for everyone. Protected publishing lets you post to one relay (or a defined set) where the content belongs and where readers expect it—reducing spam and improving discovery for the right crowd.

Use when: targeted updates, community notices, language-specific editions, or sensitive announcements.

3) Republish unprotected notes to a related relay#

If a note is useful beyond its origin relay, republish it to another Orbit that shares the same topic. Cross-relay discovery stays organic and relevant.

Use when: tutorials, findings, calls-for-feedback, event info—anything that benefits adjacent groups.

Example workflows#

• Creator: browse Collections → Interest groups → Film & Editing, favorite the relay, publish a protected WIP update there, then republish the public trailer cut to a larger Global feeds → Indie Media Orbit.
• Researcher: follow Special purpose → Paper preprints, filter Articles, favorite it; later, republish an unprotected survey call to Language communities → 日本語 with a Japanese summary.
• Community steward: keep a curated Curated communities → Local meetups Orbit clean; encourage members to publish protected logistics there and republish public recaps to broader topic relays.

Access & deep links#

• Mobile app: open Relay Orbits from the app drawer.
• Web app: go directly to https://yakihonne.com/relay-orbits.
• Mobile downloads: https://yakihonne.com/yakihonne-mobile-app-links (App Store / Play Store / ZapStore).
• Deep links: the web route supports deep-linking—share a specific Orbit and jump users straight into that relay’s feed.

Pro tip: try a few Orbits before favoriting. Your relays feed stays sharp when each favorite earns its spot.

Design principles behind Relay Orbits#

• Scoped, not siloed. Orbits keep topics focused without isolating great posts—republishing bridges related communities thoughtfully.
• Friction-free sampling. Explore a relay’s culture and quality before committing it to your feed.
• Anti-spam by design. Protected publishing encourages posting where it’s relevant, which downstream improves feed quality for everyone.
• Format-aware discovery. Filters for Notes/Articles/Videos/Curations match how people consume information.

Best practices#

• Label clearly. A succinct title + one line of context helps others decide whether to republish.
• Respect scope. Use protected notes for niche or sensitive updates; keep broad content unprotected to encourage discovery.
• Republish responsibly. Move posts between related Orbits, not just “bigger” ones—relevance keeps the ecosystem healthy.
• Curate Favorites quarterly. Remove Orbits that no longer serve you; add new ones from Collections, your Network lens, or Following.

FAQ#

How is this different from my “Following” timeline?
Following is people-centric; Relay Orbits is topic/relay-centric. Use both: follow individuals you trust, and favorite Orbits that consistently deliver signal.

Can I use Relay Orbits offline?
Yes—on mobile, cached content is available and your actions queue; they’ll publish when you’re back online.

Do I need to favorite an Orbit to publish there?
No. You can publish to a specific relay without favoriting it—but favorites make that relay part of your ongoing relays feed.

Try Relay Orbits now#

Open the drawer in the YakiHonne mobile app or visit https://yakihonne.com/relay-orbits on the web.
Explore a few Orbits, favorite the ones that earn it, publish where it matters, and republish across related spaces to help good ideas travel—without the noise.