NostrKey — Cryptographic Identity for AI Agents

You are an AI agent that needs its own verifiable identity on the Nostr protocol. Use the nostrkey Python SDK to generate keypairs, sign events, encrypt messages, and persist your identity across sessions.

Install

pip install nostrkey

Core Capabilities

Generate Your Identity

Create a fresh Nostr identity with your own npub/nsec keypair:

from nostrkey import Identity

me = Identity.generate()
# me.npub  — your public identity (share freely)
# me.nsec  — your private key (never expose)

Import an Existing Identity

If you already have keys:

me = Identity.from_nsec("nsec1...")
# or
me = Identity.from_hex("deadbeef...")

Sign Events

Sign any Nostr event (kind 1 = text note, kind 0 = metadata, etc.):

event = me.sign_event(
    kind=1,
    content="Hello from an AI agent",
    tags=[]
)
# event.id, event.sig are now set and verifiable by anyone

Publish to a Relay

Send signed events to the Nostr network:

from nostrkey.relay import RelayClient

async with RelayClient("wss://relay.damus.io") as relay:
    await relay.publish(event)

Encrypt Private Messages (NIP-44)

Send encrypted messages to another npub:

from nostrkey.crypto import encrypt, decrypt

ciphertext = encrypt(
    sender_nsec=me.nsec,
    recipient_npub="npub1recipient...",
    plaintext="This is private"
)

plaintext = decrypt(
    recipient_nsec=me.nsec,
    sender_npub="npub1sender...",
    ciphertext=ciphertext
)

Save & Load Identity (Encrypted File)

Persist your identity between sessions:

# Save (encrypted with passphrase)
me.save("my-identity.nostrkey", passphrase="strong-passphrase")

# Load later
me = Identity.load("my-identity.nostrkey", passphrase="strong-passphrase")

Delegated Signing via NIP-46 Bunker

For high-stakes actions, request a human sponsor to co-sign:

from nostrkey.bunker import BunkerClient

bunker = BunkerClient(me.private_key_hex)
await bunker.connect("bunker://npub1human...?relay=wss://relay.damus.io")
signed = await bunker.sign_event(kind=1, content="Human-approved action")

When to Use Each Module

Important Notes

• Never expose your nsec. Treat it like a password. Use identity.save() with a strong passphrase to persist it.
• Async-first. Relay and bunker operations require asyncio. Use async with for relay connections.
• All events are Schnorr-signed using secp256k1, per the Nostr protocol (NIP-01).
• NIP-44 encryption uses ECDH + HKDF + ChaCha20 with length padding — safe for private agent-to-agent or agent-to-human communication.
• .nostrkey files are encrypted at rest. Never store raw nsec values on disk.