NIPs — Nostr Implementation Possibilities

Complete catalog of published NIPs. Statuses: final (stable), draft (in development), deprecated (replaced).

Core Protocol#

NIP-01 — Basic Protocol#

draft mandatory

The foundation. Defines the event object, secp256k1/Schnorr signatures, WebSocket communication between clients and relays, REQ/EVENT/CLOSE/OK messages, tag conventions, and kind ranges (0, 1, regular/replaceable/ephemeral/addressable).

NIP-04 — Encrypted Direct Messages (deprecated)#

unrecommended

Original DM spec. Encrypts content with shared-secret AES using ECDH. No forward secrecy, no metadata privacy. Use NIP-17 instead.

NIP-17 — Private Direct Messages#

final

Modern DM spec using NIP-44 v2 encryption wrapped inside NIP-59 gift-wrapped seals. Randomized timestamps, no pubkey tag, recipient-signed pubkey hiding. Kind 14 for text, kind 15 for files.

Your DM → NIP-44 encrypt → NIP-59 gift wrap (kind 1059) → relay broadcast

NIP-59 — Gift Wraps#

final

Encrypted wrapper event (kind 1059) that contains another event. Like stuffing a signed-encrypted letter inside a sealed outer envelope. Randomizes timestamps, eliminates metadata leakage.

Encryption & Authentication#

NIP-44 — Encrypted Payloads (Versioned)#

final

The encryption standard. Replaces NIP-04. Uses:

• ChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption
• ECDH shared secret (secp256k1)
• HKDF-SHA256 key derivation
• Versioned format (v2)
• Two conversation modes: nip44-v2-1 and nip44-v2-2

NIP-42 — Client Authentication#

draft

Challenge-response to prove you control a pubkey without signing every REQ. Relay sends challenge → client signs → authenticated access.

NIP-98 — HTTP Auth#

draft

HTTP-based authentication using signed Nostr events (kind 27235). AUTH header is a base64-encoded signed event.

Identity#

NIP-05 — DNS-based Verification#

final

Human-readable identity: username@domain.com. The domain serves a JSON file at /.well-known/nostr.json mapping names to pubkeys.

{
  "names": {
    "bob": "b0635d6a9851d3aed0cd6c495b282167acf761729078d975fc341b22650b07b9"
  }
}

NIP-19 — bech32-encoded Entities#

final

Human-friendly encoding for Nostr entities:

• npub1... — public keys
• nsec1... — private keys
• note1... — event IDs
• nevent1... — event with relay hints
• naddr1... — addressable events
• nprofile1... — profile with relay hints

NIP-21 — nostr: URI Scheme#

draft

Deep links: nostr:npub1..., nostr:note1..., etc. Opens in Nostr client.

Social Features#

NIP-02 — Contact List and Petnames#

draft

Kind 3 (follow list). Your social graph. Tags encode follow relationships with optional petnames:

["p", "<pubkey>", "<optional-relay>", "<optional-petname>"]

NIP-10 — Text Notes (Kind 1)#

final

The tweet/note. Content conventions, threading with e tags:

• Root: ["e", "<root-id>", "", "root"]
• Reply: ["e", "<parent-id>", "", "reply"]

NIP-18 — Reposts#

final

Kind 6 (ordinary repost), Kind 16 (generic repost). Two types:

• Kind 6: basic repost, share an event
• Kind 16: generic repost with type differentiation (application, article, graphic)

Quote repost = kind 1 with embedded nostr:nevent reference.

NIP-25 — Reactions#

final

Kind 7. content is the emoji (or +/- for like/dislike). Tags reference the reacted-to event.

NIP-51 — Lists#

draft

Parameterized replaceable events for user-curated lists. All are kind 300xx with d tags.

Kind	List Type
10000	Mute list
10001	Pin list
10002	Relay list
10003	Bookmarks
10004	Communities
10030	Emoji list

Long-Form & Media#

NIP-23 — Long-form Content#

draft

Kind 30023. Articles/blog posts using Markdown content. Addressable by d tag. Supports title, summary, image, published_at tags.

NIP-68 — Picture References#

draft

Kind 20. Image-only events with imeta (image metadata) tags.

NIP-71 — Video Events#

draft

Kind 21 (horizontal), Kind 22 (vertical shorts). Video content events.

Lightning & Payments#

NIP-57 — Lightning Zaps#

final

Value-for-value payments over Lightning. Two-event flow:

1. Kind 9734 — Zap Request: Sent to LNURL-pay endpoint
2. Kind 9735 — Zap Receipt: Published by wallet after payment

Includes split payments with weight-based zap tags.

NIP-47 — Nostr Wallet Connect#

final

Wallet service on Nostr. Events:

• Kind 13194: Wallet info (replaceable)
• Kind 23194: Request (ephemeral, encrypted)
• Kind 23195: Response (ephemeral, encrypted)

Commands: pay_invoice, get_balance, make_invoice, lookup_invoice, list_transactions, multi_pay_invoice, multi_pay_keysend.

NIP-60 — Cashu Wallet#

draft

Ecash tokens on Nostr. Kinds: 7374 (reserved), 7375 (tokens), 7376 (history). Moon people fly here.

NIP-61 — Nutzaps#

draft

Zap-style payments using ecash/Cashu instead of Lightning.

Networking#

NIP-65 — Relay List Metadata#

draft

Kind 10002. Declares read/write relays:

["r", "wss://my.relay", "write"]
["r", "wss://their.relay", "read"]

NIP-11 — Relay Information#

draft

Relay metadata served at wss://<relay> with HTTP headers and NIP-11 doc: name, description, contact, supported NIPs, limitations, fees.

NIP-13 — Proof of Work#

draft

Require computational effort to combat spam. Nonce tag with leading zeros in event ID.

Agent & Compute#

NIP-46 — Nostr Connect#

final

Remote signing (bunker). Separate key management from application. Uses NIP-44 encrypted communication.

NIP-89 — Handler Information#

draft

Announces an app/handler service. Kind 31990 (handler info), Kind 31989 (recommendation).

NIP-90 — Data Vending Machines#

draft

Marketplace for computation: request jobs, get results, pay. Kinds:

• 5000-5999: Job Request
• 6000-6999: Job Result
• 7000: Job Feedback

Moderation & Community#

NIP-28 — Public Chat#

final

Channels with kinds 40-44. Create, join, message, mute.

NIP-29 — Groups#

draft

Permissioned groups. Kinds 9000-9030 for control events (add/remove/edit user/meta).

NIP-43 — Memberships#

draft

Private, restricted access groups. Join requests, invites, role management.

NIP-56 — Reporting#

draft

Kind 1984. Content reporting with reason classifications: nudity, malware, spam, impersonation, illegal.

NIP-58 — Badges#

draft

Profile badge definitions and awards. Kind 30009 for badge definition, Kind 8 for award.

Miscellaneous#

NIP	Name	Status	Description
06	Key Delegation (NIP-26)	see 26	Moved to 26
07	window.nostr	draft	Browser extension API
09	Event Deletion	final	Kind 5, request deletion
15	Marketplace	draft	Bids and listings
22	Comments	draft	Kind 1111 threaded comments
26	Delegation	draft	Delegate signing to another key
32	Labels	draft	Kind 1985, labeling system
33	Param. Replaceable	draft	Kind 30000+ system
34	Git on Nostr	draft	Patches, PRs, issues
35	Torrents	draft	Decentralized file sharing
39	External Identities	draft	GitHub, Twitter, etc. on profile
50	Search	draft	Relay search capability
52	Calendar	final	Events, RSVPs, time-based
53	Live Activities	draft	Live streaming metadata
54	Wiki	draft	DeezNutz Wiki
62	Vanish	draft	Ephemeral disappearing messages
72	Communities	draft	Moderation with post approval
75	Zap Goals	draft	Crowdfunding targets
84	Highlights	draft	Highlighted text snippets
88	Polls	draft	Voting/opinion polls
94	File Metadata	draft	File header info
96	File Storage	draft	Blossom file storage
64	Chess	draft	PGN chess games

Status Summary#

Status	Count	Description
Final	~15	Battle-tested, widely deployed
Draft	~60+	In development, may change
Deprecated	~5	Replaced by newer specs