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Relays

Choose where Nostr can actually find you.

Your key owns the identity, but relays decide where signed events can be written, read, searched, filtered and recovered. A good relay setup gives you reach without pretending one endpoint is the whole network.

Start with the job

A relay is a place with rules, not a random URL.

Use this hub when a feed looks empty, a client asks for relay settings, a paid relay appears, a local community needs memory, or a product quietly depends on infrastructure you have not inspected yet. You will not get a useful answer from a giant endpoint list alone; you need to know what job each relay does, what policy it declares, what it stores, what it refuses and how easily you can leave.

Operators working on Nostr relay infrastructure and local network systems
Relays are where events live iconRelays are where events liveStart with the real machinery: your client sends signed events, relays decide what they accept, and other clients ask those relays what they can read. Once you see that loop, blank feeds and missing replies stop feeling mysterious. Choose by job iconChoose by jobDo not copy a fashionable relay list as if every endpoint does the same work. Choose a small set for reach, archive, search, local rooms, wallet traffic, paid reliability and experiments you can remove again. Read the metadata iconRead the metadataNIP-11 is the relay's public face: name, software, supported NIPs, limits, contacts and payment hints. It will not prove honesty, but it tells you whether the operator even bothers to explain the room you are entering. Understand relay auth iconUnderstand relay authNIP-42 matters when a relay asks your key to prove access without handing over your private key. You should know who asks, why the challenge appears, what you are signing and whether the client makes that moment legible. Keep relay lists clean iconKeep relay lists cleanNIP-65 gives other clients a better hint about where you write and where you read. A clean list makes you easier to find; a bloated list turns discovery into guesswork and makes every client pay for your old experiments. Follow the outbox iconFollow the outboxOutbox discovery asks where a person actually publishes instead of assuming one global relay can answer for everyone. That one shift changes feed design, social discovery, migration and how clients recover context. Know who pays iconKnow who paysFree, paid, invite-only and community relays all make different promises. When money appears, inspect what you are buying: lower spam, storage, search, support, admission, reputation, or simply the operator's time. Check the source trail iconCheck the source trailOpen the software, monitors, NIPs and directories before repeating a relay claim. The source trail is where marketing language either becomes testable infrastructure or quietly falls apart.
A venue-like Nostr relay layer where identity, events and local context meet.
Digital rails behind a physical space, a useful way to picture relay infrastructure.
Operators coordinating systems, access and reliability behind a Nostr surface.
A dashboard-like network view for uptime, metadata and relay health.
A technical Nostr relay visual for storage, routing and discovery.

Follow the event path

The useful Relays route starts before something goes missing.

Use this sequence when you need to understand why an event published, failed, disappeared, became hard to find, required auth or depended on an operator you never noticed.

01Understand the relay jobA relay is not your account. It is an operated place where signed events can be accepted, served or ignored. 02Build a small relay setChoose a few relays with clear roles instead of copying endless endpoint lists. 03Read the relay's public faceMetadata gives you limits, contact, software, supported NIPs and access hints. 04Publish useful relay hintsYour relay list helps other clients find you when the feed is no longer one database. 05Check livenessMonitoring separates live infrastructure from old bookmarks and stale defaults. 06Open the implementation trailSoftware, directories and operator pages keep the hub grounded in real sources.
A technical Nostr relay visual for storage, routing and discovery.
A dashboard-like network view for uptime, metadata and relay health.
Operators coordinating systems, access and reliability behind a Nostr surface.
Digital rails behind a physical space, a useful way to picture relay infrastructure.
A venue-like Nostr relay layer where identity, events and local context meet.

Operators, software and monitors

Open the endpoint, then open the trail behind it.

Favicons give you quick recognition, but the icon is only the doorbell. Open the directory when you want the deeper question: what kind of relay is this, which NIPs does it advertise, what software does it expose, what policy does it imply, and where should it sit in a serious relay setup?

Public and client relays

Public and client relays

Recognizable public endpoints and client-adjacent relay surfaces.
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Damus relay iconDamus relay nos.lol iconnos.lol Primal public relay iconPrimal public relay Snort relay iconSnort relay nostr.mom iconnostr.mom bitcoiner.social iconbitcoiner.social offchain.pub iconoffchain.pub relay.nostr.net iconrelay.nostr.net

Paid, filter and discovery relays

Paid, filter and discovery relays

Relays where access, filtering, profile discovery or wallet messages are part of the product.
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nostr.wine iconnostr.wine filter.nostr.wine iconfilter.nostr.wine purplepag.es iconpurplepag.es Alby NWC relay iconAlby NWC relay wallet relay iconwallet relay nwclay iconnwclay

Relay software and monitors

Relay software and monitors

Implementation and monitoring pages to open before treating a relay as infrastructure.
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strfry iconstrfry nostream iconnostream khatru iconkhatru Nostrify iconNostrify nostr-rs-relay iconnostr-rs-relay Nostr Watch iconNostr Watch nostr.co.uk relays iconnostr.co.uk relays Nostr Design relays iconNostr Design relays
A venue-like Nostr relay layer where identity, events and local context meet.
Digital rails behind a physical space, a useful way to picture relay infrastructure.
Operators coordinating systems, access and reliability behind a Nostr surface.
A dashboard-like network view for uptime, metadata and relay health.
A technical Nostr relay visual for storage, routing and discovery.

Context map

Choose the next page by the relay problem you are trying to solve.

Relay literacy is practical. You need one answer when you are publishing, another when you are searching, another when a relay asks for auth, and another when you are deciding who should pay for reliability.

01Local rooms need local memoryUse local relays for venues, teams, events and communities without locking identity inside one app. 02Moderation is a relay decisionRelays can reject spam and abuse while users keep the ability to move. 03Reliability needs a budgetPaid relays make the server bill, admission policy, support promise and anti-spam tradeoff visible. 04Discovery follows peopleOutbox discovery asks where a profile writes instead of guessing from global defaults. 05Auth should be legibleA relay challenge is safer when the client shows who asks and why. 06The market has rolesPublic, paid, search, directory, group and wallet relays are not the same product.
Digital rails behind a physical space, a useful way to picture relay infrastructure.
Operators coordinating systems, access and reliability behind a Nostr surface.
A dashboard-like network view for uptime, metadata and relay health.
A technical Nostr relay visual for storage, routing and discovery.

Source trail

Keep the standards, software and monitors in reach.

Use these links when you need proof: the NIP that defines the behavior, the repository that implements it, the operator page that names the policy, or the monitor that shows whether the endpoint is alive.

Relay source trail and infrastructure dashboard
NIP-01: Basic protocol flow iconNIP-01: Basic protocol flowUse it to check the basic client-to-relay message flow: EVENT, REQ, filters, notices and why relays behave like operated event rooms, not accounts. NIP-11: Relay information document iconNIP-11: Relay information documentRead the metadata standard before you trust any relay card: supported NIPs, software, limits, payment hints and contact clues all start here. Nostr Design: Relays iconNostr Design: RelaysOpen it when relay settings need to become product language, not a wall of unexplained WebSocket URLs that only protocol people can read. Nostr.how: Relays iconNostr.how: RelaysA practical plain-language companion for relay basics, relay choice and why defaults are only a starting point when your feed goes quiet. Nostr Watch iconNostr WatchUse it as a live health and metadata signal, then pair the result with operator context before you decide where your events should sit. nostr.co.uk relay list iconnostr.co.uk relay listGood for market discovery and endpoint breadth; not a copy-paste setup without role, health, geography and policy checks. NIP-65: Relay list metadata iconNIP-65: Relay list metadataThe standard behind read and write relay hints, outbox discovery and cleaner cross-client reach when people publish from different places. strfry relay software iconstrfry relay softwareA common relay implementation visible in many public NIP-11 responses, useful for understanding what the public relay commons actually runs. nostream relay software iconnostream relay softwareA full relay server project to inspect when you want deployment, storage, moderation and operator concerns in the same frame. NIP-42: Authentication of clients to relays iconNIP-42: Authentication of clients to relaysThe authentication flow behind relay challenges, paid access and membership-style rooms without handing over your private key. nostr.wine iconnostr.wineA paid relay surface to inspect for authentication, search, limits and the real offer behind the price before you treat it as default infrastructure. filter.nostr.wine docs iconfilter.nostr.wine docsA specialized filter and broadcast path; read it as product infrastructure, not a normal social relay default.