Nostr

Nostr Channel

Human can send and receive Nostr direct messages using nak and the NIP-17 gift-wrapped DM format. Legacy NIP-04 encryption is also supported.

Prerequisites

• Build with -DHU_ENABLE_NOSTR=ON or -DHU_ENABLE_ALL_CHANNELS=ON
• nak installed and on PATH

1. Install nak

go install github.com/fiatjaf/nak@latest

Ensure nak is in your PATH.

2. Generate keys

Generate a Nostr keypair for the bot:

nak key generate

This outputs a hex-encoded secret key. Store it securely. Derive the public key (npub) from the seckey if needed for sharing.

3. Configuration

Add to ~/.human/config.json:

{
  "channels": {
    "nostr": [
      {
        "nak_path": "/usr/local/bin/nak",
        "bot_pubkey": "npub1...",
        "seckey_hex": "your-hex-secret-key",
        "relay_url": "wss://relay.damus.io",
        "dm_allowed_pubkeys": []
      }
    ]
  }
}

Fields

Field	Type	Description
nak_path	string	Path to nak binary
bot_pubkey	string	Bot’s public key (npub)
seckey_hex	string	Bot’s hex secret key
relay_url	string	Nostr relay WebSocket URL
dm_allowed_pubkeys	array	Allowed sender pubkeys. Empty = allow all

4. NIP-17 gift-wrapped DMs

Human uses NIP-17 for encrypted DMs. The nak tool handles event creation and relay publishing. The channel sends kind 14 (gift-wrapped) events to the recipient’s pubkey.

5. Legacy NIP-04

NIP-04 legacy encryption is supported for older clients. Prefer NIP-17 for new setups.

6. Relay configuration

Use a reliable relay. Examples:

• wss://relay.damus.io
• wss://relay.nostr.info
• wss://nos.lol

7. Run

Start the agent or gateway with Nostr enabled. The channel uses nak to receive (via nak’s subscribe) and send (via nak event) DMs.