Nostr (nak)

Overview

Use nak for all Nostr actions: publish notes, reply in threads, and query relays for replies/mentions. Default relay: wss://relay.primal.net unless the user specifies another.

Install / Update nak

• Repo: https://github.com/fiatjaf/nak
• Install (script): curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fiatjaf/nak/master/install.sh | sh
• Update: re-run the install script above (it installs latest)
• Tip: review the script before running if you want to audit what it does.

Onboarding (keys)

• Generate a new key: nak key generate (prints nsec + npub)
• Save the secret: store NOSTR_SECRET_KEY in a shell profile or a local .env with restricted permissions.
  • Example: export NOSTR_SECRET_KEY="nsec1..."
  • Optional: chmod 600 .env if you store it locally.
  • Prefer env vars over inline --sec in commands.

Quick Start (common tasks)

• Post a note: nak event -k 1 --sec $NOSTR_SECRET_KEY -c "..." <relay>
• Reply to a note: include root and reply tags (see below)
• Check replies: nak req -k 1 -e <event_id> -l <N> <relay>
• Check mentions: nak req -k 1 -p <your_pubkey_hex> -l <N> <relay>

Workflow: Posting & Replies

1) Create a new note

• Build content.
• Publish:

  nak event -k 1 --sec $NOSTR_SECRET_KEY -c "<content>" wss://relay.primal.net
  

2) Reply to a reply (correct threading)

Always include both root and reply tags so clients display it as a reply:

• root = original top‑level note id
• reply = the specific note you’re replying to

Use -t e="<id>;<relay>;root" and -t e="<id>;<relay>;reply".

Example:

nak event -k 1 --sec $NOSTR_SECRET_KEY \
  -t e="<root_id>;wss://relay.primal.net;root" \
  -t e="<reply_id>;wss://relay.primal.net;reply" \
  -p <other_pubkey_hex> \
  -c "<reply content>" \
  wss://relay.primal.net

3) Check for replies to a note

nak req -k 1 -e <root_id> -l 20 wss://relay.primal.net

4) Check mentions of your pubkey

nak req -k 1 -p <your_pubkey_hex> -l 20 wss://relay.primal.net

Conventions

• Default relay: wss://relay.primal.net
• Prefer NOSTR_SECRET_KEY env var instead of inline --sec.
• When tagging users, include -p <npub/hex>.
• For human-facing links, encode with nak encode nevent ... and format as https://primal.net/e/<nevent>.

References

• Use nak event --help and nak req --help for flag details.