NIPs

NIPs stand for Nostr Implementation Possibilities. They exist to document what may be implemented by Nostr-compatible relay and client software.

---

• List
• Event Kinds
  • Event Kind Ranges
• Message Types
  • Client to Relay
  • Relay to Client
• Standardized Tags
• Criteria for acceptance of NIPs
• License

---

List

• NIP-01: Basic protocol flow description
• NIP-02: Contact List and Petnames
• NIP-03: OpenTimestamps Attestations for Events
• NIP-04: Encrypted Direct Message
• NIP-05: Mapping Nostr keys to DNS-based internet identifiers
• NIP-06: Basic key derivation from mnemonic seed phrase
• NIP-07: window.nostr capability for web browsers
• NIP-08: Handling Mentions --- unrecommended: deprecated in favor of NIP-27
• NIP-09: Event Deletion
• NIP-10: Conventions for clients' use of e and p tags in text events
• NIP-11: Relay Information Document
• NIP-12: Generic Tag Queries
• NIP-13: Proof of Work
• NIP-14: Subject tag in text events
• NIP-15: Nostr Marketplace (for resilient marketplaces)
• NIP-16: Event Treatment
• NIP-18: Reposts
• NIP-19: bech32-encoded entities
• NIP-20: Command Results
• NIP-21: nostr: URI scheme
• NIP-22: Event created_at Limits
• NIP-23: Long-form Content
• NIP-25: Reactions
• NIP-26: Delegated Event Signing
• NIP-27: Text Note References
• NIP-28: Public Chat
• NIP-30: Custom Emoji
• NIP-31: Dealing with Unknown Events
• NIP-32: Labeling
• NIP-33: Parameterized Replaceable Events
• NIP-36: Sensitive Content
• NIP-39: External Identities in Profiles
• NIP-40: Expiration Timestamp
• NIP-42: Authentication of clients to relays
• NIP-45: Counting results
• NIP-46: Nostr Connect
• NIP-47: Wallet Connect
• NIP-50: Keywords filter
• NIP-51: Lists
• NIP-52: Calendar Events
• NIP-53: Live Activities
• NIP-56: Reporting
• NIP-57: Lightning Zaps
• NIP-58: Badges
• NIP-65: Relay List Metadata
• NIP-78: Application-specific data
• NIP-89: Recommended Application Handlers
• NIP-94: File Metadata
• NIP-97: Files hosted on relay
• NIP-98: HTTP Auth
• NIP-99: Classified Listings

Event Kinds

kind	description	NIP
0	Metadata	1
1	Short Text Note	1
2	Recommend Relay	1
3	Contacts	2
4	Encrypted Direct Messages	4
5	Event Deletion	9
6	Repost	18
7	Reaction	25
8	Badge Award	58
16	Generic Repost	18
40	Channel Creation	28
41	Channel Metadata	28
42	Channel Message	28
43	Channel Hide Message	28
44	Channel Mute User	28
1063	File Metadata	94
1311	Live Chat Message	53
1984	Reporting	56
1985	Label	32
9734	Zap Request	57
9735	Zap	57
10000	Mute List	51
10001	Pin List	51
10002	Relay List Metadata	65
13194	Wallet Info	47
22242	Client Authentication	42
23194	Wallet Request	47
23195	Wallet Response	47
24133	Nostr Connect	46
27235	HTTP Auth	98
30000	Categorized People List	51
30001	Categorized Bookmark List	51
30008	Profile Badges	58
30009	Badge Definition	58
30017	Create or update a stall	15
30018	Create or update a product	15
30023	Long-form Content	23
30024	Draft Long-form Content	23
30078	Application-specific Data	78
30311	Live Event	53
30402	Classified Listing	99
30403	Draft Classified Listing	99
31922	Date-Based Calendar Event	52
31923	Time-Based Calendar Event	52
31924	Calendar	52
31925	Calendar Event RSVP	52
31989	Handler recommendation	89
31990	Handler information	89

Event Kind Ranges

range	description	NIP
1000--9999	Regular Events	16
10000--19999	Replaceable Events	16
20000--29999	Ephemeral Events	16
30000--39999	Parameterized Replaceable Events	33

Message types

Client to Relay

type	description	NIP
AUTH	used to send authentication events	42
CLOSE	used to stop previous subscriptions	1
COUNT	used to request event counts	45
EVENT	used to publish events	1
FILE	used to publish events with binary content (file)	97
RETRIEVE	used to retrieve a binary content (file)	97
REQ	used to request events and subscribe to new updates	1

Relay to Client

type	description	NIP
AUTH	used to send authentication challenges	42
COUNT	used to send requested event counts to clients	45
EOSE	used to notify clients all stored events have been sent	1
EVENT	used to send events requested to clients	1
NOTICE	used to send human-readable messages to clients	1
OK	used to notify clients if an EVENT was successful	20

Please update these lists when proposing NIPs introducing new event kinds.

When experimenting with kinds, keep in mind the classification introduced by NIP-16 and NIP-33.

Standardized Tags

name	value	other parameters	NIP
a	coordinates to an event	relay URL	33, 23
alt	Alt tag	--	31
d	identifier	--	33
e	event id (hex)	relay URL, marker	1, 10
f	indexed flag value	---	97
g	geohash	--	12, 52
i	identity	proof	39
k	kind number (string)	--	18
l	label, label namespace	annotations	32
m	content type of a file (mime)	--	94, 97
L	label namespace	--	32
p	pubkey (hex)	relay URL	1
r	a reference (URL, etc)	--	12
t	hashtag	--	12
x	SHA256 hash of a file	--	94, 97
amount	millisats	--	57
bolt11	bolt11 invoice	--	57
challenge	challenge string	--	42
content-warning	reason	--	36
delegation	pubkey, conditions, delegation token	--	26
description	badge description	--	58
description	invoice description	--	57
emoji	shortcode, image URL	--	30
expiration	unix timestamp (string)	--	40
image	image URL	dimensions in pixels	23, 58
lnurl	bech32 encoded lnurl	--	57
location	location string	--	52, 99
name	badge name	--	58
nonce	random	--	13
preimage	hash of bolt11 invoice	--	57
price	price	currency, frequency	99
published_at	unix timestamp (string)	--	23
relay	relay url	--	42
relays	relay list	--	57
subject	subject	--	14
summary	article summary	--	23
size	size of a file in bytes	--	94, 97
thumb	badge thumbnail	dimensions in pixels	58
title	article title	--	23
zap	profile name	type of value	57

Criteria for acceptance of NIPs

1. They should be implemented in at least two clients and one relay -- when applicable.
2. They should make sense.
3. They should be optional and backwards-compatible: care must be taken such that clients and relays that choose to not implement them do not stop working when interacting with the ones that choose to.
4. There should be no more than one way of doing the same thing.
5. Other rules will be made up when necessary.

Mailing Lists

The nostr ecosystem is getting large with many different organizations, relays and clients. Following the nips repo on github is becoming more difficult and noisy. To coordinate on protocol development outside of github, there are mailing lists where you can work on NIPs before submitting them here:

• w3c nostr community group - public-nostr@w3.org - requires signup
• nostr-protocol google group - nostr-protocol@googlegroups.com - no signup required

License

All NIPs are public domain.